Reviewer making a tidy profit selling review books?

[ccrogers3d]

Here's an interesting bit of investigative work on Harriet Klausner. It provides reasonable evidence that she (or, at least, her son) is making a tidy profit selling review books.

It seems like illegal (as well as unethical) behavior. I wonder if Amazon will do anything in response.

 

[Chilari]

Thanks for the link. The author has done some very thorough investigating there. And while it is undeniable that Klausner failing to clearly state that she is receiving free copies in exchange for reviews is illegal, I'm less clear on the legality of reselling review copies. Books are sold second hand all the time, both in real shops and over the internet (I've resold some old textbooks over Amazon, for example). Reselling purchased books is far from illegal. Selling books received for free in exchange for a review is certainly unethical, especially since there's the suggestion she had not in fact read them before reviewing them, but probably not illegal unless she has a contract with the publishers to return books after reviewing them.

Still, the evidence that she failing to disclose benefit and posting reviews of books she's not read is damning enough.

 

[SeverinR]

She is selling books she was sent, not making copies of them to make a profit?
Unless she is bound by contract, I don't think she is breaking the law.
She has books she doesn't want anymore, instead of discarding them she sells them.
Definately unethical, but she owns the books, how she gets rid of them is up to her.

Definately pass this around, maybe she will change what she does, or people will stop sending her books.
I think at minimum, there should be an agreement not to sell a reviewed book before its release date.

 

[ccrogers3d]

Sorry, I didn't try to summarize the whole article I was referencing. The alleged illegal activity is posting reviews of books that she received for free without disclosing that she received them for free. The alleged unethical behavior is posting review for books that she has not read, with the intent of being a "top reviewer" to get more free books.

 

[Mindfire]

How is it illegal to review books you got for free just because you don't say you got them for free? What?

 

[Chilari]

It says in the article, but basically, if you recieve a book for free from an author or publisher on the understanding that you will review it, both parties recieve something of value in exchange for something else of value. This counts as a contract under Amazon's terms and conditions, and thus the reviewer must disclose their relationship with the author or publisher.

 

[ccrogers3d]

It's not just Amazon. The 2009 revisions to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising said that, basically, non-professional reviewers must disclose any compensation (including receiving products for free). I think it was supposed to reduce paid endorsements disguised as reviews.