[duxup]

This almost smells like a google throwing their hands up and saying "Well maybe it's a harmful app and they should use something else ... I dunno, put a warning on it."

I see similar-ish warnings on Amazon about "frequently returned item", but I've no idea if it is true or why. Maybe an underlying vendor for the same item is bad? Amazon (who doesn't care about bad vendors as far as I can tell) just slaps a label on it and throws up their hands.

[rahimnathwani]

I find that "frequently returned item" warning really useful. It's a reminder to look at the 2 star and 3 star reviews. Sometimes it's just a sizing issue. At other times some subset of people have a specific issue. The issue may or may not be something that affects me (e.g. some people can't operate something that doesn't have really clear instructions).

[freedomben]

I do too, but I think it's important to consider that these are actually pretty different. In the Google example, the banner is being displayed because of something that isn't necessarily the fault of the dev and isn't itself an indicator of problematic behavior (and indeed is the starting position for all developers of a new app), whereas at least Amazon (presumably) is basing it off of actual performance data that indicate poor performance/behavior.

[duxup]

It's not even clear if frequently returned item is a fault of a given seller. May sellers are involved in the "same" item on Amazon.

[rahimnathwani]

Yes 100% agree

[duxup]

I find the “frequently returned item” warning totally confusing. It usually isn’t reflected in their reviews that I can tell….

I have to wonder if there’s some sort of strange meta where people search for one thing buy something and not realize that they’re actually looking for something else that’s difficult to search.

[toast0]

Or buy something and the warehouse ships them another. I bought something from amazon where reviews said about half the people got the wrong product, and I got the wrong product, returned it and got the wrong one again, and then they wouldn't let me try again.

In a twist, I had previously attempted to order the right product from a different vendor, but I put the wrong one in the cart, and had to pay a restocking fee to return it. They sent me the right one when I ordered it properly.

[ww520]

"frequently returned item" = "frequently uninstalled app"

Fewer installed is not it.

[ipaddr]

Amazon does something similiar so google copied. Before you get a buy now button you need 25 reviews which you get by sending free products to volunteers.

[csomar]

Apples/Oranges. The equivalent of "frequently returned item" is "frequently reported app"