In recent months, a wave of "loophole" reviewing has taken place on Amazon. These particular reviews are easily spotted as they typically contain this refrain/disclaimer: I received this product in exchange for my unbiased review.

For those that are unaware, here's how it works: you purchase an item on Amazon. When the item is delivered, you either receive an email following receipt of the item or a pamphlet with the order. The email or pamphlet encourages you to leave an "unbiased" review and in exchange as a supposed grateful gesture, the seller sends you an additional product for free. It is, at its most basic level, a quid pro quo scheme. Sometimes, sellers will even encourage you to review items you have not tried and then they will send you the item. Amazon does not recognize any of this as rule breaking as it pertains to their current review rules. While Amazon prohibits paid-for reviews, they do not consider the above exchange to be nefarious. Some research, however, shows the perils of this agreement.

The reality is that when a buyer receives a product for free, they are unable to fully assess the product and its quality because the quality is a function of the price. Likewise, if the buyer has never tried the product, how can they even begin to assess it? Finally, humans are notoriously bad at thinking objectively, especially when, in this case, they are essentially gifted an item. You know, we're taught from a young age to accept gifts or otherwise free items we receive, whether we want them or not, graciously and without question.

An old adage comes to mind: Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Advocates for this allowance seem to fall into two categories: the sellers and folks who are endeared to those sellers as a result of having received free products. The argument against this arrangement is simple: if a product cannot withstand scrutiny and the seller can't stand by the product without a quid pro quo arrangement, that says enough to know the product isn't worth its weight in salt. Attempting to "fix" a product's reviews is nothing more than shady business.

Amazon's product team should be at least looking into this. However, it does not appear they are as the complaints throughout forums and the number of articles written about this phenomenon are just as rampant as the reviewing behavior about which they are complaining.

We are petitioning Amazon to review, amend, or otherwise revise the rules as they pertain to sellers offering products for free, or at a discounted price, in exchange for a review. The current state of the rules diminishes the buyer experience and precludes buyers from making pertinent, judicious, and informed buying decisions. A revision of the rules will preserve the Amazon buying experience.