Amazon sellers offer customers double refunds to remove negative reviews 

Numerous Amazon sellers are allegedly spurring customers with refunds equal to or above the value of the product in an attempt to remove their negative reviews, reports Wall Street Journal.

In an interview with the media outlet, a customer named Katherine Scott claimed that when she had left a negative review of a seller after purchasing a faulty spray bottle of cooking oil, an alleged employee of the brand had contacted her e-mail.
The said representative had proposed a full refund in exchange for the removal of the negative review. 

They further conveyed that they shall assume that she has overlooked their email and continue to harass her as such until they reach an amicable resolution. 

When the customer responded with the proposition to keep her review while she received a refund, the seller expressed their desperation by emailing "A bad review is a fatal blow to us". 

They further disturbed her with emails up until July. Initially, when she had presented the issue to Amazon, the issue remained uninvestigated. 

It was not until the reporter herself formally inquired regarding the seller, that the listing was deleted.

Reviews stating, "Seller offers $20-$30 to delete negative reviews," and "Product doesn't work and company will bother you till you change review." were found under synonymous sellers offering oil spray bottles.

The Wall Street Journal report also mentioned a number of similar incidents with other products. 

It remains a mystery how sellers acquired the customers' personal information as the platform, in accordance with its community guidelines, only permits the seller to contact customers via the integrated messaging facilities in order to monitor conversations to alleviate such situations.  

To counteract this breach, Amazon ceased to send the customer's name and address information to the sellers which they would supposedly input to third party services, which cross-referenced customer shipping information with email addresses in order to obtain the forbidden information. However, the exact methods of these services remain ambiguous.  

An official spokesperson from Amazon eventually defended the platform by stating, "Amazon provides a great deal of help content, proactive coaching, warnings and other assistance to sellers to ensure they remain compliant with our clearly stated policies. We have clear policies for both reviewers and selling partners that prohibit abuse of our community features, and we suspend, ban and take legal action against those who violate these policies."  

He also claimed that the perpetrators were only a minor fraction of the platform in an effort to reinstate confidence regarding the situation.