Swim diapers by Beau & Belle Littles. Photographer: Rachel Woolf/Bloomberg -- Paul and Rachelle Baron were an Amazon success story. The washable swim diaper they designed for their infant son quickly became a best-selling product as the online retailer’s algorithm worked its magic. Satisfied parents left five-star ratings and glowing feedback, elevating the diaper in search results and steering more shoppers their way. The momentum seemed unstoppable.
“The last four years have been an emotional train wreck,” Paul Baron said. “Shoppers might think returning a poopy diaper to Amazon is a victimless way to get their money back, but we’re a small, family business, and this is how we pay our mortgage.”“When we learned about this incident four years ago, we quickly made improvements to our product returns process to prevent this type of used item being returned and sold as new,” Amazon spokesperson Chris Oster said in an emailed statement.
The Barons were executing a plan to triple their annual sales to $3 million in 2020, when the review landed with a thud. Even though the diaper had a four-plus-star rating from hundreds of buyers, it was hard to miss the stain photos. More than 100 shoppers upvoted the damaging review as “helpful,” which increased its visibility. The algorithm was suddenly working against the Barons. Sales plummeted.
Amazon says it doesn’t allow reviews that address packaging or shipping problems or product condition and damage. The guidelines appear to prohibit the stained diaper review since it suggests the item had already been used, and the Barons were hopeful that a quick note would fix things. But their emails went unanswered. Paul recalls spending hours on the phone, getting passed from one department to another.
“I just received one of your swim diapers via Amazon today and when I opened it looks like it had dirt or mold on the inside. Looks like it’s possibly been previously used,” the email said.