Legit product reviews

ea3ea1c9 · ‎01-03-2022

Maybe someone here can actually answer this because I'm getting nowhere with customer support. Regarding product review jobs; I actually buy the item, I receive it, I review it. Then I get reimbursed by the client plus a little extra for my time. Is this allowed? I've had my account suspended because of a job that I took, they said it "appeared" to be against the rules. It was unlocked but I was never told if it was actually allowed or not.

prestonhunter · ‎01-03-2022

re: "Maybe someone here can actually answer this because I'm getting nowhere with customer support."

I strongly recommend that you discuss this topic in the Community Forum.

Please don't try to discuss this with Upwork Customer Support.

re: "Regarding product review jobs; I actually buy the item, I receive it, I review it. Then I get reimbursed by the client plus a little extra for my time. Is this allowed?"

It is highly unlikely that the job you described was one that is allowed under Upwork ToS.

re: "I've had my account suspended because of a job that I took, they said it 'appeared' to be against the rules. It was unlocked but I was never told if it was actually allowed or not."

You probably violated Upwork ToS.

You should count yourself extremely fortunate that your account was unlocked.

But Upwork keeps track.

Don't plan on getting your account unlocked if you do something like this again.

I don't know all the details of the job that you were hired to do, so I'm going to talk about some things THAT MAY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU.

Upwork has an official rule that part of its ToS is to abide by the rules of Amazon.com

And Amazon.com has very strict policies about paid reviews. Amazon.com literally hunts down reviewers and sues them. In 2015, Amazon.com sued 1114 reviewers in a Seattle lawsuit. That's JUST ONE LAWSUIT. Amazon was so sick of its reputation being tarnished by paid reviewers - who MAYBE were doing exactly what Melissa was doing (but I don't know, because I don't know the details of her job) that they decided to make an example of people by throwing a mob of $10,000-suit lawyers at them.

Amazon.com also updated its written ToS then, and has continued to do so, to make it clear that it doesn't tolerate this. And Amazon reached out to other companies to ask for their cooporation in combatting this. Upwork is one of the companies which officially considers Amazon.com a corporate neighbor whose ToS it supports.

So EVEN IF YOU DID NOTHING WRONG... Upwork's automated algorithms and/or paid representatives THOUGHT that you did something which violated Upwork ToS. So this is something to be aware of.

(Note that this does not mean that ALL review jobs are against Upwork ToS. I get paid thousands of dollars to review people's database schemas, and that's totally allowed. But you need to know Upwork's rules about this, to avoid getting into trouble. The main rule that is in play here is Upwork's prohibition against violating the product review policies in other site's ToS.)

ea3ea1c9 · ‎01-03-2022

"highly unlikely" is not a good enough answer.

And if those jobs aren't allowed, why are they allowed to be posted over and over? Why doesn't Upwork screen job postings before they go live?

petra_r · ‎01-03-2022

Melissa D wrote:
"highly unlikely" is not a good enough answer.

OK. It is strictly forbidden. Good enough for you now?

Melissa D wrote:
And if those jobs aren't allowed, why are they allowed to be posted over and over?

They are not. They get taken down as soon as they are reported.

Melissa D wrote:
Why doesn't Upwork screen job postings before they go live?

Are you going to pay for that? Also, those job pots are usually more or less cleverly disguised - so they sound like they're not paid reviews, your history shows such jobs.

As per your subject line... There is never anything "legit" about this nonsense.

prestonhunter · ‎01-03-2022

re: "f those jobs aren't allowed, why are they allowed to be posted over and over?"

Upwork doesn't screen job postings. If a job posting violates Upwork ToS, then it is up to Upwork freelancers to report the job posting using the "Flag as inappropriate" link buttons available on each job posting page.

Also: A job posting itself may not violate Upwork ToS. It is possible that the work involved ends up violating Upwork ToS, even though the job posting didn't make that apparent.

Also: It is entirely possible for a client to post a job on Upwork without knowing that the job posting violates Upwork rules. The job may be one that is completely allowed on other sites, and which the client has no idea would be a problem here. But the job could still be one that violates Upwork rules, despite the client's ignorance of those specific rules.

re: "Why doesn't Upwork screen job postings before they go live?"

Upwork does not screen job postings before they go live in an in-depth way. There are some basic key word-based algorithms that are run on new job posts before they go live. But for the most part, clients can post jobs at will, regardless of whether or not those jobs violate Upwork ToS.

petra_r · ‎01-03-2022

Melissa D wrote:
I actually buy the item, I receive it, I review it. Then I get reimbursed by the client plus a little extra for my time. Is this allowed?

Not if you review it on any review site or Amazon, no.

Quite apart from the fact that it's a nasty sh***y thing to do, it violates Amazon's (and other review sites') terms of service, and also Upwork's.

Amazon have gone as far as suing 1000 freelancers to date.

deborah-ponzio · ‎01-03-2022

I suspect - anyone please correct me if I am wrong - that also buying an item as a first thing, even before being paid for any work, might be a clash with Upwork's TOS, which tries to protect freelancers and ensure that we are paid for our work, instead of advancing money for anyone.

If someone wishes you to test a product and report, they can send it to you for free. Otherwise it looks just like a dodgy way to get clients and reviews. However, even in such case it could be a trick to capture your personal data (address, telephone etc).

petra_r · ‎01-03-2022

Deborah P wrote:
If someone wishes you to test a product and report, they can send it to you for free.

The purpose of this nonsense isn't to get an honest review, it's to get a "verified purchase" review against Amazon's terms of service, and that can only happen if the freelancer buys the product with their own money. Those companies are in NO way interested in a real review. All they want is 5 star reviews with long text and pictures to fraudulently boost their Amazon product visibility. It's a disgusting, shameful practice.

The whole thing is morally corrupt as hell. Sadly the OP's entire history consists of little else.

Deborah P wrote:
I suspect - anyone please correct me if I am wrong - that also buying an item as a first thing, even before being paid for any work, might be a clash with Upwork's TOS.

That part alone doesn't violate any terms of service as such.

feed_my_eyes · ‎01-03-2022

Petra R wrote:
The purpose of this nonsense isn't to get an honest review

Yes, and clearly, if a client is paying for a review and in a position to give bad feedback to the reviewer, then they're not interested in anything resembling honesty.

ea3ea1c9 · ‎01-03-2022

I didn't know what I was doing wasn't ok. To me, I bought an item and left a review. The review was real and honest. I really did like the products I bought. I understand now that most people don't do the same. I am new to Upwork. Those were the only jobs I could get. Now that I have more experience, I do other jobs. I've done multiple voice recording jobs and multiple data entry jobs. So please don't shame me for a mistake. Going forward, obviously I won't be taking any more of those jobs.

petra_r · ‎01-03-2022

Melissa D wrote:
Going forward, obviously I won't be taking any more of those jobs.

Good.

When you see them, make sure you flag them!

a_lipsey · ‎01-03-2022

Ignorance doesn't alleviate accountability or responsibility. Hopefully you will learn from this that if you have no experience doing something that you may not be aware of the legal or ethical requirements/ramifications.

Lots of people jump into my field thinking it's just writing and don't realize there are legal requirements. If you have never been trained to do something, you should assume that you don't know the legalities before doing it illegally, not after.

50862ed4 · ‎01-03-2022

Everyone's new at something once. I recommend a google/YouTube search on media law. Plenty of orgs, journalists, and writers offer resources to help avoid "I didn't even think about that" lawsuits. The AP Stylebook has an entire chapter devoted to media ethics (another search query I'd try), which is invaluable, even if it skews toward journalism specifically. And finally, just because a type of post is all over upwork, doesn't mean they're ethical. I scroll past what are clearly students asking for help committing academic fraud every day (and report them). Someone wanted help editing a purchase from a banking statement a few days ago. No one doing shady things is posting "Shady opportunity for you!" As the post title. It's veiled enough to get through Upwork's system -- and your spidey senses, depending on the post. But to make Upwork's "filter" stronger risks eliminating legitimate jobs with phrases that might be innocuous depending on context. Like "review." At least that's the worry that keeps "policing" this sort of things in our hands.

I recommend SPJ (Society of Professional Journalists), NPR, the AP Stylebook, and journaliststoolbox.org/category/ethics/ as legitimate sources of guidance. But definitely dive down a google rabbit hole or two.

And of course, hone that spidey sense. My innate aversion to paid reviews came from feeling I couldn't be honest; that they were paying -- obviously -- for a good review (no one wants bad), and if I didn't enjoy the product, they could negatively review me as a freelancer and the job I completed, and I would have zero recourse. The socially awkward person in me can't say "this is trash, now pay me." It felt innately like they were paying for positive reviews even if they said different. This without knowing that they are gaming a system in any way.

Good luck! You got this.