And the low keep competing to be the lowest.

Is this kind of inducement even legal/ethical? (I do not know)

The other big problem I see with this is, it doesn't say leave a GOOD review -- just a review. Does the company really want to risk putting it out there for a troll, disgruntled prospect or competitor to hose then--and pay them to do it?

How some minds work never ceases to amaze me! No inducement for me here... I despise Starbucks. Now, $50 to Sephora... maybe we have something to talk about!

Sad

Well at least they've elevated their groveling to $50 instead of a $5 card which is useless at SB.

I'm not sure Z is influencing this.

OMG,

Wow, yes I will waste my time valued at more that $50 bucks to enter a contest to maybe win a $50 Starbucks gift card...what does this say about the Byrne real estat group?  What are they thinking?  If this is Zillow's idea, then they belong together.  A

Everyone else it begging for rating, follows, testimonials, likes, why not agents?

I would expect the 'contact information' will be valid.

But this is an indication of the influence of the evil empire on the value of agents and their services.  If Byme likes do to business the dark-side way, they won't mind the flies that come with it. Zillows goal of $2,500 transaction fees are getting closer and Byme is 'all in."

Zillow is a 4 letter word.

oh, how I detest Z...

And if it is a good review, we will pay you! Nice objective survey!

Sandy Padula and Norm Padula, JD, GRI NMLS#1483386 nailed this one!

This could get expensive, not something I would be interested in.

I call this desperation

Bribing folks you don't know with a $50 starbucks card.....really?

Only people who know an agent should be asked to review them.

Holy Crap-Tacular.  

It looks like this company is desparate.

How did you even get on their mailing list? -Kasey

They NEED to bribe, as we all tell the buyers how inaccurate they are! 

Yes, zillow now allows (as of Jan 1, maybe earlier) people who've you've never done business with but have "talked shop to" to give you a review.  The sales agent for some reason thought this was a good idea.  Easy way to get fake 5 star reviews, as far as I'm concerned.

Huh?  A head-scratcher for sure.  

Thomas J. Nelson, Realtor,CRS,ePro - enjoy the ride.... even when you do not like the vehicle!

As far as  know, you have to prove that you bought or sold a property with this particular agent( they require to provide the address). A fellow agent wanted to leave a review for me as a coworker( similar to Linked In) and they had no option.

If that changed, let's leave reviews for each other! I'm in. Who wants to exchange reviews? 

:) 

There is so much of that going on which is why the public put about 50% faith in reviews. 

     Is that also a possible violation of Real Estate Commission Rules on lotteries, drawings, etc.?  Check with you State's laws, or see an Attorney.

WOW! How many competitors would give a bad review when sent something like this? Kudos to you for not doing that, Thomas J. Nelson, Realtor,CRS,ePro!

I see competing reviews on VRBO for my Florida condo and I have been in them so I know the 20 5 star reviews are total BS and made up.

I think most Realtors miss the BIG picture with Zillow--all of our clients are going there! We can lament this all we wish but my buyers always go to Zilow, Realtor.com or Redfin. It's the way it is. Do I think Zillow is a failed business plan? Yes. It is finding it can't generate revenue and is making a play to become a real estate company. We used to have them come to our CAR Directors meetings and state, "We're not here to complete with Realtors!" Really!

I'll give you a great review, maybe a few, and we split 50/50, deal? 

Another attempt to position oneself for the big Real Estate bite...$$$

Thanks for sharing this information.

Great just my luck, a colleague told me I was being slandered by another Realtor on active rain. Wouldn't you know there are actually 5 Ryan Byrnes working in real estate across the country (that I am aware of) my group  just so happend to be the Byrne Prime Property Group or Byrne Group in some marketing. This is very annoying as you could imagine. For the record this is not me, my group or my company being referenced in this post. But some are assuming it is. Is active rain a forum where Realtors come to bad mouth each other? I think this is the saddest thing of all. 

Fake news, fake testimonials, fake body parts, fake moon landing

Always interesting what they are coming up with next.

I have not seen it