For $2 a Star, an Online Retailer Gets 5-Star Product Reviews

[Jack]

NY Times wrote:In the brutal world of online commerce, where a competing product is just a click away, retailers need all the juice they can get to close a sale.

Some exalt themselves by anonymously posting their own laudatory reviews. Now there is an even simpler approach: offering a refund to customers in exchange for a write-up.

By the time VIP Deals ended its rebate on Amazon.com late last month, its leather case for the Kindle Fire was receiving the sort of acclaim once reserved for the likes of Kim Jong-il. Hundreds of reviewers proclaimed the case a marvel, a delight, exactly what they needed to achieve bliss. And definitely worth five stars.

As the collective wisdom of the crowd displaces traditional advertising, the roaring engines of e-commerce are being stoked by favorable reviews. The VIP deal reflects the importance merchants place on these evaluations — and the lengths to which they go to game the system.

Fake reviews are drawing the attention of regulators. They have cracked down on a few firms for deceitful hyping and suspect these are far from isolated instances. “Advertising disguised as editorial is an old problem, but it’s now presenting itself in different ways,” said Mary K. Engle, the Federal Trade Commission’s associate director for advertising practices. “We’re very concerned.”

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[Jack]

A little eye-opener about pay-for-review in general... this type of practices aren't uncommon in the security world....
Through the years I have seen a lot of website who review security products not based on what actually can do ..but on some other factors.....

[HeffeD]

Yes, unfortunately, the concept of paying to get a better review has been around as long as reviews have... It makes it pretty difficult to find unbiased reviews.

For hardware, this is a big problem. But with software, most products have free trials. The best review is to download a trial and put it through the paces yourself.