Amazon has removed another gadget company's products from its store after reports that RavPower was bribing customers to leave favorable reviews. RavPower, which sells batteries, chargers, and other smartphone accessories, has now disappeared from the site.
No RavPower products appear in search results when typing in the brand name, and as The Verge notes, links to the company's Amazon listing now lead to a 404 page or the product in question is "currently unavailable." on Amazon RavPower's hub also has a lot of blank space where the product used to be.
Amazon has confirmed that it has removed RavPower products; Amazon also recently removed Aukey and Mpow; Amazon has not told Android Authority exactly why it kicked out these three companies (and several smaller electronics brands) While not, it is not necessarily difficult to read between the lines.
In a blog post published shortly after removing the RavPower products, Amazon specifies some of its measures to tackle fraudulent user reviews. Last year, the company prevented more than 200 million reviews suspected of being fake from appearing in its store.
This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Love Power was offering customers gift cards and other incentives for posting Amazon product reviews. Amazon has banned incentivized reviews since 2016; it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why RavPower's products are gone. We reached out to RavPower for comment.
Reviews are vital to Amazon's third-party sellers. It is a buyer feedback system that acts as a currency of trust for customers, and strong reviews can have a significant impact on Amazon's search rankings. Unfortunately, Amazon reviews are easily manipulated.
Reports of fake reviews have plagued Amazon for years; in a data breach reported in May, gadget makers including Aukey and Mpow allegedly paid customers to leave positive reviews. Subsequently, these companies' products did not stay with Amazon for long.
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