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Amazon's Fake Review Problem

brianbien.com

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Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#111

Post by eric_h »

vladus2000 wrote: post #68
jlarocco wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's if course never gonna happen. It's too convenient for Amazon and most users probably don't even understand that they aren't buying from Amazon. Out of curiosity, why do you assume people don't realize they aren't buying from Amazon?

I have had to explain this to my dad multiple times before he fully understood and I consider him to be a smart person. I have no idea how this applies to the general population, but they do not make it that obvious if you are not paying attention. Especially the other sellers that participate in prime shipping.

I try reasonably hard to only by ships from and sold by amazon, but even I occasionally mess up and end up getting a 3rd party seller. Fortunately I've not been burned, yet.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#112

Post by jacek »

bduerst wrote: post #64
jacek wrote: post #39

The fake review problem on Amazon is much bigger than people think. Here are my two anecdotes: 1. I got bluetooth headphones on amazon (~$65). They had great reviews, but were very disappointing. I returned them and gave 2 star review. Representative from the manufacturer contacted me and offered me a pair for free. After I got them, they asked for positive review. I refused. That manipulation technique wasn't enough…

I've been using Fakespot when buying anything I don't trust on Amazon now. It's amazing how many highly-rated items with 300+ reviews get an F grade.

That's brilliant. Here's Fakespot page for the headphones I wrote about: https://www.fakespot.com/product/bluedio-f2-faith-active-noi...

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#114

Post by Someone1234 »

dhimes wrote: post #109
Someone1234 wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not necessarily. They said "she knows these people personally" and I mirrored it as "so your wife has people she knows," so what does "not necessarily" refer to here exactly?

The has part is what I mean. As I said elsewhere, friends want to do this, no solicitation required. I'm sure the author is saddened that this got her in trouble.

So your key take-away and complaint with my post is that they volunteer to bump her book's reviews instead of being expressly asked? I really don't see what difference that makes.

Fakespot was being criticized above because the person claims they misjudged his wife's book reviews while also revealing that his wife was conducting the very behavior Fakespot is designed to detect. Whether the biased reviewers volunteer or were asked is completely besides the point.

Look at it from a consumer's point of view, volunteer, paid, or asked the result is the same. The reviews are at best biased and may even be fake (depending on if they actually read the book, and would have given it less than five stars under any circumstances).

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#115

Post by froindt »

wingworks wrote: post #103
pwaai wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah the fake reviews are bad for business. I'm buying much less because I know knock off Chinese white label products are being marked up 5~7x the wholesale price from Alibaba. I don't like being used as an arbitrage opportunity. I think that if unaddressed it could harm Amazon in the long run. Validating authentic and genuine reviews is still a very much under-developed solution, still relying on an equally weighte…

Why not just shop directly with Alibaba/aliexpress then, skip the big markup :D

Because you need to buy wholesale quantities and it's still not the brand name product you want.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#116

Post by irl_zebra »

FabHK wrote: post #113

Reminds me of Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

True. My team started targeting site availability since using that as a measure. Now my site uptime is four nines! About to tell them to cut it out.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#117

Post by dhimes »

Someone1234 wrote: post #114
dhimes wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The has part is what I mean. As I said elsewhere, friends want to do this, no solicitation required. I'm sure the author is saddened that this got her in trouble.

So your key take-away and complaint with my post is that they volunteer to bump her book's reviews instead of being expressly asked? I really don't see what difference that makes. Fakespot was being criticized above because the person claims they misjudged his wife's book reviews while also revealing that his wife was conducting the very behavior Fakespot is designed to detect. Whether the biased reviewers volunteer…

One sense implies that the author is scheming- soliciting reviews to boost her sales- and has a connotation of her agency in dishonest behavior.

The other sense is one of a natural human (but honest) response of friends excited by the celebrity status of one of their own.

I agree fully with your comment on the consumer's point of view, though. As a consumer that point's not lost on me.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#118

Post by apinstein »

I am finding myself more and more suspicious of buying from Amazon. I have had issues with fake reviews, disclarity over the actual vendor/source of an item, particularly due to their mixed logistics system. It’s scary how many 1-Star reviews are clearly from people who’ve gotten a fake / different product than what’s listed. I am close to done with buying from Amazon.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#119

Post by Someone1234 »

threatofrain wrote: post #93
Someone1234 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my wife is an author on Amazon and personally knows most of the people who review her books. So your wife has people she knows leave positive reviews in order to bump her book's review score and you're upset that Fakespot gave it an F due to them being non-organic reviews? As a consumer it sounds like Fakespot is doing a great job, and exactly what it states on the tin. What your wife is doing is at best dishonest…

I would also call this dishonesty, but I wouldn't be too hard on someone for this. Asking someone to not do this is like asking someone to do honest advertisements. It's asking someone to uphold an ethical standard that the majority neglects. A little bit of moderated moral pushback has its place, but I think the main solution at societal-scale must be structural.

I actually agree, I'd be lying if I wouldn't leave a positive review if my spouse or friend wrote a book. Problem is the person above said "Yet FakeSpot [...] is completely wrong." and criticized Fakespot for pointing out the problematic reviews.

They say that everyone is a hero in their own story, and I think that applies here, you have good personal motivations (help a friend/spouse/family, etc) but ultimately what you're doing is no different from the consumer's perspective than the people that do this stuff professionally. It is just as immoral/misleading/dishonest.

They get upset with a service (Fakespot) which points out the bad behavior because it contrasts with their moral motivations for doing so. I think they need to re-examine right and wrong in this situation, Fakespot may not be the bad guy here.

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