Amazon Sues To Block Fake Reviews

An anonymous reader writes Amazon has filed suit against operators of sites that offer Amazon sellers the ability to purchase fake 4 and 5 star customer reviews. The suit is the first of its kind and was filed in King County Superior Court against a California man, Jay Gentile, identified in Amazon's filings as the operator of buyazonreviews.com. The site also targets unidentified "John Does" who operate similar sites: buyreviewsnow.com, bayreviews.net, and buyamazonreviews.com. From the article: "The site buyazonreviews.com, which the suit claims is run by Gentile, didn't respond to a request for comment. But Mark Collins, the owner of buyamazonreviews.com, denied Amazon's claims. In an email interview, Collins said the site simply offers to help Amazon's third-party sellers get reviews. 'We are not selling fake reviews. however we do provide Unbiased and Honest reviews on all the products,' Collins wrote. 'And this is not illegal at all.'"

Comments

Unbiased and Honest

[Dutch Gun]

"We are not selling fake reviews. however we do provide Unbiased and Honest reviews on all the products"

Wow, that's priceless. Oh, wait, no, it does have a price. Want to know how this works? From the site itself:

A purchase of your product is not required for us to post a review. If you would like a verified purchase review however we can buy your product first. If the cost is $2.00 or less we will cover the price. If it is more than this you will need to make arrangements with us to reimburse the cost. We are only accepting very limited amounts of verified purchase reviews, please contact us before ordering if you are interested in these.

Price List:

        3 Reviews $74.26!
        5 Reviews (Reg: $124.50, w/ 20% $99.60!)
        10 Reviews (Reg: $249.50, w/ 20% $199.60!)
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        200 Reviews (Reg: $4887.50, w/ 30% $3421.60)

I can see why Amazon wants to shut this down. It completely undermines the legitimacy of their user ratings system. Not a big surprise, of course, as just about any system will be gamed if at all possible when there's money involved.