Those who try to shop for power banks and other charging accessories during Prime Day won’t have a lot of products to choose from. That’s because Amazon just pulled RAVPower from its marketplace, likely for soliciting favorable reviews. RAVPower’s removal comes just one month after Amazon kicked Aukey and Mpow from its marketplace for what may be the same violation.
Amazon hasn’t commented on RAVPower’s removal. We’re currently reaching out to Amazon for a statement, though the company will probably send us something generic, as that’s what happened when we reached out after Aukey’s ban from the marketplace.
Generic statement or not, it’s safe to assume that Amazon kicked RAVPower to the curb for soliciting product reviews. Last week, RAVPower came under fire after tech columnist Nicole Nguyen highlighted the company in a WSJ editorial on fake reviews. In her editorial, Nguyen shows a RAVPower product insert offering $35 for a review, a direct violation of Amazon’s policies.
Following my fake review story, listings for Amazon-native electronics brand RAVPower are gone.
The company offered $35 gift cards for reviews on a product that was sold directly by Amazon itself. RAVPower acted as a wholesale vendor on that listing.https://t.co/6nazZZ5Wtb pic.twitter.com/znp9u48YHV
— nicole nguyen (@nicnguyen) June 16, 2021
The RAVPower insert may also violate the FTC Act, which states that companies may not pay for false testimonials and that reviewers must disclose when a company has paid to influence their opinion. While the RAVPower insert shown by Nguyen doesn’t explicitly ask for five star reviews, most people will assume that the company expects something favorable in exchange for $35.
It’s a shame to see RAVPower fall into this mess, because it’s really one of the best charging brands out there. But that’s just how things go! Unless Amazon reverses its decision, Anker is now the undisputed king of the Amazon marketplace’s charging accessories category.
You can still buy RAVPower products on the RAVPower website, which is currently running a Father’s Day sale. For more information on Amazon’s fake review crackdown (which is coming several years too late), I suggest visiting Nicole Nguyen’s Twitter and checking out her recent WSJ editorial. You can also read about our experience with fake Amazon reviews and counterfeit products on our sister site, How-To Geek.
Source: Nicole Nguyen/WSJ
