Amazon confirms it removed RavPower, a popular phone battery and charger brand

Amazon confirms it removed RavPower, a popular phone battery and charger brand

The Verge·2021-06-17 10:00

Just like Aukey and Mpow, except perhaps more thoroughlyIf you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeOne month ago, Amazon-first gadget brands Aukey and Mpow suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the giant online retailers storefront, with almost all their electronics vanishing from Amazons shelves. Today, popular battery and charger brand RavPower has completely disappeared as well and Amazon now confirms to The Verge that it was the one that removed RavPower from its store, and that it removed Aukey and Mpow previously.Amazon hasnt yet said why it took the action on RavPower, but its not hard to imagine what happened here. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journals Nicole Nguyen ran a story about how her new RavPower charger included an offer for a $35 gift card in exchange for a review, something that Amazon confirmed was a violation of company policy. Amazon banned incentivized reviews in 2016. Nguyen tweeted about RavPowers removal earlier today:Following my fake review story, listings for Amazon-native electronics brand RAVPower are gone. The company offered $35 gift cards for reviews on a product that was sold directly by Amazon itself. RAVPower acted as a wholesale vendor on that listing.https://t.co/6nazZZ5Wtbpic.twitter.com/znp9u48YHV nicole nguyen (@nicnguyen) June 16, 2021As a result, all of RavPowers product listings have disappeared, leaving blank white spaces in the companys Amazon storefront. Searches for RavPower dont bring up any listings for products made by the company. Existing links to RavPower products either point to Amazons Sorry, we couldnt find that page cute 404 dogs, or listings that read Currently unavailable.RavPowers seller page is still up, but its empty.Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The VergeBy and large, this is exactly what happened to Aukey, Mpow, and other lesser-known electronics retailers last month except here, Amazon has been a bit more thorough. You can actually still find a couple of Aukey listings on Amazon, while RavPower seems to have none. Another important difference may be that RavPower has its own separate online shop that ranks high in Google search, so it may not strictly need to depend on Amazon. RavPower didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. Amazon would not tell us last month if it actually removed Aukey and Mpow, merely giving us a generic statement that suggested it generally suspends sellers that violate the integrity of our store, but it confirmed both removals to The Verge today. At the time, Aukey and Mpow didnt respond to requests for comment.Fake, inflated, paid, and other forms of scammy reviews run rampant on Amazon (and other online platforms, to be fair), and I see suspicious-looking cards in my random Amazon purchases all the time. Its weird to think that RavPower would need to stoop to this behavior, though: weve regularly featured good products that the company makes, including our favorite wireless charging pad.Amazon is actively trying to clamp down on this kind of fraud, though its not always successful. In a Wednesday blog post that explains some of its enforcement efforts, the company says it stopped more than 200 million suspected fake reviews before they were ever seen by a customer in 2020. Below, find some of our recent coverage.Update, 1:46PM ET: Added a link to Amazons blog post on Wednesday that generically describes some of its enforcement efforts around fake and incentivized reviews.Update, 3:55PM ET: Added confirmation from Amazon that it removed RavPower.Update, 4:24PM ET: Added confirmation from Amazon that it removed Aukey and Mpow, too.

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