So I started by reviewing things I had bought such as books, CDs and anything else and then the offer of free "stuff" started coming in and a trickle turned into an avalanche. When it first happened I was suspicious that I was being scammed but no this was all genuine.
Soon I began to be swamped with goods - much of which I gave to charity sales or away to family/friends. Anything from mobile music speakers to eye shields, jewellery to vitamin tablets.
At times I had numerous deliveries everyday. I tried to review everything sent and the offers just kept coming. By the time I stopped reviewing I was ranked 439th in the world out of around 12 million reviewers. But to keep that ranking you really had to work at it. In the UK I believe I was well inside the top 100.
And still the offers came. Some of the stuff was absolute tat but others was good quality merchandise. It was quite simple how it worked. Companies would ask if I was interested in reviewing goods and if I responded in a affirmative they would send a code which when entered on the Amazon checkout would take the charge down to zero.
Sometimes I was offered merchandise for 90% or 95% off. That way it came up on amazon with the words "verified purchase," which suggested the item had been bought and wasn't just a freebie, but most of it was free. And the more I reviewed the more offers I received and the more parcels that turned up.
But of course the companies were always looking for and expecting five star reviews. That way Amazon reviews became pretty meaningless as the majority of five star reviews came from people getting the items free and almost being blackmailed into saying good things about them. When I gave one item a four star review I was contacted by the company asking me what was wrong with it. To my mind four stars is a good review but of course they wanted five stars.
Some items seemed good at the time like a wind up radio which I did give five stars to as it did exactly what it said. But then after a couple of months it broke.
Then, perhaps thankfully, Amazon changed its review rules so that you couldn't get free stuff simply by entering a code. You had to genuinely buy offers and then, after your review had appeared, you were re-imbursed via Paypal. This repayment often came with an additional fee of say 5% providing you give the item a five star rating.
I gave up at that point as it seemed just too problematic and hit and miss as to whether you got your money back. I still get requests for reviews coming through but I reckon my rating now must be back in the 1000s.
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A few days ago I received a request from one of my lovely readers asking for a list of books either set in or about Norfolk. Obviously there are literally thousands of non fiction books so I am building up a list of fiction which I will add to from time to time on this blog starting today. So here are the first entries:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (features Great Yarmouth)
The Accidental by Ali Smith
The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry
The Future Homemakers of America by Laurie Graham
Waterland by Graham Swift
The Ruth Galloway Series of Mysteries by Elly Griffiths
The Go Between by L.P Hartley
Salt by Jeremy Page
The Norfolk Mystery by Ian Sansom
Death at Sandringham House by C.C. Benison
The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett
Coot Club by Arthur Ransome (set on the Norfolk Broads)
Devices and Desires by P. D. James
A Bird in Hand by Ann Cleeves
The Haunting by Paul Doherty
The Corner That Held Them by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Rich are Different by Susan Howatch
Watercolour Sky by William Riviere
The Absolutist by John Boyne
More to follow at a later date.