I recently bought my wife a coat from an Amazon Marketplace seller. We are happy with the coat, but I was troubled when I saw this notice bundled with it:
Leave a 5-Star, Positive Review ~ Receive a Free One Year Warranty!*
Dear Valued Customer,
If you are COMPLETELY SATISFIED with this purchase, please RATE us 5 STARS and write a POSITIVE Customer Review on amazon.com within the next 7 days. This will activate your FREE ONE YEAR WARRANTY* and give you PRIORITY customer service.
[...]
*FREE ONE YEAR WARRANTY covers defects in material and workmanship. Merchandise may be returned for repair, replacement or store credit at company's sole discretion. To qualify for this warranty, customer must have left a 5-star rating and a positive customer review on amazon.com within 7 days of receipt of merchandise."
That's right: they offer a warranty that covers defects, but only if you help them sell their products to other unsuspecting customers. It's little wonder that they have an average 4.9-star rating.
This kind of gaming of rating and review systems really bugs me, so I contacted Amazon customer support. They told me that this is indeed a violation of their Marketplace policies, and that sellers who do this kind of thing can be banned from Amazon.
So, if you ever see something like this, go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/reports, select "Report a violation of our rules" and provide the details. Amazon will investigate and take appropriate action.
Also, leave the seller a one-star review. They deserve it.