[tedmiston]

Note that the most helpful review is someone who did not buy one. Same with the second. And the third.

> Sample provided for review.

> Got this at no cost for unbiased review.

> *I received a sample product from Ivation.

Reviews are much more scattered if you filter by "Verified purchase only". It's interesting that this drops the number of reviews from 165 to 104 for a product which is designed for and presumably sold only on Amazon.

I'm not necessarily suggesting these reviews are shady, but given the other aspects of Amazon that this company tracks, it would seem reasonable to suggest they've figured out a way to track influential reviewers likely to give them a positive review.

[themartorana]

This type of review has ruined any tentative faith I used to have in Amazon reviews.

[ashmud]

From what I can remember, Amazon has always been full of mostly useless reviews. Disclosing that products were provided for free does little to change that. About the only thing that does is let the parties involved "white wash" their hands of ethical issues.

Occasionally, there will be a shining star. Recently I ordered an AIO printer and a reviewer had a fairly comprehensive reviews on multiple models, almost at a short article length.

Music seems to be one category where I sometimes find value in the reviews. It seems like people are more forthcoming about their music tastes, even though subjective, than what they think about utilitarian products.

[guelo]

I like how their super-duper religion doesn't prevent them from scamming people.

EDIT: downvoters, care to explain what's wrong with this comment?

[sciguy77]

Since you asked, I'd say you're probably being downvoted because the fact that the creator is Jewish is irrelevant to the comment you replied to. OP was having a balanced discussion about the ethics of providing review products whereas your comment declares the creator a scammer without any explanation or supporting evidence.

IMO I don't think religion, even if its "super-duper" is really on topic in a discussion about the quality and ethics of Amazon reviews. I hope this doesn't come off as critical, I'm just trying to explain where your donvoters may be coming from.

[guelo]

Thank you. Maybe the problem is I replied in this specific thread after reading the other threads were the religion is discussed. And also where the scamminess of Amazon reviews is discussed.