Fake Amazon reviews and what you can do

[aquariuscsm]

I honestly hate online shopping. I like to compare, contrast,and pick out my own products myself before buying, verses having someone else choose them for me. Too many times I've gotten damaged, wrong,and expired/old merchandise. Then you have to go through the hassle of returning, waiting for your refund and/or replacement, and being without the product you ordered for even more time.

The only thing I buy online on a regular basis are records. Way back in the day I would buy the occasional excruciatingly rare reissued import cd on Amazon if I couldn't find it anywhere else (and only if an original pressing was was out of my price range). Reissues are always a very last resort,as the sound quality is never anywhere near that of an original pressing.

 

[Pablo]

I use Amazon. I am not proud nor ashamed of that. I will say I dislike buying Chinese items and dislike Bezos. So I don't abuse the ease Amazon provides and there is little dispute about that.

As far as reviews - I can tell right away. The writing style give them away. Many just scream fake to anyone nuanced in written English. Grains of salt apply liberally.

Funny thing on my Big Commerce site I can change stars (never have) and edit all reviews. I have never changed anyone's words but we will add a comment or answer a question within a review from time to time - we make it very clear it is us making the comment. That said there is some pride and reward for good reviews. If they are fake may as well not even do them.....hard to express the sentiment but nothing to gain no motivation just hoping and dreaming the company can run through thick and thin on words and air. Not sustainable.

 

[Dave Hess]

Bezos is no different than the Waltons.

 

[SeaJay]

Snake oil salesmen.

Kind of like the 3 card monte dealers on NYC streets that could often be found about 40 years ago. You would see their shills win money, so it must be easy for you to win. Same thing.

 

[stockrex]

Amazon is being shady when it comes to reviews:
Case 1. I bought an item for my dryer, it lasted 18 months while the OEM lasted 15 years. I posted objective review with my results, Amazon refused to post it, saying it hurts their feelings.

So my conclusion - nearly all of the good reviews on Amazon are FAKE.

 

[stockrex]

on a side note, there are businesses like call centers in India, Brazil etc where you can pay them to add reviews to your product and bump it up and put in bad reviews for competitor to hurt them.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Amazon is being shady when it comes to reviews:
Case 1. I bought an item for my dryer, it lasted 18 months while the OEM lasted 15 years. I posted objective review with my results, Amazon refused to post it, saying it hurts their feelings.

So my conclusion - nearly all of the good reviews on Amazon are FAKE.

I wouldn't say they are all "fake" ... more like Amazon filters them to let more good reviews through than bad. I said something negative about an item once and it wasn't allowed by Amazon to be shown, so I had to re-word it some before it was approved. I still got my licks in, but in a different manner. Maybe it would be better just to hit the star rating with no written comments - ?

I agree about not posting reviews anymore ... if I can't say the truth on how I view the item because Amazon won't post the review then I won't do any reviews anymore. What's the use of having a review if the negative truth can't be told? Amazon's goal seems to be that they want every product on their site get good reviews so everything sells.

 

[Touring5]

As a followup, I attempted to post a review of a product I bought and then realized there were some highly suspicious reviews for that product. I stated my concerns (all factual) and added that I would update my review after I had used it long enough to give a full review. Sure enough, Amazon refused to allow the comment - based on their list of potential reasons for this it would have to have been this item:

Any attempt to manipulate Community content or features, including contributing false, misleading, or inauthentic content, is strictly prohibited.

Interesting. My comment was trying to question/expose likely inauthentic content.

One thing some may forget is that a lot of manufacturers will list product reviews on their own website, and it's not unusual for those comments to have originated on other sites (Amazon being a common one).

 

[Gebo]

Fakespot.com

 

[supton]

Nope my sister has a prime membership she orders practically everything from there she has had a few mess ups like when she ordered a car seat for her kids they sent the wrong one so the kid was without a car seat for 6 more weeks and had to stay home with one of them that’s the only big mess up she has had it took her a week to send it back lol

Not sure how that works? Usually there is a multiple month buildup to the arrival of a new kid, during which time most people get their affairs in order. Including getting child seat(s). Which they also sell in local stores.

 

[AutoMechanic]

Not sure how that works? Usually there is a multiple month buildup to the arrival of a new kid, during which time most people get their affairs in order. Including getting child seat(s). Which they also sell in local stores.

She won’t go to local stores because of everything going on but she thought the hospital still gave you one but they don’t apparently so she borrowed the one we keep here to get him home but it was a few years old so she didn’t feel safe using it so when this new one arrived it was wrong so she arranged a return and it took awhile to get it back with the right one it finally came after 5 weeks it took her a week to go to the FedEx place to drop it off.

 

[supton]

I've been doing less on Amazon and more on Ebay lately. Not sure what the difference is, I guess Bezo doesn't get a cut of whatever cheap junk I'm buying. Not that I care, if I go to any brick and mortar store then some CEO gets a cut, and who knows if I agree with their views. I won't say I only shop by the almighty dollar but I don't go all that deep looking at what their leaders "promote" either.

Usually I look at the negative reviews. Some of them are useless, but others can be critical and give good insight. Usually 1 (or zero) and 5 star ratings can be safely ignored, the ones in the middle talk about what wasn't so good. Of course, much of what I buy online, hate to say it, but if I get burned then I don't feel bad if I just toss and move on. I'm buying a $20 item not a $5,000 item. Expensive stuff I go name brand and do a heck of a lot more shopping before I commit.

 

[OIL_UDDER]

Ran a free review checker on our product. No changes. What is frustrating is several people have left nice reviews who purchased direct but those are thrown out because they are not verified purchases. Oh well...

 

[OIL_UDDER]

Learning more we wont ask for reviews on amazon from direct orders anymore if it hurts our score even if they are legitimate. Frustrating but interesting as a new seller.

 

[4WD]

Learning more we wont ask for reviews on amazon from direct orders anymore if it hurts our score even if they are legitimate. Frustrating but interesting as a new seller.

I think most people know some just have to about something

 

[IcarusLSC]

About half of the stuff I've bought from Amazon in the past few years has been verified fake/counterfeit...

 

[alarmguy]

I've come to learn that a lot of product reviews on Amazon are fake - even when involving "verified purchasers".

I was looking at bluetooth earbuds and found a product at a great price with lots of reviews and and a high rating. For some reason I started clicking on the profiles of the reviewers and a high percentage had a history of purchasing this obscure (TOZO) brand before and/or some drone product. Very high, like 80% I'd guess. What are the chances?

Then I was looking at some health supplements earlier this week. Checked the reviews and almost every single 5-star review was from someone with only 1 review. The 4 star and lower reviews were all from people with multiple reviews. Hmmmm.

Turns out there are some apps and browser extensions that can analyze the quality of a given Amazon product's reviews. I gave one a try, and sure enough it flagged both of those products for the very reasons I observed. Other products I have purchased were generally deemed as legitimate.

The extension I'm using is from ReviewMeta, but there are others I believe.

Full disclosure = I hate Amazon but will purchase there as a last resort. Ok, with that out of the way.
Many reviews are false, its about sales, "Verified Purchasers" are just that, it means they bought the product from Amazon or maybe got a free one to test. Its all meaning less, lets say your selling a product on Amazon, well, you can buy a ton of the products yourself, actually companies will do it for you, then post reviews. Its worth it because you will sell a lot of products this way, also the "unverified" purchase still pumps up your "Star" rating.
So yeah, the reviews can not be trusted in any way.

What I do is automatically click on the 3,2,1 star reviews, I think that is where you will find the more honest review, in the 3,2,1 reviews you will find out something the person doesnt like about a product then you can ask yourself if that is something that would bother you.
This is how I use the reviews, I look for the complaints on the product from the lower ratings and I see if it matters to me. I then will look at the higher reviews and you can sort of build a profile of is this device good enough for you.
Take in your case;
Blutooth earbuds (a topic Im good with) well, if you see in the 3,2,1 star ratings a number of complaints that they love the earbuds but sometimes the left and right disconnect from each other, I then look to see if their are more comments about that, if so, then I know its not for me because I would get too annoyed, things like that, using common sense in looking for the downside of a product and see if it matches up with what others say.
(I see someone or someone's posted similar about this)

 

[D60]

I don't leave reviews on Amazon anymore. I used to.

If enough people flag your review, whether they are people paid to promote a product, company, or narrative's interest or not.. something will happen to your "account."

Doesn't matter if you did anything inappropriate or not.

Sort of like a lie detector test. Decline, and get an attorney. Because, even if you are telling the truth, but have, ohh, say, anxiety. When that machine says you lied? Now, you lied.. even if you didn't..

Interesting, I was not aware this could happen on Amazon. I've had it on CL where someone didn't like something in my posting so they'd somehow get it flagged enough to be removed.

Within weeks of that was when CL started charging $5 to list a vehicle, which honestly is a fantastic idea IMO - it means those listing are likely real people and serious about the transaction. I'm assuming they don't allow PAID listings to be flagged, or if they are require stricter review for removal, but I don't KNOW that. All I know is the problems with erroneous flagging stopped for me.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Full disclosure = I hate Amazon but will purchase there as a last resort. Ok, with that out of the way.
Many reviews are false, its about sales, "Verified Purchasers" are just that, it means they bought the product from Amazon or maybe got a free one to test. Its all meaning less, lets say your selling a product on Amazon, well, you can buy a ton of the products yourself, actually companies will do it for you, then post reviews. Its worth it because you will sell a lot of products this way, also the "unverified" purchase still pumps up your "Star" rating.
So yeah, the reviews can not be trusted in any way.

What I do is automatically click on the 3,2,1 star reviews, I think that is where you will find the more honest review, in the 3,2,1 reviews you will find out something the person doesnt like about a product then you can ask yourself if that is something that would bother you.
This is how I use the reviews, I look for the complaints on the product from the lower ratings and I see if it matters to me. I then will look at the higher reviews and you can sort of build a profile of is this device good enough for you.
Take in your case;
Blutooth earbuds (a topic Im good with) well, if you see in the 3,2,1 star ratings a number of complaints that they love the earbuds but sometimes the left and right disconnect from each other, I then look to see if their are more comments about that, if so, then I know its not for me because I would get too annoyed, things like that, using common sense in looking for the downside of a product and see if it matches up with what others say.
(I see someone or someone's posted similar about this)

I've always given my honest reviews on Amazon. I've only been compensated one time in 20+ years (a whopping $3 Amazon eCredit) to do a review on a product I paid for (pair of walking shoes). I gave an honest review (4-stars) and dinged the product on one small issue I didn't like. Amazon let it print as written. I've also written 1-star reviews and Amazon let it print.

I've bought a lot of stuff from Amazon over the years, and rarely am I disappointed after receiving the product. For the rare times I have been, I either sent it back for a replacement or refund and it was hassle free (Amazon paid for return shipping - all I had to do is say for UPS to pick it up at my house). Amazon has even given me credit for small dollar items ($10 or less) that were defective and said "keep it", we don't want it shipped back.

Another thing I look at when reading Amazon reviews is how old are the reviews. If most of the 1 and 2 stars are old reviews (sort them by newest first) and the most recent reviews are mostly 4 and 5 starts, then the product most likely was improved due to bad reviews in the past. You can actually glean some useful info from reading the reviews this way, and also searching the Q&A area with key words.

 

[SZR48207]

All the red highlighted items are what I call "Amazon Junk Chinese Fake Brand" items that are highly rated because they're:

1. Substantially cheaper than the competition, so mad consumers are less likely to ding the product for being crap.
2. Monitored for bad reviews by the sellers who will give a complete refund of the purchase price in exchange for a good review.

These brands are not hard to spot.. they're made up words.. almost like they were told by Bezos to make their origin obvious. Not once in 5+ years of noticing these products on Amazon have I seen a brand name that was a decent attempt at sounding established (something like "Rugged Hoses" or "Classic Tools").. it's always some janky combo of words like QQLAB or SARGSKY.


They come up in ANY search related to popular and common items like electronics, hand tools, shop tools, clothing, kitchen gadgets, health gadgets. They don't appear much when it comes to food or cosmetic items like cologne, aftershave, etc.

I flat out don't buy these brands unless the established brand (like Goodyear) appears to sell the exact same item at a huge markup.

Shopping for well known brands is one way to avoid being suckered on Amazon.