Amazon review system? What the hell is happening
Hi guys,
I have noticed that recently Amazon have changed how they show there reviews/ratings and was wondering if everyone is seeing this & what your thoughts are on this?
So around a few months ago I noticed that if a customer left a review on any of the Amazon European market places & Amazon USA that they will all accumulate and show on Amazon UK?
For example a competitor of mine had around 120 product reviews/ratings (UK only) but now they have 620? Having looked into their listing, I can see that these reviews are from all market places and have been amalgamated and clearly displayed on amazon search page…Im not sure if this is something new that has now been rolled out to all customers because previously (couple months ago) when I spoke to seller support they said as I was using my seller account to browse on amazon, I could see all reviews across all platforms for sellers, however normal buyers would only be able to see reviews left by customers who are based in the UK only… So has this all changed and customers can see product reviews from all market places?
I am a UK seller only and I think this is ridiculous, it gives sellers a massive advantage if they sell across all 5 market places because they have 5 times the chance of receiving reviews then sellers who only focus on UK market. Surely it makes sense that reviews left by customers are only seen by customers within that countries market place. (so a review left by a Spanish customer should not be seen by a customer in the UK)?
Thanks in advance on your replies
24 replies
Seller_64jziShTiTjOq
Not really. A product is a product and that’s what is being reviewed - customers’ opinions of it are relevant anywhere. Indeed, in some cases, it could be helpful to have reviews from other countries, eg if a book had content that was only relevant to the US, a review mentioning that would be of use to customers in the UK, Australia etc
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
Lots of weird changes going on with reviews.
See here:
Seller_xUKHc5xSYJmI4
The review system changed few weeks ago. This encourages small businesses to grow sharing product reviews various Amazon platforms.
Seller_j4jJyeCGo6K8M
Amazon want more sellers offering international availability/delivery and this advantage for sellers offering products more globally works towards that goal.
Seller_naHgCmvm2mlOr
I agree its an advantage to sellers who sell in more than one marketplace but they have taken more risk in doing so , so should be awarded accordingly.
I am a UK only seller but will be expanding when the time is right.
Seller_LKjg1QRrO36Yq
This mixing of product reviews has been going on for years.
In BMVD, for instance, reviews for Blu-rays are mingled with DVD results as a matter of course.
This often leads to a 5* DVD suddenly receiving dozens of negative reviews because there was something major wrong with the Blu-ray release…
Similarly, I was looking to buy a new PC from Amazon last week. Reviews for six different systems were all lumped into together, making it hard to work out what system any given review was referring to.
Then there are the negative reviews that say things like ‘poor packaging’ or ‘seller was rude’ - ie, seller feedback getting confused with product reviews.
It happens all the time on Amazon and there is no simple way of getting those sort of reviews removed.
Lastly, there are the fake reviews that make a total mockery of the system, though Amazon has at least attempted to do something about them.
Seller_cJryKkHFp7jxo
Does anybody know how this can be used to our advantage? E.g. Have our UK Listing reviews transferred over to USA?
Seller_yKQk1wHsadRLK
Don’t know if anybody is still monitoring this thread? Yes, this is becoming widespread practice across Amazon and very unfair to local sellers that just sell on their own amazon platform. International reviews should not be transferred across platforms to enhance a listing that has not even made a local sale. Customers in different countries have different preferences so a product that has a 4.5 rating on amazon.com means nothing to amazon.co.uk customers. I’ve been told by amazon that international reviews won’t show once a listing has gained 5 reviews in a local marketplace, but this doesn’t appear to be the case after checking through some listings that have literally gained 1000’s of reviews overnight!
