How one Vine reviewer turned my dream launch into a Nightmare 😱
I'm already completely desperate.
I launched my first product after a whole year (a year!) of product development.
A truly complete product, made from the best materials, with the best settings, everything p-e-r-f-e-c-t. So, I launched the product, invested hundreds of dollars in an amazing listing, videos, photos, photographers who captured every possible angle, and the most accurate information. Launch day - a blast: 10 sales in few hours, one campaign, a huge budget, and really, sales just kept growing day by day (common, why did I only order 1,000 units?). Listen, 100 orders in the first 15 days, no one returned the product, not a single refund request, and really - 6 five-star reviews came in only 1 month, two of them even posted with a photo, what a dream - my lovely customers love me to.
At least that's what I thought.
One day, I check the listing and discover that my five stars (yeah, I knew it wouldn’t stay that way) dropped to 3.8.
My world darkened.
The nastiest, most disrespectful review I’ve ever received in my life, I felt humiliated. Never mind that the title started with "the size not working for me" (my product is tailored for a bed and comes in a specific size, clearly stated in the title, the bullet points, the image, and the product specs—like, didn’t you notice your bed doesn’t fit to the product? But fine - it could happens). The review content was almost a full page of , extremely insulting, comparing me to the worst product in the world, saying I wasted her money, time, and even space in her house. And you know what’s the funniest? She’s part of the Vine program - the program that should "boost sales through reviews". You literally got the product for free (okay, you paid taxes), literally got it on the 30th of the month, and literally posted the review on the 1st of the following month—you didn’t even give the product a chance.
The content of the review doesn’t even match my product; it talks about a solution my product doesn’t offer or provide, and there’s no mention of it anywhere in my listing. Long story short, over the week, I’m down to zero sales each day. I lowered the product’s price to a point where I’m not just losing, I’m also going broke. And I’m frustrated, I’m frustrated that Amazon isn’t helping me. Frustrated that I spent so many mental and financial resources on this product, and because of one review (at least that’s how it feels), everything went down the drain.
Within two weeks from this review, I dropped back to where I started, the advertising budget just keeps increasing, and I still can’t sell. I lower the price, increase the coupon to almost 30%, and still can’t sell.
Friends, I’m frustrated, I feel betrayed by Amazon. A lot of sellers told me not to expect help when I’d need it—they were right. Everyone told me that the other sellers are the real Amazon’s support, so I hope that somehow, salvation will come from here. Because I tried everything, I tried to contact the buyer (contact disabled be her), I tried to ask to refund her, I tried Amazon support, I tried to report this review. Nothing.
How one Vine reviewer turned my dream launch into a Nightmare 😱
I'm already completely desperate.
I launched my first product after a whole year (a year!) of product development.
A truly complete product, made from the best materials, with the best settings, everything p-e-r-f-e-c-t. So, I launched the product, invested hundreds of dollars in an amazing listing, videos, photos, photographers who captured every possible angle, and the most accurate information. Launch day - a blast: 10 sales in few hours, one campaign, a huge budget, and really, sales just kept growing day by day (common, why did I only order 1,000 units?). Listen, 100 orders in the first 15 days, no one returned the product, not a single refund request, and really - 6 five-star reviews came in only 1 month, two of them even posted with a photo, what a dream - my lovely customers love me to.
At least that's what I thought.
One day, I check the listing and discover that my five stars (yeah, I knew it wouldn’t stay that way) dropped to 3.8.
My world darkened.
The nastiest, most disrespectful review I’ve ever received in my life, I felt humiliated. Never mind that the title started with "the size not working for me" (my product is tailored for a bed and comes in a specific size, clearly stated in the title, the bullet points, the image, and the product specs—like, didn’t you notice your bed doesn’t fit to the product? But fine - it could happens). The review content was almost a full page of , extremely insulting, comparing me to the worst product in the world, saying I wasted her money, time, and even space in her house. And you know what’s the funniest? She’s part of the Vine program - the program that should "boost sales through reviews". You literally got the product for free (okay, you paid taxes), literally got it on the 30th of the month, and literally posted the review on the 1st of the following month—you didn’t even give the product a chance.
The content of the review doesn’t even match my product; it talks about a solution my product doesn’t offer or provide, and there’s no mention of it anywhere in my listing. Long story short, over the week, I’m down to zero sales each day. I lowered the product’s price to a point where I’m not just losing, I’m also going broke. And I’m frustrated, I’m frustrated that Amazon isn’t helping me. Frustrated that I spent so many mental and financial resources on this product, and because of one review (at least that’s how it feels), everything went down the drain.
Within two weeks from this review, I dropped back to where I started, the advertising budget just keeps increasing, and I still can’t sell. I lower the price, increase the coupon to almost 30%, and still can’t sell.
Friends, I’m frustrated, I feel betrayed by Amazon. A lot of sellers told me not to expect help when I’d need it—they were right. Everyone told me that the other sellers are the real Amazon’s support, so I hope that somehow, salvation will come from here. Because I tried everything, I tried to contact the buyer (contact disabled be her), I tried to ask to refund her, I tried Amazon support, I tried to report this review. Nothing.
56 replies
Seller_1T2lQGbwtB8x9
I will say this, the listing looks good, and if I read the reviews I would probably have disregarded the one negative review as as one of "those people".
One of the hardest parts about putting your "baby" out into the world is the negative feedback that will inevitably come. Especially if it is clearly irrational, user error, or just mean.
I have a number of products and all of them have had nasty reviews left, almost all of which are user error. I know the ones where we probably screwed up and I do my best to make it right and that's all you can do.
As for sales, reviews have an effect, but I believe the larger parts are your product ranking, and the amount of competition. New launched products get a bit of a bump, but not for long. It usually takes a long time to develop consistent sales velocity, and even when you get there you will have wild swings sometimes. It's not worth racking your brain over it, just keep your nose to the grindstone and don't take the negative reviews personally, I doubt any of those people would talk like that to your face, the anonymity of the internet brings out the worst in people.
I would work on refining the listing further, keyword research, competitor research. Here's a tip for your ads, if you aren't already doing it, create a campaign and target your own products. its called defensive advertising and it prevents your competitors from having their products displayed as prominently on your product page which can help keep them from pilfering sales.
Seller_oLpMZAbk92awn
I'm not gonna lie, they think they are being paid to overly criticize a product. I also have the worst reviews from them. I would never recommend that to a seller unless you want to pay $200 plus product costs to lose sales
Seller_oLpMZAbk92awn
I also read on VINE reviewers sub on Reddit someone saying he left 4 stars review to some USB cable he received that was working perfectly, but he said it was not impressive (somehow). So the product had Nothing wrong and he simply lowered his rate because he expected something magical out of it. I'm sorry, but your USB cable won't cure cancer. I dont get why lower a product rate when it has nothing wrong and you are already getting it for free.
Seller_UkUgnGPNVac5p
listing says youve sold 50 units in last 30 days and you are now at 4.2 stars. Its the name of the game and why many people prefer a job to running a business. You will make it if you keep pushing through and solving problems as they come.
Seller_roNdLQpqbVoOH
Decent looking listing if you ask me:
B0D1VDVT29
Not to me!
I cannot tell you how much I dislike those "eBay" type titles.
Let's use the word "wedge" four times, the word "pillow" four times, the word "bed" four times, the word "headboard" three times, and the word "gap" two times. Sure, why not? A perfectly keyword-stuffed title. Good to go!
There are rules against this odiousness, but Amazon seems to no longer enforce them.
Seller_QcTxwdRBrDspD
Agreed: title perhaps could use a bit of cleanup, but I was referring to general "look" of a product page, bullet points. Text doesn't seem to be AI generated or poshed up. Photos are actually really nicely done and everything else is worded fine.
Seller_csHWMpsP5ANmc
Really sorry you are going through this and Welcome to the new Amazon, this is how it works, we all suffer similar stuff, unfortunately it is sad but a horrible reality , a dear friend of mine had a nice retail store for years, was put out of business by Amazon , so he opened a sellers account on line and was doing great , recently put out of business again by Amazon , but do not worry , the founders are spending gazillions on charity originations to save the world and create jobs for millions of Non USA business
Seller_nBUcRErQhJ4JW
Amazon also doesnt take responsibility for poor reviews they cause.
Example- customer orders a ring, its FBA, box comes empty or ring comes tarnished because its a previous customer return. Completely the fault of Amazon but Amazon allows this to damage your product.
No longer allowing replies to reviews was another move by Amazon that defies logic.
Seller_qb9YwQ7193BDg
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
Seller_EeVQq96nRqCHo
Some reviewers take true delight in trying to be as unpleasant and "cleverly cruel" as they can. I went from a 4.9 down to a 4.7 after receiving ONE negative review! The customer canceled her order the day she received it because it was "too big." While almost every single other review mentioned my excellent customer service, this particular reviewer headlined her comments with "Worst Customer Service Ever."
Why? Because I had shipped the product on the same day she ordered by USPS (Amazon's choice) so it arrived too slowly (it arrived before the promised date.). She was also surprised because she had to pay $6 postage to return it instead of it being free. She ended up, in a burst of self-righteous fury, saying that the product was so bad it didn't even deserve to be on Amazon's list of useful products (What is that anyway?)
Mind you, she had never even used it, and I had offered a full refund as soon as she returned it. I did refund every penny that she had paid. And still, she left a one-star review! Not one of her complaints had to do with the product itself. Despite my repeated efforts to get Amazon to remove the review, it is still there, and it is still dragging down my cumulative product review score.
We used to have a way to see what reviews customers had previously left for their purchases, but I can't seem to find it now.
If Amazon wants its reviews to be taken seriously, it would provide some recourse for sellers who are trying to do a good job and help us when a bad actor tries to sabotage a product with reviews that are clearly not based on the product and involve factors beyond our control. If a customer habitually leaves scathing reviews on everything they buy, then maybe their reviews should be subject to more scrutiny, by humans instead of AI.
Seller_EWPnXa9SdQQ15
I feel this on a personal level because that’s exactly what a vine reviewer has done to me. Mine did not even use the product and spent the whole time complaining about me the seller instead of actually giving the product to the gender it was intended for use then post a review. I have contacted Amazon so many times about this review so they can see that he’s violated community guidelines-Nada..Anyways, I read all the comments on here and they gave me hope.
I will definitely take these suggestions.
