Dirty tactics/underhand practices - what's your experience?
Discussion
Just looking for a bit of sanity.
Short of it - launched a product (first commercially available of its type) in 2020, but it was quickly copied (much lower quality, poorer design and much more expensive) by a competitor who has been using underhand tactics since 2022 to undermine my product. My product was selling really well on Amazon, but all of a sudden, negative reviews started with the 'buyers' mentioning the competitor's product as 'the better alternative' - at the time, I checked through all the orders and, surprise surprise, the competitor had actually ordered my product and this coincided with the raft of negative reviews. Unforunately for me, this has not stopped and continues to this day with the negative reviews following the same pattern.
I take every negative review/returned item very personally and this clouds my mood for days.
Has anyone else been the subject durty tactics and, if so, how do you deal with it?
TIA
Short of it - launched a product (first commercially available of its type) in 2020, but it was quickly copied (much lower quality, poorer design and much more expensive) by a competitor who has been using underhand tactics since 2022 to undermine my product. My product was selling really well on Amazon, but all of a sudden, negative reviews started with the 'buyers' mentioning the competitor's product as 'the better alternative' - at the time, I checked through all the orders and, surprise surprise, the competitor had actually ordered my product and this coincided with the raft of negative reviews. Unforunately for me, this has not stopped and continues to this day with the negative reviews following the same pattern.
I take every negative review/returned item very personally and this clouds my mood for days.
Has anyone else been the subject durty tactics and, if so, how do you deal with it?
TIA
Wow... or... er... holy moly! I can't believe how cretinous some people are. Can you report the "reviews" as fake? They can check the IP addresses and account emails. Or even reply with "According to our records, you have not bought this product from us which means you must be a fake review."
I wouldn't go so far as commenting on the poor quality of the rival, though.
You could also contact past buyers and ask them to post positive reviews in light of your current situation.
I wouldn't go so far as commenting on the poor quality of the rival, though.
You could also contact past buyers and ask them to post positive reviews in light of your current situation.
Thanks for the replies.
So, another negative review was published on Saturday which pushed me over the edge - however, this time we discovered that the 'buyer' that left the negative review is actually following my competitor on IG, so we have a link between them and our competitor. Have reported to Amazon, so will see what they say (not holding out hope as we have reported before and nothing happened).
Just for clarity, this product was designed by myself and solved an decades-old problem and so is very much a 'passion product' which is why this feels like a very personal battle. We sell it directly, via Amazon and via a very large retailer.
Direct sales - ZERO complaints and ZERO returns.
Amazon - product was actually 'Amazon's Choice' until the shenanigans started and now has fallen in ranking due to the rating taking a battering is behind inferior Chinese copies.
Not sure whether a LBA might be a good idea?
So, another negative review was published on Saturday which pushed me over the edge - however, this time we discovered that the 'buyer' that left the negative review is actually following my competitor on IG, so we have a link between them and our competitor. Have reported to Amazon, so will see what they say (not holding out hope as we have reported before and nothing happened).
Just for clarity, this product was designed by myself and solved an decades-old problem and so is very much a 'passion product' which is why this feels like a very personal battle. We sell it directly, via Amazon and via a very large retailer.
Direct sales - ZERO complaints and ZERO returns.
Amazon - product was actually 'Amazon's Choice' until the shenanigans started and now has fallen in ranking due to the rating taking a battering is behind inferior Chinese copies.
Not sure whether a LBA might be a good idea?
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