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Amazon's Fake Review Problem

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Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#231

Post by codedokode »

wpietri wrote: post #222
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…

Yeah, fake reviews have been a problem for years and are only getting more sophisticated. The latest scam is "brushing": https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/27/american...

Receiving an empty parcel looks like an opening scene from a horror movie.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#232

Post by Theodores »

postila wrote: post #149
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.

Fakespot: Our engine has profiled the reviewer patterns and has determined that there is high deception involved.

D - Our analysis detected 42.1% low quality reviews

https://www.fakespot.com/product/true-wireless-earbuds-langs...

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#233

Post by Theodores »

danbower wrote: post #58

Well the situation does seem quite bad when you see people who leave fake reviews become brazen enough to actually advertise their services on Amazon itself [1]. I reported this review about 10 days ago and it's still up. The email address provided appears on hundreds of product listings [2]. When they can't even filter out nonsense like this I can only assume they put zero effort into tackling fake reviews. [1] http…

...this is sad in the instance you describe because the actual seller did not request that 'advert for reviews' and it now marks their product as 'fake'. Yet the actual seller is legit and doing a great job according to 'fakespot'. Sample listing:

https://www.fakespot.com/company/ketdirect

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#234

Post by pageald »

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.

This is a great idea. They need to hook this thing up to Glassdoor.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#235

Post by mistermann »

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?

Jeff Bezos is no idiot....he knows he can let this run until it starts to become truly scandalous, and then Amazon can have a big showy come to Jesus change of heart, and all will be forgotten. Rinse, repeat.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#236

Post by y2kenny »

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?

May be the spotting is actually not that great. One way to test it is to find a popular, known-to-be good product that you have and see what the result is. The example I tried was the Instant Pot (which is rated D): https://www.fakespot.com/product/instant-pot-ip-duo60-7-in-1...

Oddly enough, the same product listing on the US site is rated as A (the above is for the Canadian site): https://www.fakespot.com/product/instant-pot-ip-duo60-7-in-1...

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#237

Post by mistermann »

wpietri wrote: post #222
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…

Yeah, fake reviews have been a problem for years and are only getting more sophisticated. The latest scam is "brushing": https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2017/11/27/american...

"Due to the unbalanced pricing policies of the United Postal Union and subsidies from the U.S. Postal Service, it costs people in China virtually nothing to ship small packages to the U.S. That, combined with the super cheap price they pay for the junk they ship, makes brushing a quick and cost effective way to move up the sales rankings -- which means everything for e-commerce merchants."

I simply can't fathom why Western companies aren't freaking out abut this.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#238

Post by mistermann »

lightwin wrote: post #207
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…

Just today I was trying to find some earphones on amazon and came across following seller page. https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap... Almost all of their products have 500-600 reviews and all are 5 star, not even a single one is less than 5 stars. Moreover, most of reviews are created in November 2017 and each reviewer has left couple of 5-star reviews only for same seller's product within a…

Money. Nothing else matters.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#239

Post by jessaustin »

fencepost wrote: post #183
eric_h wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The problem with "ships from and sold by" is that it doesn't address one of Amazon's other big problems, counterfeit items commingled in their inventory. Have a shipping container full of good quality counterfeit XYZ? Ship it to Amazon to sell, it'll get mixed in with the same UPC from everyone else including Amazon itself and the counterfeits will never be traced back to you.

One would think Amazon could trace it back if they tried hard enough, but we can't assume they would do that. After all their margins on commingled items are probably better than when they buy the items themselves.

Re: Amazon's Fake Review Problem

#240

Post by fencepost »

pwaai wrote: post #197
fencepost wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll compare this to Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, authors of the Liaden universe. It's classic space opera and for years was put out by a small publisher. They had a very dedicated and vocal set of fans but didn't get much traction in the broader SF community for quite some time.

D for deception - https://www.fakespot.com/product/fledgling-liaden-universe-b...

What's funny about that particular link is related to my comment about online serials. After their publisher went under they did the original version of Fledgling as a donation based serial on their web site, and I bet a bunch of the oldest reviews for it are from people who donated for it then bought the hardcover when they signed with Baen and it was re-edited and published.

Those would be the loyal readers who go to authors' websites looking for news and new releases.

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