If you’ve noticed Chinese accessory makers, such as Aukey and Mpow, suddenly disappear from Amazon, you’re not alone. According to a new report, Amazon is on a crackdown on brands that abuse the consumer review system. As a part of the crackdown, Amazon has banned over 600 Chinese brands (spread across 3,000 seller accounts).
The crackdown isn’t intended to target China or any other country, as per, but the ban has affected sellers that are mostly based out of China. The vendors who’ve been caught were offering rewards, such as gift cards and credit, to customers who leave reviews. Amazon has banned those Chinese sellers who ‘repeatedly and significantly’ violated the company’s policies.
Following my fake review story, listings for Amazon-native electronics brand RAVPower are gone.
The company offered $35 gift cards for reviews on a product that was sold directly by Amazon itself. RAVPower acted as a wholesale vendor on that listing.https://t.co/6nazZZ5Wtb pic.twitter.com/znp9u48YHV
— nic nguyen (@nicnguyen) June 16, 2021
Amazon’s spokesperson first spoke about the issue in an interview with VP Cindy Tai on the state-controlled network China Central Television. “Customers rely on the accuracy and authenticity of product reviews to make informed purchasing decisions and we have clear policies for both reviewers and selling partners that prohibit abuse of our community features. We suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies, wherever they are in the world,” said Amazon in a statement.
“We will continue to improve abuse detection and take enforcement action against bad actors, including those that knowingly engage in multiple and repeated policy violations, including review abuse. We are confident that the steps we take are in the best interests of our customers as well as the honest businesses that make up the vast majority of our global selling community.”