Reviews on Amazon

Ignore the numerical ratings or summaries, and read the negative ones. And mentally discard those where the buyer was clearly the source of the defect.

Keep in mind that Amazon's review system has long had a structural flaw that aggregates the numbers for the listing as a whole, even when some reviews don't apply to the product, or specific version of the product in question.

Some sellers take advantage of this by recycling a listing with good scores to sell a different product than the one that garnered the good reviews. A practice that Amazon still allows to occur.
 
Ignore the numerical ratings or summaries, and read the negative ones. And mentally discard those where the buyer was clearly the source of the defect.

Keep in mind that Amazon's review system has long had a structural flaw that aggregates the numbers for the listing as a whole, even when some reviews don't apply to the product, or specific version of the product in question.

Some sellers take advantage of this by recycling a listing with good scores to sell a different product than the one that garnered the good reviews. A practice that Amazon still allows to occur.
That is what I do. And like a clock when I ignore a 1 star, I get that exact problem. Coincidence? I think not.
 
Not much value in them these days. Fact: sellers dish our some $ and 3rd party offshore company will happily pump up views and reviews.

I've left a few negative reviews... half of them were taken down by Amazon. Every bad review I read, I give it 10x the weight of a good one

Reviews with pictures or videos mean the most to me (Aside from the latest "Reviewer/Ifuencers, unboxing videos)
 
I wrote a review of a knee scooter.
gave it 3 stars.

Said "It was easy to return for refund as the desc. was inaccurate wheels were 9.x" and 8" instead of the listed 12" and 10"

Amazon said it didnt meet their community guidelines

So I made it even simpler and 1 star and they accepted it.

They also hide the negative reviews..
you have to scroll to bottom, click "see more reviews"
then goto the top and filter by negative reviews to see them.

Otherwise it defaults to "Top Reviews"

Criminal. You can scroll for pages of 5 star reviews without doing that.. and you would miss these reviews that I missed..
1755652954592.webp
 
Click on the reviwer's name and see how many reviews and what they've reviewed. There were some earbuds (Tozo) with a high rating a couple of years ago I was investigating. There were an astonishing number of reviewers with only a have dozen or less reviews who had all reviewed a small number of the same products/off brands.

Also, generally disregard anything with unpronounceable (i.e. chinese) brand names.
 
What is a good way to see if the reviews are legitimate?

Fakespot and Reviewmeta no longer work as per google.
First thing is to click on is "see more reviews" Never bother with "Top reviews" that is plain silly. Amazon constantly links you there. Who cares what a top review is, some are years old. You want to know the product that is being shipped now. Why not get a wide variety of thoughts, not just what Amazon lists as a top review. Amazon does not know what is important to you about a product.

Soooooo ...
Scroll past the "Top Reviews" ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

THEN
Click on "see more reviews"
THEN
change "sort by" "top reviews" TO "most recent reviews"

There you can pick and choose number of stars given to a product. I typically start around 3 star reviews using the "filter" feature. But I read each category of stars. I then filter out what is important to me in those reviews. For example one thing about a product might bother someone but not the majority of others. However if that one thing that bothers someone is important also to me, well then the product is a pass.
Simple stuff. I look for shortcomings of a product in the reviews and then see if that shortcoming matters to me. I could care less about glowing reviews unless I know the short comings and that is why I like to see the 3 star reviews first and then check out the other star ratings one star at a time.

(ps you can also filter by "verified reviews"
 
First thing is to click on is "see more reviews" Never bother with "Top reviews" that is plain silly. Amazon constantly links you there. Who cares what a top review is, some are years old. You want to know the product that is being shipped now. Why not get a wide variety of thoughts, not just what Amazon lists as a top review. Amazon does not know what is important to you about a product.

Soooooo ...
Scroll past the "Top Reviews" ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.

THEN
Click on "see more reviews"
THEN
change "sort by" "top reviews" TO "most recent reviews"

There you can pick and choose number of stars given to a product. I typically start around 3 star reviews using the "filter" feature. But I read each category of stars. I then filter out what is important to me in those reviews. For example one thing about a product might bother someone but not the majority of others. However if that one thing that bothers someone is important also to me, well then the product is a pass.
Simple stuff. I look for shortcomings of a product in the reviews and then see if that shortcoming matters to me. I could care less about glowing reviews unless I know the short comings and that is why I like to see the 3 star reviews first and then check out the other star ratings one star at a time.

(ps you can also filter by "verified reviews"
It's funny how automatically I do this now. You have to know the smart people at Amazon see this systematic pattern - well I know they do because I know and have relatives who are brilliant software engineers for Amazon. The smartest is the older sister of my son in law.
 
It's funny how automatically I do this now. You have to know the smart people at Amazon see this systematic pattern - well I know they do because I know and have relatives who are brilliant software engineers for Amazon. The smartest is the older sister of my son in law.
yeah... and you know .. I bet sooooo many people just "see" what is fed to them without configuring the search options. After all, Amazons goal is to sell as much product as they can while providing reviews as they see fit. Yet at least they still allow you to configure in the way you want to see reviews. More or less no one can accuse them of hiding anything, because the information is there but you have to take some extra steps and that is ok. Again, I have to wonder if most of the public does that. I think not.;)
 
yeah... and you know .. I bet sooooo many people just "see" what is fed to them without configuring the search options. After all, Amazons goal is to sell as much product as they can while providing reviews as they see fit. Yet at least they still allow you to configure in the way you want to see reviews. More or less no one can accuse them of hiding anything, because the information is there but you have to take some extra steps and that is ok. Again, I have to wonder if most of the public does that. I think not.;)
Sneaky!

I know also Amazon is seeing how much stuff they sell to the hinterlands. We never had actual Amazon delivery. Never same day.

Then two weeks ago, I meet our Amazon delivery person.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tr...vestment-delivery-network-small-town-rural-us

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tr...-town-america-us-prime-same-next-day-delivery
 
Sneaky!

I know also Amazon is seeing how much stuff they sell to the hinterlands. We never had actual Amazon delivery. Never same day.

Then two weeks ago, I meet our Amazon delivery person.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tr...vestment-delivery-network-small-town-rural-us

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tr...-town-america-us-prime-same-next-day-delivery
We used to have Amazon delivery trucks in past home in South Carolina. But not here, everything is USPS
Walmart will give us same day on many items, also next day and two day. At no cost with Walmart Plus. Heck one day they brought a box of crackers to my door! Forget what happened. I dont thin kit made the previous delivery.
Even delivered a battery for my truck along with groceries two months back. *LOL*
 
Yes, Amazon reviews should be approached with some caution.... just like reviews at many other places.
Just like another thread.... Several of us were talking review services and such.
Just like JD Powers, or Consumer Reports etc... there are so many places to find reviews on things it could put one's head spinning.
Just like JD Powers, or Consumer Reports etc.. nearly every review service has been accused of conflict of interest for one thing or another.

The trick for me is not to trust ANY or only ONE source. Doing that in the past has led to some unpleasant surprises...
There are likely as many bunk, fake, filler type reviews stuffed all over the internet as there are as many real/true reviews from real/true people. This is why I take my time. Do my due diligence. I actually OVERKILL the research before any important purchases.

Retired = Got all the time I need. No reason to rush to judgement on anything at this point!
 
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