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Offering free stuff to those who make reviews...is this agaisnt TOS?


Poenald Palen
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I don't do this, so please to NOT by my stuff and then review it expected a freebie lol. I saw this in a listing on marketplace and laughed, but also found it hard to say he was being dishonest IF he would give for bad reviews as well. Sort of a "thanks for the feeback" and seems a totally straight forward "you scratch mine, I scratch yours" and could easily be balanced by giving them to even bad reviews!!! Right? Not bad, not unethical or illegal stuff? Not against marketplace TOS? I don't wish to do this myself, I would rather just offer a in store review and offer it for feedback at a beta test or something. BUT, it did make me wonder if it was against TOS?

Usually people don't ask for feeback, obviously it can backfire! You say "hey, I wish people would review the item and say what you just said, thank you so much..I feel as if the others you told really did diserve that advice becuase I put a lot  of work in to get that exact response, to make those people happy...thanks for letting me know you shared this with others!" and then hope they sort of get that you wish they had reviewed? BUT, heck...if you say it right in your listing and give even to bad reviews...isn't that a bit more honest, or at least as honest? BUT, doesn't it seem a bit like bribery lol. Like, OH, you like this one? We will give you another one so you can forget that other one the competition makes man! We will hook you up!" BUT, there is not notice in the "FREE item if you post a review!" line....so...you have to give at least 3 stars if you want the freebie, right? lol.

Strange stuff, but I can't see how it is against TOS and admit I haven't read the marketplace one in a long time. But, I think I will just stick to NBOT asking for reviews and just feeback to me personally, which I don't use as testemonials right now...although maybe I should...heck, there is like border line bribery going on for star ratings lol. Makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes, not as honest as this one seller was with his offer!!

Do you think it is bribery, unethical, and is it against TOS? Maye even evil, will it destroy the world OR simply be good business? Any opinions are of course unstoppable and all end of world scenarios based on this action of this seller are totally welcome, but IF names are named then could lead to the destruction of this thread! Which is unstoppable by me as this thread sort of becomes publicly addable to and I have no control over it...it is a wild beast that might destroy itself here...so let it be. Either way all comments welcome, aside from those meant to hurt or harrass.

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I think you are talking about reviews on personal blogs. The OP refers to reviews on marketplace, so it's a bit different story, but yeah I could say 90% of the bloggers who contacted me asked for "review copies", so basically they ask for freebies. Of course there are some bloggers who buy the items to blog by themselves, but those people would be in a minority.

 

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Gambling, insane banking offerings banned(I mean, 24% a day!!!! wow, crazy stuff!), trade mark lawsuits, copyright (even over virutal horses!), and now...bloggers are going to be hunted down by the FTC! The whole world is currupt and didn't even know it! SL will be crawling with FTC dudes who will bust down your doors (yeah, even i fyou live in lithuania...why not, the FBI does this in other countries, right?) and they will take your PC and search through it all while holding your head down under a heavy boot all dressed in black and screaming at you to reamain still...in the US even the EPA are armed and raid peoples places if they have dumped barrels of chemicals lol.

And, yeah, the guy was saying about stared reviews on the marketplace and not blogs. BUT, it is honest and his reviewers would not be unethical if comments on the marketplace where somehow included with the FTC's rules! lol. Strange...I sort of can't see an issue because I mean...you could just put a bad review, if it was honest, and he would send you another model and possibly this one would work better and you might be happy! I mean, sometimes you have products with different workings! So, the person might turn around and star the other well...but then they get another item....and then another....you see what I mean? lol. He sort of must have only offered on this one item, but I didn't check all of his items! I also imagine he would send it in world and NOT send it from the marketplace, otherwise...in fact, I remember he did say in world he would...in fact, I think he even said you had to meet him in world....that is an important part I forgot.

Oh, and another part I forgot...they havn't got any stars on that item!!! No one reviewed! Maybe this is why he put the text up! He had sales, but no reviews and got sick of it lol. No stipulation of only positive stars either, so technically you can just put one star if you hate it and still get the other..I suppose his reasoning is you will not want the other OR if it is different he might save the sale of his company as you will give him a second chance....smart I guess...but still a little like bribery in a way....but I can't see exactly how...it just feels wrong lol.

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Oh, BTW a person who makes scripted objects could get around the compensation issue via placing a script in the item that times out and triggers it to delete via the llDie(); function in the script. Timer, then place the llDie bit in there...wiki can help. That way, no compensation issues for objects! Now, if they cheat and delete the script...well, you can check the item has that script present with a loop of some kind that checks it is there and tells you. But be warned that scripts load slowely these days and you will get a message that it isn't there because it didn't load faster than the other one! Of course, multiple checks at intervals act as a double or trimple check. For clothes...well, tough to do BUT you could put a big word on the back of one outfit set, and a bit word on the other..or you logo...um, a word like "DEMO" or "Press tester" or something? So, the idea you can't get around it is hard to argue...so, now I think about it the FTC thing is an issue! I have never sent items and never got a blog post about any stuff I made...just part of the industry I am in. Fashion is competitive though! So I can imagine, and have seen a blog before about fashion. So, I know they do like to take pics of the stuff.....which is why I said back printed on one, front on another...that way photo's are easy and yet the item is still not wearable as a normal outfit for normal use. Uh, just thougts on anyone wanting to deal with blogs who will not say....although, isn't it the bloggers who get into trouble?

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The TOS says compensation can be offered for reviews, but has to be for any review, good or bad. Something like that -- just read it the other day.

I just don't have the energy to do anything like that -- I can barely keep up with the basics of running the store and making and updating stuff.

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Pamela Galli wrote:

The TOS says compensation can be offered for reviews, but has to be for any review, good or bad. Something like that -- just read it the other day.

I just don't have the energy to do anything like that -- I can barely keep up with the basics of running the store and making and updating stuff.

OH, he had no reviews/stars on that product I saw. Maybe another product faired beetter lol. I will not bother searching it out again, but I could not get over the odd thinking...is this ethical...then I thought...wait, he didn't say only good reviews....so...why not? Of course, he didn't get any and you would think he might have drawn at least one if they had bought...there are a lot of factors I guess.

I think you are right about focusing on more builds, new stuff and making things work well for customers via updating! That must be 10X more imortant, but this is funny stuff to me, it seems unethical at first. So it is a funny mind thing...anyway, thanks to all for the input and the TOS mention from you Pamela  Galli!

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Im discussing this every day inworld with my clients which are usually merchants. Count me in! :)

Its indeed not against the TOS, seen Here under policies and guidelines.. but im still not a friend of those practices.

Paying money, offering gifts or any other rewards for doing something is always a kind of purchase or a service in return for payment. So even if the LL allows it when both good and bad reviews are rewarded, its still a fact that these practices always and only have a positive effect on reviews. (in quantity and star-rating)

But there is a lack of quality. It usually ends up in a mass of short and pointless reviews like "good item", "great product", "nice item", "Wow i like it, "i love it".. etc.. Imo its a kind of misleading of buyers because it makes a product more popular than it really ought to be.. Cause a non-rated item always looks like nobody buys it. Thats just a popular misbelief but how should buyers know?

Its up to the merchants if they want to pay for a mass of pointless reviews or if they prefer few honest and very helpful reviews instead. I think serious merchants prefer honesty, because they want to learn from their customers. Rewarded reviews are never honest or helpful, because they would never have been written without this reward offer. This is just to keep in mind.

So, if you want honest reviews on your products you can only offer good quality items, maybe remind your customers friendly, be friendly and offer a good customer support... And then its in the hands of your customers to leave you a review. You must be patient, but if you get one, you can be sure its more than just a few boring words. And its completely honest.

 

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