We believe that when there are more opinions and information about a product or service, it's easier to make better purchasing decisions. That is why businesses and brands may elect to offer incentives or rewards to customers in exchange for a review.
To ensure we remain transparent with the consumers who use ProductReview.com.au, users can choose to apply a filter on all our listing pages that enables them to see which reviews have been incentivised. This is what this filter looks like:
We also strongly recommend that businesses ensure that their incentives are compliant with guidelines set by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC), in accordance with the Competition and Consumer Act (2010), that is:
- Incentives are offered equally to consumers who are likely to be complimentary and consumers who are likely to be critical, and positive and negative reviews are treated the same;
- The reviewer is expressly told that the incentive is available whether the review is positive or negative.
We may perform spot checks and audits to ensure compliance. However, it is the responsibility of the brand to provide the review incentive once an eligible review is written. We are not affiliated with brands' incentive campaigns in any way.
What happens to brands who don't comply?
We take compliance with the ACCC guidelines very seriously - not only do non-compliant incentives breach the law, they also undermine the trust of our users.
Our dedicated Moderation Team analyses review patterns and metadata to determine if a review may come from a non-compliant review incentive campaign.
If we discover reviews generated from a non-compliant incentive campaign, we:
- remove all reviews associated with the campaign, and
- refer the brand and all evidence to the ACCC for further action.