Today, Amazon's online marketplace sells a lot of merchandise that isn't from Amazon. Amazon sells 56% of its products from third-party sellers. These sellers can't email customers directly via Amazon, which is against the terms of Amazons service.AdvertisementA Wall Street Journal report reveals that sellers still find ways to contact buyers and harass them about editing or deleting negative reviews. Some companies even offer reviewer lookup and email extraction services, so they can track down unhappy customers.The Journal spoke to Katherine Scott from New York, who claimed she left a negative feedback for a kitchen oil spray bottle she purchased in March. She said that the product did not work as promised. One week later, a person claiming to represent the seller's customer service team reached out to Scott via email and offered her a refund for her review.We will refund the entire amount. If we don't receive a reply, we will assume you didn't see it and continue sending emails. The plea ended with the following: We hope that you will reconsider deleting comments at any time.Scott requested a refund, but she refused to remove her review. She received an email offering $20 from another representative to delete the review. Over the next few months she received more unsolicited emails, all urging her to remove her review.G/O Media might get a great deal CBD Tincture oil Higher concentration to help with the harder daysIdeal for daily stress relief and anxiety relief. Boosted by Vitamins D3 and B12.Sunday Scaries: Buy for $34It was very creepy. Scott explained that they emailed me about it repeatedly.A minimum of 12 other reviews on similar products mention that the seller reached them and forced them to change their negative review. The Journal reports that the product doesn't work and that company will harass you until you make a review. One customer said that the seller offered $20-30 to remove negative reviews.AdvertisementBen Hendin, a Tulsa, Oklahoma customer, said that Amazon reached out to him four more times after he had left a negative review about a finger splint. The seller increased the amount of the refund to persuade him to remove the review. It eventually reached $40, which is more than twice the cost of the splint.According to Amazon's privacy notice, Amazon does not share customers' personal information about third-party sellers when it comes to sharing information. Qualified sellers can use Amazon's buyer-seller messaging system, which uses an encrypted email address instead of the customer's personal email.AdvertisementJournal was told by an Amazon spokesperson that we do not share customer email addresses to third-party sellers.Amazon's customer product reviews policies prohibit sellers from asking customers to remove or change their review. Sellers cannot offer a customer a refund or any other compensation in return for reviewing their product.AdvertisementScott shared with the Journal a theory about how the seller obtained her email address. She said that her Amazon package contained a free gift insert for an electric cooking thermometer. This prompting her to enter her order ID and email address. A spokesperson for Amazon stated that this type of insert is against Amazon's policies. Hendin claimed that he inquired directly with the seller about how they obtained his contact information. The representative replied, "Boss found it through a social software search for names."Sellers are apparently in such high demand that many companies offer services to find contact information for unhappy customers. Matic Chain, which is a company that allegedly offers email extraction services for Amazon sellers, was reportedly investigated by the Journal. It uses Google and other social media platforms to match buyers' names with contact information.AdvertisementZonBoost is another company offering similar services and boasts openly about it on their website. It offers a Reviewer Search tool, which can be accessed by clicking the image below. For $60 per pop, you can enter the link to an Amazon review. ZonBoost will then promise to locate those buyers name and email with 100% accuracy. (Technically, this is 60 credits but each credit costs just one dollar.AdvertisementAmazons database is the data source for all our features. This guarantees 100% accuracy. Read the tools Q&A page.Gizmodos asked ZonBoost and Amazon for their comments but they did not reply.According to the outlet, Scotts' experience was reported by the Journal after the Journal reached out directly to Amazon. The listing, seller and brand were removed from Amazon.AdvertisementAn Amazon spokesperson stated that the company detected the issue you are highlighting and took the necessary enforcement actions. They went on:Amazon offers a lot of help content, proactive coaching and warnings to sellers in order to make sure they adhere to our policies. We have clear policies that both sellers and reviewers can follow to prevent abuse of our community features. If someone violates these policies, we will suspend, ban, or take legal action. Bad actors who attempt to abuse our system account for a small fraction of the activity on our site. We use sophisticated tools to fight them and make it harder for them to hide.AdvertisementWhat should you do if a seller attempts to force you to change your review? An Amazon spokesperson told the Journal that customers can report them by emailing community-help@amazon.com or click the Report Abuse link on the review page.
