When your decision to subscribe to a wholesale directory depends heavily on user testimonials, paid testimonials pose a real danger. Ever wondered how some websites obtain such hard-to-believe good testimonials from users — testimonials that sound too good to be true? Well, that’s because these testimonials ARE too good to be true.

Biased Reviews

Paid testimonials are not offered voluntarily; users are bribed to write them. If the testimonial writer benefits in terms of subscription fee, they cannot be considered unprejudiced. And the writer will — most naturally — gloss over the more unsavory aspects of their patron website, misleading hundreds of unsuspecting people into buying into a scam. After all, if the website is reputable, there is no need for them to pay for testimonials. Users would happily contribute testimonials for their webpages, and not ask for a single penny in return. Supplier directory websites that are not quite so reliable, on the other hand, need to rely on paid testimonials.

Wholesalepages.co.uk is one such so-called suppliers’ directory.

Wholesale Pages offers users free membership in return for a favorable testimonial. Ask yourself this — can you trust your hard-earned money with a website that cannot obtain a single good review without payment?


FTC Rules and Paid Reviews

Something similar used to take place all over the blogosphere until a couple of years back. Celebrity bloggers and well known blog authors were offered freebies by product manufacturers in return for a favorable review of their product. In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the US took note of this trend and brought in regulations to halt the system of paid blogger reviews. The FTC made it mandatory for blog writers to make public information regarding gifts, freebies, and monetary benefits they received from manufacturers to review their products and services.

Blog writers were asked to be honest in their reviews, and manufacturers could not get away with a simple disclaimer that results may vary on a case-by-case or individual basis. This goes to show that the issue of paid testimonials is serious enough for a major trade watchdog to take notice. And that, writers posting unrealistic reviews in return for payments are not unheard of.

Unfortunately, the ethics guidelines set down by FTC have not percolated down to the level of testimonials published on websites. But that does not make these false user reviews any less dangerous.

Wholesalepages.co.uk, in fact, has fine tuned the system of paid testimonials into an art. Users are promised free membership to write a good description of the site even before they have started using the site! So when you see those shiny testimonials from business owners on the site, beware! There is no way of knowing how many of the reviews are truthful, and how much about the site the writers are hiding. For all you know, they may be competing with each-other to write the best (and most unreliable) testimonials, so that they can avail the biggest exemptions in subscription charges.

So, if you cannot trust even the testimonials on this site, what CAN you trust? Wholesalepages.co.uk is one supplier directory you may want to sidestep.