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Is Yelp Evil?

By George Fanucci

Services for Real Estate Pros with CoreFact.com

January 22, 2013 01:58 AM

Please support this petition on the White House website if you agree that Yelp needs investigation. Ask your business associates about their Yelp advertising experiences. Please spread the word to help this petition go viral.

I decided that I could not trust Yelp anymore when one of my local small business clients experienced this:

Many good reviews, a few bad ones on Yelp. The day after canceling $300 per month Yelp advetising, most of the good reviews disappeared and all the bad ones remained. Coincidence? Seems very unlikely. Does Yelp use different "filters" on reviews depending on your advertising spend?

Here is the petition on the White House website:

Investigage Yelp.com deceptive practices

SIGNATURES NEEDED BY FEBRUARY 08, 2013 to get a response from the Obama Administration.

Many others have commented on Yelp's practices, here are just a few:

Yelp Extortion: The Lawsuit's Dismissed. Are They Back At It In 2012?

Yelp Review Filter

“Yelp is Evil” – SF Chronicle Newspaper Ad

More than just awareness, it's time something be done about this. What would be effective?

Re-Blog

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Jordon Wheeler

The Jordon Wheeler Group - Fairburn, GA

J W Group Real Estate Sales and Service

Hey George,

I only recently signed up on Yelp to review businesses. I do not have my business on Yelp. A burger joint I like is on Yelp and I reviewed the place very positively. Not heard of the problems you point out in your post.

Jan 22, 2013 02:02 AM

George Fanucci

CoreFact.com - Los Altos, CA

Internet - Technology - Business - Solutions

Hi Jordon, Thanks for commenting.

Check to see if your review appears in the main review list for that place.

I've recently seen that the Yelp review filter does suppress many positive reviews, such as, reviewers with few friends and/or few reviews. People are more likely to post negative reviews, and the Yelp review filter seems to favor negative reviews. Pay YELP to advertise, and the picture changes. That's not fair, unless disclosed. Yelp needs more transparency if they use different filters for advertisers than non-advertisers. Would that be a form of extortion? Is it trustworthy? When I saw the petition on the White House website to investigate Yelp, I decided to help spread the word.

More injured parties speaking about Yelp here and HERE.

Meanwhile, check the "Filtered" review link at the bottom of any business page on Yelp to see more evidence before you decide on how to trust Yelp reviews. Ask yourself: are they filtering out more good reviews than bad ones?

Jan 22, 2013 02:16 AM

Simone Bercu

Metro Referral - Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Not state specific Real Estate - GRI, e-PRO, AB

I had no idea that this was going on. I know that if you have not been reviewing on Yelp, your recommendation does not show up as it should.

It took me over a year to find this out, when one of my clients wrote a review that did not show up, though she had a link to the review.

Apr 10, 2013 10:35 AM

Yes, typically you need a few friends, and a handful of reviews, or your reviews may be suppressed by the yelp filtering process.

Apr 10, 2013 01:34 PM

Eric Michael

Remerica Integrity, Realtors®, Northville, MI - Livonia, MI

Metro Detroit Real Estate Professional 734.564.1519

George, did you ever find out if this was true or not?

Apr 21, 2013 10:33 AM

Hi Eric, The petition got a few thousand signatures. The White House now requires 100,000 signatures within two months of posting before it will take any action.

If you investigate the online reputation of Yelp, you will see many disgusted merchants reporting problems.

Check the reviews of Yelp posted on Yelp.

Apr 21, 2013 06:16 PM

Crystal De Raffele

www.MyDutchessRealtor.com - Beacon, NY

NYS Lic. Real Estate Salesperson

Hi George,

I've seen exactly what you're talking about in person. My broker has a disgruntled agent who left and has had her friend or it could be herself continuously post a bad review about him, and yet only her positive review remains....all the other positive reviews are shelfed, even a recent one, over the older Negative reviews....he has 20 great reviews, yet only NEGATIVE ones appear!

He feels he's lost a buyer over this....causing his small business harm. I'm happy to see your post on this subject as I was planning to write one myself....!

I'll share your petition on mine as well! Thank You!

Aug 05, 2013 11:37 PM

Hi Crystal,

The White House petition failed to get the required number of signatures in the required time, and now 100,000 signatures are required within 30 days. It only got a few thousand. Not enough to qualify for an invesitgation, sadly.

Aug 06, 2013 12:15 AM

Andrew Mendez

Century 21 Americana - Covina, CA - Covina, CA

Century 21 Americana

Hi George, I am writing a new blog on here about the "joys" of help. We have a local agent here who sells about 6 homes a year, and has been in the business about 4 years.. So... I believe it's safe to assume that she has sold about 30 houses...

Well.... she has 45 reviews. All of them are 5 star. Most, if not all, are by people with less than 5 other reviews.
On the other hand, I have asked several people to do it, and every single review... has been filtered out. Quite frustrating. I have seen horror stories online.

Jan 21, 2014 02:50 AM

Andrew, thanks for confirming that the filtering is still going on with yelp, seems to depend on whether or not you're currently paying yelp for ads, what kind of filter they put on your account

Jan 22, 2014 04:49 AM

Inna Ivchenko

Barcode Properties - Encino, CA

Realtor® • GRI • HAFA • PSC Calabasas CA

I do not trust Yelp as well, since I know some tricks the business use to get good reviews. Yet, I still use it for restaurants, and I do keep posting my reviews if I was really impressed or distressed.

Nov 26, 2015 04:43 PM

Is Yelp Evil?

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