Paul and Rachelle Baron’s small business, Beau & Belle Littles, quickly reached $1 million in sales after the couple invented a reusable, easily removable and washable swim diaper based on their experience with their own baby during her first swim class. Forbes and on the Rachael Ray show and had laid out a plan to triple annual sales to $3 million by 2020. Then came a one-star review that “sunk” everything, according to Bloombergwhich takes a deep dive into the Barons’ story. The problem? One customer left a terrible review after ordering one of the diapers and receiving a used one that had been returned, still encrusted with feces. But that was Amazon’s fault, not the Barons’; Amazon employees are supposed to check each returned item before authorizing it for resale.
But sources told Bloomberg that it’s not uncommon for Amazon to put returned items back in stock without thoroughly vetting them. The Barons asked for the review to be removed because they weren’t at fault, but it remained up for years (until Bloomberg published its story, in fact) and, because of the photos of the stained diaper it contained, got a lot of views. As a result, the Barons say, they’re $600,000 in debt and barely making a living from their once-thriving business; Paul has a side job and Rachelle is looking for one. Meanwhile, the person who left the negative review says that after the Barons reached out to her, replaced the diaper, and explained what happened, she intended to revise her review, but “life got busy and I never got around to it.” Read the full article at Bloomberg. (Further Amazon stories.)