Paid reviews are evaluations of products or services where the reviewer has been paid to write them. Some people question their credibility, but well-written reviews by professional writers may be more trustworthy. Transparent paid reviews would be more ethical, and incentives such as free samples are less concerning. Writing paid reviews is not a lucrative career.
To review something means to evaluate it. An evaluation is usually based on the reviewer’s knowledge or personal experience of an item. Paid reviews are where the person providing the review has been paid to do so. Some people question this practice, wondering if people who write paid reviews are able to remain unbiased.
Ads seeking people to write paid reviews sometimes appear on sites listing make money online and work at home. Some appear on freelance writing sites. This makes people wonder if the products are actually tested and then reviewed or if paid reviews are just another way to make some extra money. Some people might see it that way, but there are certainly those who take it seriously.
If you come across a review that is very well written, then a professional writer might have done it. Many people give more credence to such paid reviews, because serious writers are unlikely to damage their reputation by making things up for a few extra dollars a month. They can do some paid reviews on products or services they have already tried. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that a poorly written review isn’t true. Someone may be very satisfied with the product, even if writing may not be their forte.
It has been suggested that transparent paid reviews, those which indicate that the seller of the goods or services has paid the reviewer, would be more ethical. There is always the possibility that some people who are paid to review products may be tempted to give rave reviews which may be less than accurate. By reading several reviews, you should get an idea of how unbiased or biased the reviewers seem. There will generally be at least some negatives to some of the reviews.
Keep in mind that writing paid reviews isn’t exactly a lucrative career. Most people who write them are given a very small percentage of their ad revenue from the page where their review appears. This doesn’t translate into a lot of money and can in fact translate into pennies a month.
Paid reviews can also mean that the reviewer was “paid” for a living. Sometimes free memberships to a website, a free newsletter, free samples, trials, and other incentives are offered in exchange for a review. These are less of a concern to most people, because if the reviewers like the product enough to stick around, subscribe to the site, read the newsletter, and try more products, their reviews are seemingly positive for good reason.
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