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Amazon review policy
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Nancy
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Mar 11, 2014 09:59AM
Amazon informed me that the one-star review for The Murder House written by a woman who clearly states she has not read the book (I have not books by Jarvis, Nancy Lynn or a book titled The Murder House which is a Regan McHenry that I also look under.,) will remain. It is not their policy to take down reviews just because the reviewer hasn't read the book. Does this make anyone else crazy?
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Amazon leaves up all sorts of strangeness. I don't understand their policies but I wouldn't worry about that screwy review. I doubt any one will take it seriously considering it is indecipherable. It looks like she bought your book though, so that's a good thing. It's just too bad she can't seem to find it :)
I went back in and noticed she did the same thing to most of the 33 books she's "reviewed". Apparently she's too inept to contact customer service about her Kindle issues. I reported her but I doubt Amazon will do anything. They usually ignore my emails. There's one reviewer still on there who is selling reviews for $100.00 each. I reported her, several others reported her and she's still allowed to review even though she's breaking all sorts of rules.
Amazon can be strange. I work for a publisher, so naturally, I can't review books we publish on Amazon (oddly enough, I can here on GR).But an author who had a brief association with our company then moved on, has published a book and they won't let me review his book -NOR- will they allow him to review our books even though he no longer has anything to do with the company (I still help him with some computer issues).
It seems incomprehensible that a review by someone who has not read your book should be allowed to stand, but think of it as an indication to readers that your reviews are not false, as are some on here and on Amazon. Personally, I rarely read a book with all 5 star reviews, but am always intrigued when someone posts a 1 star review :)
I have only ever seen one fully justified 1 star and that was written by someone whose first language was not English and was a bad copy of a Stephen King novel.
It was pretty clear that the one-star was really for the way her Kindle was functioning, not your book, but it is legitimate in the sense that she did buy it, and wasn't happy with her purchase, even if that's because she can't find it to read it.I've certainly seen one-stars I thought were completely justifiable to the degree that any sensible literate person would agree that the item in question was nearly unreadable. However, the more subjective ones are usually legitimate as well in the sense that they are someone's honest opinion.
JD, no I'm not. I'm saying a reviewer isn't justified in leaving a review on a book that they couldn't bring up on their Kindle device because they don't understand how to use their Kindle. In case you missed it, here's the review The Murder House---and at last count more than thirty others--- received. "I have not books by Jarvis, Nancy Lynn or a book titled The Murder House which is a Regan McHenry that I also look under.," That's all she wrote.
That is bizarre, especially since I discovered that a review one of my blog readers left on Amazon is now missing. And no, I didn't send her a copy, I didn't pay her in any way, and she's not an author or publisher. I am pretty certain (although I have no way to know this for sure) that she bought her own copy, read it, and then reviewed it.
So legit reviews are not okay but non-readers who can't get their Kindles to work are?
Now I AM pissed.
Linda wrote: "@J.D. -- I guess it sorta depends on what you consider "fully justified."Are you saying that readers aren't justified in leaving 1-star ratings of books they couldn't read because the grammar and..."
Not to worry, this is not a writer bashing reviewers thread. The context here is leaving a bad review because of the reader's own kindle incompetence, not bad writing. No one said anything about highly specialized reviewers or leaving at least two stars just because someone went to the trouble of writing a book. Even J.D. said he agrees that some 1 star reviews are justified. I think all of us here do. I've seen them myself on a number of occasions, though I don't bother to review anything I won't even take the time to read.
@ Nancy, I understand that you're frustrated, but the good news is that no one who reads that review will take it seriously. It will reflect in your average, but a single 1 star review won't really make that much difference. As JD said, it may actually give you more credibility, and when people read it they'll realize that the only bad thing people have to say about you is gibberish.
Regina wrote: "That is bizarre, especially since I discovered that a review one of my blog readers left on Amazon is now missing. And no, I didn't send her a copy, I didn't pay her in any way, and she's not an ..."
It's really going around. Karen said over in Indie Book Club that she's missing 4 5-star reviews and they were all from people she didn't even know at all. I was telling her about the 5-star review from my aunt that I can't get rid of. Seriously, I would rather have one less star rating than a review that states it was written by my aunt. Embarrassing. I flagged it as written by a relative, but Amazon didn't do anything.
Amazon has always maintained that a customer need not experience a product in order to review it. Sometimes this position causes absurd results, and this is apparently one of those times.I know that it is hard because the absurd impact is on YOU, and it is hard to accept that you should bear the brunt of an absurdity. When you look at the policy in the abstract, it makes sense.
There is actually no way to amazon to know for sure if a reviewer experienced a specific product. Even an AVP badge is no guarantee - someone could buy a product and return it, or they could buy a product and then give it away as a gift. The person with the AVP badge hasn't experienced the product, the person without the AVP badge has experienced the product.
R.A. wrote: "telling her about the 5-star review from my aunt that I can't get rid of. Seriously, I would rather have one less star rating than a review that states it was written by my aunt. Embarrassing. I flagged it as written by a relative, but Amazon didn't do anything..."
I've already told my sister that if she ever writes a review on any of my books, DO NOT say she's my sister.
I've already told my sister that if she ever writes a review on any of my books, DO NOT say she's my sister.
Ken wrote: "R.A. wrote: "telling her about the 5-star review from my aunt that I can't get rid of. Seriously, I would rather have one less star rating than a review that states it was written by my aunt. Embar..."Oh, dear. It's actually worse to have her not say she's your sister, IMO. A better idea would be to ask her not to leave a review at all, but if she must leave a review, then she should identify herself as your sister.
If she doesn't, I would strongly recommend that you post a comment to her review that says something along the lines of:
"Hey, folks, this review is from my beloved little sister. She's trying to help, but I want to make sure that no one gets fooled! Love ya' sis!"
I wouldn't worry too much about a one star unless you have a whole bunch of them from disappointed readers that are all saying the same thing. I have one reviewer that hates my book because of the language and the violence.
I consider both of these to be pretty mild, but the review is very useful in that if someone is very sensitive to any and all swearing and violence, then I don't want them reading my books. They won't like them. So I'd be just as pissed if even that review went away, even though it's a terrible review. The lady had a legitimate gripe. Fair enough. Her grievances are not going to put off anyone except readers that are offended by the same things that offend her.
I'm just really kind of pissed off that one of my reviews went away at all. It's not even that it was a good review. That's not right. I do not know why that one was chosen for deletion. I can't imagine what about it violated anything.
Regina wrote: "I wouldn't worry too much about a one star unless you have a whole bunch of them from disappointed readers that are all saying the same thing. I have one reviewer that hates my book because of th..."
And from what I hear there isn't much value in questioning it. They'll just send you a form letter with possible reasons. It sucks. It's one thing when writers have hundreds or thousands of reviews, but even then it just isn't right. Unfortunately, I don't know what can be done.
I know that must be awful, and it probably seems like a big deal, but is it? Really? It's a review that no one will even take into consideration, as it makes no sense.I can see being mad or hurt over a review that slams you personally, but one like that won't hurt you at all. Even if it was your only review, and it's 1 star.
As far as 1-star reviews being justified...everyone is entitled to their opinion. I leave 1 star reviews. I also leave 5 star reviews. I've even left a 1-star on a book I didn't finish. If it's written so badly that I can't finish it, I know it's not going to get better halfway through. I don't necessarily think it's fair to give star ratings based on something like language, but some people do. And that's their right.
Moonlight Reader wrote: "Oh, dear. It's actually worse to have her not say she's your sister, IMO. A better idea would be to ask her not to leave a review at all, but if she must leave a review, then she should identify herself as your sister.If she doesn't, I would strongly recommend that you post a comment to her review that says something along the lines of:
"Hey, folks, this review is from my beloved little sister. She's trying to help, but I want to make sure that no one gets fooled! Love ya' sis!"
That's a very diplomatic way of fixing that. Nice.
Lena wrote: "I can see being mad or hurt over a review that slams you personally, but one like that won't hurt you at all. Even if it was your only review, and it's 1 star."Agreed.
R.A. wrote: " It's one thing when writers have hundreds or thousands of reviews, but even then it just isn't right. Unfortunately, I don't know what can be done...."
I don't think it matters much in the scheme of things. I only have a handful of reviews, and a few of them are low, and some of them are from family members (I did ask them to state that in the review, as it seemed deceptive not to). If someone is interested in your book, they will read it regardless of the reviews. Some people will like it and some won't. Most won't leave reviews.
My advice is to shrug it off and move on.
Yeah, I looked up on Google to see if this was A Thing, and evidently, it is. So I've seen where they send a non-committal form letter and won't do much about it. But after reading their criteria for non-allowed reviews, it's frustrating when they delete reviews that do not seem to fall into that criteria.
The one I lost was no different from any other review I have, really. So I cannot for the life of me figure it out. I have two books, and the newer one has fewer reviews, and that's the book that lost one. So it's irksome, because that's the book that could least afford the loss.
Lena wrote: "R.A. wrote: " It's one thing when writers have hundreds or thousands of reviews, but even then it just isn't right. Unfortunately, I don't know what can be done...."
I don't think it matters much..."
Yes, I agree that's the best course of action in many situations. I've been doing lots of that since I started into this 'writer's world'. I guess it builds character.
Great. Now on top of it all, I feel vaguely dirty, like someone publicly accused me of soliciting sex from a hooker. Not cool. Amazon.
Regina wrote: "Great. Now on top of it all, I feel vaguely dirty, like someone publicly accused me of soliciting sex from a hooker. Not cool. Amazon."
What else would you solicit from a hooker?
Sorry. I couldn't resist :)
No, Linda. I’m saying that I have only read one book that qualifies as a single star. If a book is poorly written and doesn't engage me, then I don’t continue reading it. I did continue reading this book because I was fascinated by the lack of plot, the direct lifts from 'The Shining' and the incomprehensibility of the narrative. I thought it might be very clever and surprise my low flying intellect, but sadly it did not. You, as a reader, are justified in leaving the review you believe a book deserves. If you had not read the book, as the reviewer Nancy mentioned had not, then you are not.
The one-star review by the woman who couldn't find the book on her Kindle is gone! Maybe Amazon came to their senses. Maybe the woman came to her senses.I hope all thirty+ of her similar reviews are gone. Thanks to all of you who let me rant and were so supportive.
I've yet to write a bad review on Amazon as I also barely write reviews on there just mainly on here. If an author asks me to post my review I will gladly do so. I have noticed many tend to find the low reviews more helpful, case and point I suppose.
People have bad days, Nancy, but sometimes the next day's better :)
Most of my days are good, JD, but yesterday was especially so. Now I'm trying to properly thank Melinda, Richard and Cyndi, the Amazon reps who spent twenty-nine days working on the issue for the thirty-three of us it affected. And I'm trying to tame my Crusader Rabbit nature, but not too hopeful there.
Well, that's good news, at least. At least someone's awake over there.
Regina wrote: "That is bizarre, especially since I discovered that a review one of my blog readers left on Amazon is now missing..."I lost two -- both perfectly legitimate -- from my latest book a couple weeks ago. I asked Amazon about it, and they sent me a form reply that essentially said, "Who knows why reviews disappear?" They wouldn't admit that they removed those reviews, far less tell me why. It's hard enough to get reviews without having to deal with them vanishing randomly.
I know some people say the number of reviews doesn't matter, but it's fairly common for publicity outlets to require a certain threshold number of Amazon reviews at a certain star level in order for your ad to be accepted.
Lance wrote: "Regina wrote: "That is bizarre, especially since I discovered that a review one of my blog readers left on Amazon is now missing..."I lost two -- both perfectly legitimate -- from my latest book ..."
Yes, and the fact is that many people don't even consider books if they don't have a four or five average. Not many, maybe, but some do.
Exactly. There's places you can't advertise if you don't' have a certain number of reviews, and I don't' have to tell any of you how hard it is to get reviews to begin with. Most of us can't afford the hit. And I'm seriously not cool with the implication that I did something dodgy or that my reader did something dodgy. That's offensive.
I'm over here racking my brain. It occurred to me that maybe two books were bought from the same computer? When I track hits on my blog, sometimes it looks like multiple readers at the same ISP are reading. So if you had, say, roommates sharing a computer, and they each used that same computer to buy a copy from two Amazon accounts, I wonder if it would show up as if they were the same person with two different accounts?
But that doesn't make sense, either. People share computers all the time.
I dunno. I find it hard to believe they'd just randomly go through and delete stuff, because if there's no rhyme or reason to it, what's to keep them from doing it again?
Maybe I'm overthinking it. I do that.
Regina and Lance, You are so right. But (dripping sarcasm) they may return. My non-reader one-star review that disappeared for two days after a month of battles is back!
Nancy wrote: "Regina and Lance, You are so right. But (dripping sarcasm) they may return. My non-reader one-star review that disappeared for two days after a month of battles is back!"
It looks like you have a 1 star review on two of your books on Amazon. One is from an obvious kook. The other is from somehow who maybe didn't like the sample? As a reader, I'd dismiss both reviews. They'd have zero impact on my decision to read/buy the book. Fighting anyone over either of these reviews (or ANY review, except for the most extreme cases) seems like a waste of time and effort.
ETA: And fighting the actual reviewer in the most extreme cases isn't an option. I could see maybe trying to get Amazon to remove a review that was a legit personal attack. But the review/reviewer shouldn't be engaged directly.
Hi Gregor,I would never engage a reviewer and would normally never try to have a one-star taken down, kook or not. What made me try this time is that the person who left the review on The Murder House did the same sort of review on over thirty other books. She buys a book, evidently, can't figure out how to find it on her Kindle, and leaves an incoherent one-star review. It irritates the dickens out of me that Amazon is aware of her and her problem and still lets her continue to add reviews.
Yeah, that would be irksome. At least the one star I got was at least from someone who had clearly read the book, and her review was clearly her honest opinion. If she had written "I don't like westerns because they are full of violence and swearing" and then one starred me unread, I would have been pissed. I would not have confronted her or said anything, but I would have felt pretty wronged.
I don't know why Amazon would put it back up after it had been taken down. This is just getting more bizarre.
For what it's worth, I am betting I am not the only person who looks at reviewer's other reviews when they leave extreme likes or dislikes. If there is a pattern, people can usually figure what's up. If they are excessively negative, kooks, carpet bombers, whatever. People can figure out what's what in a case like that.
Nancy wrote: "Hi Gregor,I would never engage a reviewer and would normally never try to have a one-star taken down, kook or not. What made me try this time is that the person who left the review on The Murder ..."
I gotcha. Personally, I might send a single notice to Amazon regarding such foolishness and move on. I wouldn't even follow-up to see if it ever went away.
And that's the kook review I was referring to. When I'm shopping for a book and see something like that I shake my head and laugh. It doesn't impact my buying decision.
I have a different problem with Amazon's Review Policy. I have been contacted by two people who read my book and left a positive review only to find out that the review was rejected by Amazon. The second time this happened, the reader emailed me the review. There was nothing objectionable about it. I contacted Amazon asking for an explanation and received nothing but standardized answers in return. Ironically, the only thing you can't review on Amazon -- is Amazon.
Bill wrote: "I have a different problem with Amazon's Review Policy. I have been contacted by two people who read my book and left a positive review only to find out that the review was rejected by Amazon. The ..."I do most of my reviewing in spurts. I'll put up ten or so in a single day after months of nothing. Typically, Amazon takes 70% of them. I get emails for the others saying HTML is not allowed or some other bizarre error that wasn't actually in any of my reviews.
It's obnoxious, and useless to pursue. I gave up on fighting them a long time ago. I feel bad for authors, especially SPA, but there is only so much time I have to commit to reviewing publicly and Amazon is hard to fight. The first time I argued over this, it was a two week battle with repeated emails from me, and continued silence from Amazon, followed by unrelated, generic responses that never addressed my particular concern.
Bill, I'm curious. Did the review go up and come down? Other than the person who emailed you (what a nice thing to do) how did you find out the reviews were rejected?Don't you love the emails you get from Amazon which often demonstrate they don't have any idea what the problem is or why you are unhappy and then ask if they've solved the problem without offering you a way to contact the person who wrote to you?
Amazon is weird about reviews, and not just for books. They refused to allow me to review a CD order that they only sent me part of. Listing included a CD and a rip. This was sold by Amazon, too, not a third seller. They only sent me the CD and then told me they didn't have a rip available. The review said "this is a good Cd, but product is not as advertised. I only received half of the order." Their response was that I couldn't talk about the service. I said I wasn't talking about the service. I was talking about the product, and that half of it was missing. What you get ain't what they list.
They would not let me post anything about the fact that the product did not match the listing.
So I don't know what or how they are determining what stays and what goes, other than they are evidently blowing Dungeons and Dragons dice out of their asses and then consulting some arcane chart.
Regina wrote: "So I don't know what or how they are determining what stays and what goes, other than they are evidently blowing Dungeons and Dragons dice out of their asses and then consulting some arcane chart."LOL
Bill wrote: Ironically, the only thing you can't review on Amazon -- is Amazon.Tell me about it. I've had a 1- and a 2-star review I posted deleted by the busy little deletion elves at Amazon. All I can figure is that they didn't want their bottom line affected. Both books were by traditionally published authors, by the way. I posted the 1-star review again after the darlings at Amazon deleted it, and they axed it once again, so I suspect my theory is correct. My review spoke of only the content and the ad nauseam use of ellipses and favorite words; never did it attack the authors (I don't do that), so they had no valid basis for deleting it.
PS: I don't write many reviews anymore, and I NEVER post them on Amazon now.
Nancy wrote: "Bill, I'm curious. Did the review go up and come down? Other than the person who emailed you (what a nice thing to do) how did you find out the reviews were rejected?Don't you love the emails you..."
I heard from the person who wrote it via email. I don't believe the review was ever posted on the book's page. And you're right. It's a fight that I don't think can be won. I still have to wonder how many times this happens.
Regina wrote: "Amazon is weird about reviews, and not just for books. They refused to allow me to review a CD order that they only sent me part of. Listing included a CD and a rip. This was sold by Amazon, too, n..."Regina, the D&D explanation is the first one that has made any sense.
I find C.M.J's comment the most troubling of anything I've read here.
Linda wrote: C.M.J. -- You are an author. You are not allowed to write negative reviews of other authors' books. Even if those books are not in the same genre as yours, even if your criticisms are 110% valid based on the atrocious quality of the writing, it doesn't matter. Authors are not allowed to negatively review books on Amazon.Linda, I'll consider myself properly chastised and gagged. ;) Amazon is, of course, correct in putting upstart reviewers like me in their place. Heaven forbid that we express our opinions instead of supporting every Tom, Dick, and Harry who spews words and publishes them no matter their piss-poor quality. God save the bottom line!
