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Amazon's Fake Review Problem

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Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#141

Post by nasredin »

ajmurmann wrote: post #49
maxxxxx wrote: post #11

Amazon is starting to feel more and more like eBay. The same product sold by multiple vendors under different names, questionable reviews, clearly fraudulent sellers and so on. I used to love Amazon but now when I look for something I dread to do so on Amazon because I don't feel I can trust anything there.

I wish that Amazon could split the market place off. I disliked it from the first day they introduced it. I want to buy from Amazon not some company I've never heard of. 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.

>I wish that Amazon could split the market place off.

Recently Amazon made it much harder to select sellers.

Now on some products, the page is so confusing that you don't know is it "Fullfilled by Amazon" or you are buying from someone in China.

Race to the bottom and all...

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#142

Post by pogue »

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…

Vipon looks like an interesting site. Do you know if they have a Twitter listing their deals? I don't have an iOS device (which seems to be the only place that they have an app for). A Twitter account would be a perfect in between.

Incidentally, I started a deals & promos list of accounts on Twitter that provide the latest sales on a variety of sites. Feel free to check it out. I have no affiliation with any of the companies listed (Well, I have an Amazon associates account - but it wouldn't benefit me here, since it's other accounts posting their affiliate links)

I find @kinjadeals to have a lot of good deals, but unless it's name brand stuff, it often breaks or wears down after a few months.

Check out Deals and Discounts by @pogue25: https://twitter.com/pogue25/lists/deals-and-discounts?s=09

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#143

Post by jacek »

nasredin wrote: post #139
jacek wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The brand is Bluedio. They have pretty good reviews considering the price. I have used Xiaomi before and was amazed by quality/price. I was hoping Bluedio, which is another Chinese brand would be also good. I was wrong. EDIT: Here's the fake review analysis for the headphones: https://www.fakespot.com/product/bluedio-f2-faith-active-noi...

>Bluedio Sorry to be a bit of an asshole. Do not buy Chinese crap. It's a lottery. My Sennheisers (made of plastic BTW) have been in use since 2014. My previous Sennheisers broke (just the headband) after a couple of years. Bought $30 Taiwanese headphones, good Amazon reviews, but the headband is too small. And the microphonics is terrible. Sigh. Recently bought boots, Made in China. Size is about 1.5 units off. For…

That's true. Buying Chinese electronics is a lottery (usually). I would, however, recommend some Xiaomi products. They are really excellent considering the price.

BTW I actually ended up buying Sennheiser headphones after I returned the crappy ones.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#144

Post by slantyyz »

bsg75 wrote: post #133

How much of this problem would be eliminated if Amazon only allowed reviews from accounts that purchased that item?

Zero. Because the workaround is that reviewers are asked to buy the products with their own money and then reimbursed via Paypal.

Source: I used to do incentivized reviews but stopped after the rule changes. I still get asked to do the Paypal workaround.

In fact, the old system was better. At least the incentivized review disclosures let you know to take a review with a grain of salt. Now, it's even shadier.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#145

Post by [deleted] »

perseusprime11 wrote: post #22

This is not just Amazon’s problem. App store ratings, Reddit comments, Twitter/FB feeds, and Net Neutrality comments are all gamed. We are living in the age of human controlled bots looking to manipulate other humans through what we read.

[deleted]

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#146

Post by pogue »

yoodenvranx wrote: post #85
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…

> When I need a cable or something similar, I resorted to buy only Amazon Basic cables for the PC/monitor/TV and Anker cables/charger for the mobile phones. It is not the cheapest option but you still get high quality for a low price and you don't have to deal with any shady shops.

Amazon Basic makes quality stuff, and after I started buying Anker I fell in love with them.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#147

Post by slantyyz »

m3kw9 wrote: post #25

Generally I always go to review sites first like wire cutter to see what are the best stuff, then I would see the little details, mostly what bad reviews say about it to contradict. A lot good reviews I can sniff out as fluff with a 5 star label. The bad thing is that when I see an avg of 4.5 stars with 100+ reviews, there is a slight bias inside me for this product. Amazon could do a better job to weight the avg sta…

Well, you even have to take the Wirecutter with a grain of salt. IIRC, there was some heated debate over whether they were pay to play from some standing desk co that didn't sell through Amazon (Wirecutter makes a portion of their revenue from amazon referral links).

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#148

Post by pogue »

ecommerceguy wrote: post #140
pogue wrote: post #138

I left this comment on the site's comment section (apologies if others have already posted these suggestions - I didn't read through all the comments): Try using fakespot.com or reviewmeta.com. They're both sites setup to try & check the validity of Amazon comments using different methodology - such as how many times a reviewer has left a review, certain trigger keywords known to be used by bots & how many reviews Am…

To be clear, Amazon will remove reviews at merchant request when the review is about FBA shipping. Generally, these are bad reviews. A merchant would not want to remove a good review when the subject is shipping. "This came really fast!" 5 Stars is not a product review, however a merchant would not want to remove it. "The box was completely damaged and destroyed the product!!" 1 Star - will be removed by request if s…

Sorry, FBA = ?

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#149

Post by postila »

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…

Here is an example of ~$65 item merged with others https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076RS1WRZ/ref=oh_aui_deta... – a lot of five-star reviews (marked as verified), but very bad quality.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#150

Post by pogue »

mc32 wrote: post #18
jccooper wrote: post #6

Social proof via reviews (of products, restaurants, anything) is a great idea if you can assume good intent. Back in the good ol' days of the Internet this seemed plausible for some reason, but now there's real money to be made and that's out the window. Amazon and Yelp and the like may be better or worse at stemming the tide of fakery, but asking them to be better isn't going to fundamentally help. The whole idea is…

I wonder if it will come back to a more distributed CR type of system. Also branding and maintaining the integrity of a brand. Currently you have a bevvy of brands for China sourced goods. The brands are obviously made up without much thought. Something like "Scarvast" trekking pole. "Vargus" flashlights, "Zukil" wireless speakers. "Brikor" dehumidifiers. And often times the same seller will have multiple "brands". T…

I highly recommend a 30 Day trial subscription on Consumer Reports (CR) online if you're looking to buy a big ticket item. You can put in your CC# & other details and get free 30 day access to CR testing of a lot of products. Then cancel before the 30 days are up. You may end up paying a little more for a top notch product, but you can be assured if CR reviewed it, you're getting what you pay for.
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