Friday, June 16th 2017

ASRock Giving Rebate Rewards for Newegg Customers Who Leave Verified Reviews

A post is making the rounds on Reddit that calls readers' attention towards the fact that ASRock is giving additional rebates to customers who purchase a qualifying motherboard on Newegg. The fact that a given ASRock motherboard rose from around 10 to upwards of 50 customer reviews in almost no time gave the first warning bell; however, is there really something to be alarmed about?

Mail-in-rebates are something of a given in US stores, and companies can choose what kind of conditions must be met towards a customer being eligible for a mail-in rebate. Sometimes, these are product-oriented. Other times, a minimum expense threshold is defined, after which the customer is entitled to a rebate. ASRock is now adding a rebate solely on the condition that a verified purchaser of one of their motherboards on Newegg comes back to the site to put up a review. A detail that makes or breaks this action: the customers are in no way encouraged to post a positive review. In no way a positive or negative review affects a customer's eligibility. Only whether or not you made a verified purchase, and came back to leave feedback. Whether that is a 1-star rating or a 5-star one doesn't affect your eligibility. I for one think that this is a sound business practice, and that more companies should be doing this, as a way to demonstrate confidence on their products, and attract customer interaction. But don't take my opinion; just give us our own. What do you think of this strategy?
Source: Reddit
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36 Comments on ASRock Giving Rebate Rewards for Newegg Customers Who Leave Verified Reviews

#26
HTC
uuuaaaaaaThere are AsRock boards over here! You can find almost all stack up to the Taichi and its Fatal1ty twin!
_JP_Unless you're looking at stores really close to you, there are ASRock AM4 boards here. Granted, stock might be scarce, but they are listed :)
But it's true that those 3 flooded the market here, especially MSI
Was looking in "my usual suspect stores (online)" as well as in KuantoKusta (KK): still not available where i usually buy but finally finally listed in KK. Tbh, i had seen it in KK before ... for about 8 hours before it was gone again (@ 312€, IIRC) ... but now it shows in 3 different stores @ up to 264€.

I can finally purchase the components for an AM4 build: YAY!!!!!
Posted on Reply
#27
MrGenius
It skews reviews towards being more positive than they might otherwise be.

For example:

"I wish I could give the product 0 stars. Because that's what I feel it deserves. But since I can't post, and/or get paid for, this review without giving it at least 1 star...1 star it is!"

"I was going to give the product 4 stars. But given the fact that they're paying me for my review, that's enough incentive to give it an additional star. 5 stars!"

It skews reviews towards being more negative than they might otherwise be.

For example:

"I was going to give the product 5 stars. But since I get paid regardless...1 star!"

"I find the idea of paid reviews so unfair that I would never give any product from a company who does that any more than the 1 star required. Even if it truly deserves 5 stars. 1 star!"

Bottom line: It skews reviews by giving monetary incentive for a review. When this should NEVER be ANY part of the reason for giving a review. Whether good or bad. It promotes dishonesty and corruption. You should only give a review that is honest and voluntary. With the ONLY intent of helping fellow consumers make informed purchases. Not to help yourself or the manufacturer.
Posted on Reply
#28
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
MrGeniusIt skews reviews towards being more positive than they might otherwise be.

For example:

"I wish I could give the product 0 stars. Because that's what I feel it deserves. But since I can't post, and/or get paid for, this review without giving it at least 1 star...1 star it is!"

"I was going to give the product 4 stars. But given the fact that they're paying me for my review, that's enough incentive to give it an additional star. 5 stars!"

It skews reviews towards being more negative than they might otherwise be.

For example:

"I was going to give the product 5 stars. But since I get paid regardless...1 star!"

"I find the idea of paid reviews so unfair that I would never give any product from a company who does that any more than the 1 star required. Even if it truly deserves 5 stars. 1 star!"

Bottom line: It skews reviews by giving monetary incentive for a review. When this should NEVER be ANY part of the reason for giving a review. Whether good or bad. It promotes dishonesty and corruption. You should only give a review that is honest and voluntary. With the ONLY intent of helping fellow consumers make informed purchases. Not to help yourself or the manufacturer.
Except.....the error in your thinking is that ASRock has been bad with rebates, so effectively they WON'T be paying rebates, guaranteeing some really bad and hateful reviews, despite the fact reviews should only be about the product.
Posted on Reply
#29
R-T-B
rtwjunkieExcept.....the error in your thinking is that ASRock has been bad with rebates, so effectively they WON'T be paying rebates, guaranteeing some really bad and hateful reviews, despite the fact reviews should only be about the product.
They will only pay the rebate after you do the review, print it, and send it to them, so I'm not sure how that could happen. You'd have to write about a future event. :laugh:
Posted on Reply
#30
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
I have read through some of the asrock reviews on newegg and they always seem to pop in whenever there is something wrong. Kudos to asrock for being the good side of pegatron. At least one of the brands gives a shit about it's customers.
Posted on Reply
#31
R0H1T
R-T-BThey will only pay the rebate after you do the review, print it, and send it to them, so I'm not sure how that could happen. You'd have to write about a future event. :laugh:
Does Newegg not allow reviews to be edited, like Amazon?
Posted on Reply
#32
R-T-B
R0H1TDoes Newegg not allow reviews to be edited, like Amazon?
It didn't used to, but it might now. Honestly, no idea.
Posted on Reply
#33
Alex Kazlou
Rebates for Reviews (aka Feedback Rebates) are proven to be unbiased and they also lead to about 30% increase in sales for businesses who offer them (UC Berkeley - Taobao study 2016). Here is a page with more info if you guys want to dig into it: www.virthium.com/feedback_rebates
Posted on Reply
#34
remixedcat
neatfeatguyI only review things if they really suck or if there is an issue that I feel other should be aware of. I rarely spit out reviews that are 5 star, perfect/positive. When I read through reviews on items, I don't read the ones with 5 stars and everything is perfect. I read the 3 and 4 star ones to see what kind of issues people had. Usually the 1 star ones are from DOA material and most other 1 or 2 stars reviews tend, from what I've seen, to be from people who don't know what hell they're doing to begin with.
Cutouts is what they call it. Music reviewers would get these in the 90s-early 00s. Bought some of these off a site called half.com back in the day... LOL. I got Cold Front Club Mix discs for like 5 bucks when they typically sold for 20USD on most sites. UPC was cut out or had a hole punched. I knew it was a review copy as well as it lacked artwork and had a different matrix/runout... strange shit. Got into it with some discogs admins over that shit.
Posted on Reply
#35
rtwjunkie
PC Gaming Enthusiast
R-T-BThey will only pay the rebate after you do the review, print it, and send it to them, so I'm not sure how that could happen. You'd have to write about a future event. :laugh:
I don't know why I just saw your response. Actually, Newegg allows people to do another review. You can have several reviews in there. I frequently see people go back and make bad reviews later for things as petty as not getting a $5 rebate.
Posted on Reply
#36
neatfeatguy
rtwjunkieI don't know why I just saw your response. Actually, Newegg allows people to do another review. You can have several reviews in there. I frequently see people go back and make bad reviews later for things as petty as not getting a $5 rebate.
I just went back through and edited my original review of my ASUS router on newegg.com. A week or two after owning it and using it, I had no issue. So I put up a review of it....simple to setup and blah, blah, blah. Fast forward 16-17 months and the router is dead, won't power on. Thankfully a 2 year warranty on it, so she's going in to ASUS for a replacement.

You shouldn't need to post a second review on a newegg item, just edit the original.
Posted on Reply
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