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Amazon's Fake Review Problem

brianbien.com

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Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#211

Post by RhodesianHunter »

mjevans wrote: post #192
pwaai wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you go about tracing the steps? Are there some large database of OEM factories where you can contact them in English (assuming China). I too would love to know exactly where and who made it, how many middle-men have stepped in with their own markup to finally Amazon. Because it's clear that Amazon doesn't give two shit about who and what gets sold, they just care about volume. Fixing reviews is not part of…

You require the data to be part of the listing, and you share that data with the consumer. It thus becomes a statement that can be enforced as part of advertising to a customer. Counterfeits would be one thing to go after. Lying to customers would be another. After a while 'dodgy factories' and/or sellers that lie more often than not would be able to be sorted out and removed from listings. More importantly factories…

I wish it we're this simple, but after working in this space I can tell you that getting that data is a Herculean task.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#212

Post by dingo_bat »

jacek wrote: post #108
rconti wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh. I've never really had an issue because I chalked it up more to people buying cheap crap and expecting it to be good. But $65 for a pair of headphones isn't exactly cheap. Was it a familiar brand but maybe a counterfeit? Or was it a brand you've never heard of, but the price is justified by very positive reviews? I'm curious.

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...

For Bluetooth headphones, I just blindly get whatever Sony has at my budget. It has worked well for me till now.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#213

Post by lightwin »

jacek wrote: post #112
bduerst wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

If Fakespot is able to spot the fake reviews, Amazon could have also utilized the similar tech. What stops them?

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#214

Post by ohashi »

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 do reviews for my startup, the fake reviews is a big problem. My solution has been to collect more data. I'm using twitter to collect millions of comments about web hosting companies and built a review site around it. (https://reviewsignal.com) I think writing a 'review' can be a strange behavior, listening to people talking organically and analyzing that seems more accurate. Also there's more data that way.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#215

Post by jen729w »

lightwin wrote: post #213
jacek wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If Fakespot is able to spot the fake reviews, Amazon could have also utilized the similar tech. What stops them?

Er. Profit?

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#216

Post by Larrikin »

lightwin wrote: post #213
jacek wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If Fakespot is able to spot the fake reviews, Amazon could have also utilized the similar tech. What stops them?

Why waste engineers times when you're on top with hardly any competition? Google and Facebook only started caring about fake information under congressional pressure.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#217

Post by olegious »

lightwin wrote: post #213
jacek wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If Fakespot is able to spot the fake reviews, Amazon could have also utilized the similar tech. What stops them?

Likely because it isn't actually costing them much in lost sales?

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#218

Post by ProAm »

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.

Amazon is Walmart on the web.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#219

Post by fenwick67 »

olegious wrote: post #217
lightwin wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Fakespot is able to spot the fake reviews, Amazon could have also utilized the similar tech. What stops them?

Likely because it isn't actually costing them much in lost sales?

On the contrary, it probably improves their sales to have extra positive reviews scattered around.
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