Giving away free product in exchange for reviews on Amazon

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Here’s a creative idea for launching a new or little known product on Amazon. Simply give your product away, or discount it, and then request reviews from those who benefited from your temporary promotion! Sounds simple right?

Not so fast.

Before I give you my words of caution, first I have some very good news. Clearly, according to Amazon’s own rules you ARE allowed to give away free or reduced price products and then request an amazon review in return. When done correctly, this is a brilliant strategy that can turn a relatively unknown product on Amazon.com into one that has the appearance of being “popular”.  That can be good for future sales, and this strategy is being used successfully by many Amazon sellers right now, but…

…most Amazon selling experts would urge caution (including me) when using this strategy. For those considering attempting this strategy, I’ve compiled the good, the bad and some resources for you to hep make a good decision and navigate the process without getting burned.

SOME REASONS IT’S A GOOD IDEA:

• A bunch of reviews gets your product a lot of attention and better ranking
• It also helps the product have more credibility
• future shoppers are far more likely to purchase a highly reviewed product at full price

SOME REASONS IT MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA:

• If you tell your “freebie seeking” promotion participants that they can only give you a “good review”, or if you refund them after their discounted purchase, or if you manipulate the system in any way that Amazon doesn’t like, you could put your account at risk.
• If you use a third party service to help you do the promotion it could mean that a lot of other sellers will see what you are selling – and could potentially copy your efforts if they so choose (this is always a risk selling ANYTHING online though)
• Other sellers have their doubts about using services like this, and we’ve got a great discussion going on this topic on Facebook (link below)

SOME CHALLENGES YOU’LL ENCOUNTER:

• Where will your freebie seekers come from? Do you have a list? If not, we’ve partnered with a reputable service that can help. GreatDealsForHonestReviews.com is our domain name that redirects to the service we currently endorse. If that endorsement ever changes, we’ll point our domain name somewhere else.
• How can you limit “freebie seekers” from wiping out your inventory?
• You’ll want to limit the number of “freebies” your customers can get. Use a “promotion code” to control this. Log in to Seller Central and use this link to get all the details on promotions: Amazon Seller Central. Visit “Great Deals For Honest Reviews” to get details on our partner service that can help you navigate these details.

HERE ARE OTHER RESOURCES TO USE BEFORE MAKING THE LEAP:

A good open discussion on this topic is happening in our Facebook group. Come see what other sellers and experts are saying. Facebook discussion

Amazon’s guidelines in their own words (read all of this before attempting to pursue reviews for free or discounted product): Amazon Guidelines

When you are ready to do a promotion, our currently endorsed provider of such services for sellers is here: GreatDealsForHonestReviews.com

Did I leave anything out? Have questions? Feel free to leave a comment, or join the Facebook discussion using the link above.