

Ask HN: Should I pay $50 for a positive App review? - ObieJazz

In trying to promote my recently released iPhone app, I sent emails to several App Review sites with a blurb and a promo code for a free copy. One of the sites got back to me and said they have a huge backlog of apps to review, but they could guarantee mine a review for $50. Furthermore, if the review wasn't positive, they said they wouldn't publish it and they'd give me my money back.<p>First of all, is this standard practice in the App world? I had seen reports that this is common on domain registrar / hosting review sites but had no idea iPhone app review sites were working on payola also.<p>Second of all, is this a worthwhile investment? This is my first app and as an independent developer I don't have an advertising budget to speak of, but positive reviews seem to be really valuable for gaining exposure, and this site ranks high on Google searches (this was actually one of the selling points they mentioned). Maybe $50 is a small amount compared to how much traffic this might bring? On the other hand, I don't want to do business with a site that is dishonest to its readers, and there are other review sites out there that may run a review without asking for cash in return.<p>Thanks in advance for your advice!
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jonknee
You should pull a Dreamhost and out this site. They are dishonest and should
be called out.

[http://blog.dreamhost.com/2006/05/04/web-hostings-dirty-
laun...](http://blog.dreamhost.com/2006/05/04/web-hostings-dirty-laundry/)

~~~
bprater
It is now a crime to do a paid review for someone? If so, can you point me to
the law stating this?

If not, then you are making a big assumption and could hurt someone's business
by blasting all over the internet "just how morally corrupt this person is".

~~~
endtwist
You're completely missing the point. There is a huge difference between
_illegal_ and _dishonest_. As far as I know, yes, it isn't illegal to pay for
a published review but it surely is a dishonest business practice.

At the very minimum, this website is probably deceiving their readers by
publishing these so-called "positive" reviews.

~~~
tspiteri
They are careful with words; they are only saying that they would not publish
a negative review. They are not directly promising a positive review. But it
would cost them $50 not to publish a positive review, so they are very likely
to publish an undeserved positive.

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silencio
don't do it. we (colloquy, the irc client) submitted promo codes and requests
to review to multiple people and review sites, and there was only one website
who did exactly what you state. none of the rest wanted payment of any sort
(ars technica, tuaw, daring fireball, etc.) and were all too happy to mention
and review the app.

We've gotten more money from iTunes affiliate links to the application on our
page (<http://mobile.colloquy.info>) than in sales from most of the iPhone-
specific review sites that we could see. We've also probably made more sales
promoting ourselves and providing support on Twitter.

(Also, for what it's worth this site in question seems to be super slow if you
don't pay up $50 or pay for advertising, it's been a little over two weeks
with nothing whatsoever. the promo code we sent will probably expire before
they review, heh.)

~~~
charlesju
Totally unrelated to anything.

1\. I love your program.

2\. I just bought your iPhone application because you guys deserve at least
that much from me.

~~~
silencio
haha, not flaming us for charging for an open source app? :)

thanks though!

~~~
evdawg
Hey, nothing wrong with charging for open source! It's win-win: you get
compensated for your great work and we enjoy the benefits of having the source
code freely available.

Thank _you_.

------
vaksel
Throw up a quick blog post talking about this trend for apps. In the post make
sure to talk about your app. Then promote the post on reddit/digg and let
other blogs know about it.

You'll get more exposure for your app than a mere blog post on a 3rd rate
blog(gotta be 3rd rate if they only want $50 for a positive post). And who
knows, you might get some of those big name blogs to cover your story as an
example of how their particular blog is so much better than others that charge
money for good stories.

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bisi
There is no right way or wrong way in business . There is only one way - The
way that makes money ..

If I told that I paid $50 to a review site and it brought me $5000 . Will you
ask anybody if you should pay $50 to bring in $5000 ?

Big Corporation pay celebrities money to give favourable reviews and
endorsments all the time . Nike will only pay Tiger Woods Millions to give a
good endorsement . They would be fools to give Tiger Millions to give his
honest opinion . Its business .. The only way you will make money from your
products or service is to get good reviews . If you are asking people for
reviews and they are giving you bad reviews you will never make money .. This
is part of marketing .. Your number one goal in buisness should be to make
money .. If you will lose the $50 then its not a good investment but if you
will make money then thats pretty much all that matters .. THERE IS NO CRIME
BEING COMMITED. Its just business ..

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diN0bot
the right way is "making money for a long time". plenty of dishonest
businesses make a lot of short-term money. the really good players are in it
for the long haul, which frequently means honesty, decency and sustainability.

~~~
cellis
I so wish this were true. Sadly, there are innumerable corporations that are
dishonest and have been around for decades.

~~~
jacquesm
I would go one further and say that if you see a corporation that has been
around for decades the odds are better than even that they have been / are
dishonest.

~~~
diN0bot
what about cisco? they seem to be pretty decent. they buy small companies and
merge them in nicely and profit by it.

what about nike, which had a bad child-labor image back in the 90s and has
really turned things around (though perhaps doesn't have a means to
demonstrate this against the competition ?).

it is true that culture is changing. our concept of 'good' is becoming more
humane, and possibly less financially driven. so yeah, we'll see what
companies look like in 20 years.

~~~
jacquesm
Cisco, indeed seems to be doing ok in this respect.

Nike still had that image in 2001, yes, they've done a pretty good job of PR
to indicate they're working on cleaning it up but I am not yet convinced that
it's a solved problem. By the way, Nike has also been convicted of copyright
infringement (a much lesser charge, the child labor situation really is in a
different league).

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bprater
There is no standard anything anymore -- everyone is playing with business
models left-and-right. As long as they clearly tell end-users how reviews are
done, they could be using monkeys to write the reviews on papyrus.

Can you ask them what kind of traffic they are bringing in -- and how much of
the traffic leaves the site on the way to iTunes? If they can answer that
question for you (and providing proof would be a bonus!), it would be an
easier question to answer.

(I'd apply a formula like: 50 visitors on average go thru to iTunes after
reading a link. 10% buy. That's 5 buyers. If your app is $10, you end up
breaking even.)

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jasonlbaptiste
a) is it disclosed? If it's disclosed as a sort of paid advertisement, then
it's okay. It's more of an ad, than a review. b) what's their traffic? See if
there really is a "backlog of apps to review". c) Be concerned that they will
only publish it if it's a positive review. That means they're only doing this
if it's favorable. d) What other apps are there? If it's third rate apps that
look like they can only get a positive review if paid, then id abandon it.

Everyone is going to have their own opinion on this. No one is right or wrong,
this is just my point of view. I hope it helps.

~~~
RobGR
I agree with the disclosure rule. Look through their current reviews; do any
of them mention pay, or even be vague about it, such as "we were asked to
review this application" or something ?

If not, then what you want to do is "pull a dreamhost" with a post on your own
web site. Then post that here, and on reddit and on slashdot etc -- the
resulting traffic may be more than this site could give you, and your
conscience will certainly be clearer.

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aristus
I would not pay, as a matter of pride and taste. I have a strong dislike for
influence peddlers.

Instead, ask your friends to review it on Apple's site. Promote it yourself.
Advertise on Google and set the ads to show on the same sites you are talking
about.

~~~
tptacek
Ask your friends to review it? How is that ethically superior to just paying
for the review?

~~~
potatolicious
Well, your friends aren't getting paid, and if you explicitly declare that you
want their honest opinion, and that a bad review would in no way impact their
relationship with you, then there's no ethical problem.

Ethics only becomes an issue where you're paying someone to be dishonest about
your product.

~~~
tptacek
The ethical issue here is that a review should convey the good-faith
impression of an unbiased user.

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brandnewlow
Hell no don't pay. That's crap, for all the reasons you mentioned.

How many blogs have you sent your info to? 10? You should be sending it to
100.

I publish a tech blog. We're small but publish on Google News. Hit us up.
Can't guarantee we'll review it. If we do and it stinks we'll say so. If we do
and it's awesome, we'll say so.

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gscott
ReviewMe.com specializes in this, they do not promise positive reviews just a
review.

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ErrantX
If you can get more the $50 of sales from it then pay.

So long as your not paying _for_ them to give you a positive review (it's a
leap of faith I guess) then it's hardly a huge misdemeanor.

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ja2ke
If that site makes a practice out of bribing developers out of money for
positive ad scores, they will eventually get outed, and (I imagine) will
eventually die.

Joe consumer probably doesn't give a crap if some iPhone app site charges $50,
but other tech journalists, and hardcore/cutting-edge users definitely care,
and those are the people who drive that site's pagerank and reputability
through linking to and discussing it.

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bbalfour
Not worth it. My company, Viximo, has created numerous applications including
our most popular TrueFlirt. We've had a number of reviews on the top
application review sites (unpaid and unsolicited) and the resulting downloads
is very minimal. Most consumers of applications don't really read those sites.

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lallysingh
I had this situation (astroturfing for sale, which is what this really is)
back when I was a Palm Developer.

Does anyone _read_ their reviews? Do you look at their reviews when thinking
about buying an app?

I usually find the answer to be no to both these questions.

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GHFigs
_I don't want to do business with a site that is dishonest to its readers_

Then don't give them an incentive to be.

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tptacek
You appear to lack the business sense to point us to your iPhone app with this
question. ;)

~~~
timf
It is listed in his profile (which I though was the more accepted approach
here).

