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Comment by _ea1k | Hacker News Reader

I think the reviews on this one are a pretty good indication of where this is going: http://www.amazon.com/LEnfant-tasse-portrait-Jean-Monet/dp/B...

If it is going to work, then they have a lot of work left to do.

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Ugh.

Those reviews would have been cute 10 years ago, but I really wish Amazon would screen reviews or only allow people who have purchased that particular item.

Which is a problem for a marketplace of mostly-unique or one-off items. Ebay makes the seller ratings paramount, which mostly works. Amazon has seller ratings, but the sitewide culture doesn't place as much emphasis on them.

I've rated every Ebay seller I've ever worked with, but I don't always remember to do the same with Amazon, and I assume that's pretty typical.

This makes me wonder if it's a PR stunt. I think Amazon allows them to stay up because it draws traffic to the site.

Amazon does flag reviews where they can verify the purchase.

I think those reviews are zero indication of where it will go.

That isn't to say that Amazon art will do well, I just doubt that people writing those reviews represent the demand for art or the feelings of people who might buy from Amazon.

Smart thing would be to add logic to say:

if type = "Unique Work" then disallow reviews.

If anything the reviews are good PR, no?

I'm waiting for the one that comes with the "Amazon Confirmed Purchase" tag.

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