Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For • Hacker News Board

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#61

Post by philwelch » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:22 PM UTC

lainga wrote: post #36

endorphone wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's impossible to validate. Further for all we know Fakespot (which curiously has been mentioned multiple times) might itself be a fake that undermines products that are sponsored, etc. It probably isn't, I'm just saying.

But how can I trust what you're saying? What if you've been paid off by Fakespot?

That's why I'm launching my new website, SpotFakeFakeSpot, which helps spot fake fake review spotting sites. I got the idea from my time as a sales rep selling radar detector detectors to police departments.

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#62

Post by Nasrudith » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:23 PM UTC

bob_theslob646 wrote: post #12

How are there not laws that enforce companies to verify there reviews. I understand it is a complex problem, but first it was our elections were manipulated via spam advertising and now, most of the products that we buy are going to be.

Well such moderation requirements would be massively impractical and run afoul of safe harbor. Not to mention being defacto prior restraint. Besides even if money was no object it isn't possible to always and definitively prove truth or falsehood. Even if someone posts a five star review of chalky dry chocolate they may just have crappy taste.

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#63

Post by msikora » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:28 PM UTC

ReviewMeta has a great Chrome plugin that shows the "real" score (after removing all even slightly suspicious reviews) right in the toolbar https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/reviewmetacom-revi...

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#64

Post by Nasrudith » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:29 PM UTC

jameslk wrote: post #55

There will always be a desire to pay for reviews, since 70%-80% of shoppers check reviews before buying[0][1] (and growing[2]). Amazon could help fix this problem by creating "sponsored" reviews. This way a company can pay for reviews in a non-scummy way, a reviewer (and Amazon) gets paid, and a customer can tell whether the review was paid for or not. Or just pass laws to regulate reviews. 0. http://www.peopleclaim.…

I doubt that sponsored reviews would solve it - if they wanted to be shady they would astroturf it anyway. Marketing departments with multimillion dollar budgets still engage in that. As for regulating reviews what could possibly work for that? Real ID would be unduly oppressive in chilling effects in addition to opening up barratry and harassment of reviewers. Even if fake reviews fall under false advertising laws good luck enforcing it.

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#65

Post by dudus » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:31 PM UTC

wuliwong wrote: post #14

JohnTHaller wrote: post #3

It's common knowledge among most techies that the majority of Amazon reviews are fake and that counterfeit items are a big issue, but most of the general population is completely unaware. I was searching for an inexpensive pair of polarized sunglasses last week and the "Amazon Recommended" ones had an F on FakeSpot with 70%+ fake reviews.

On what do you base your opinion that the "general population is completely unaware?"

I believe that's just common sense.

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#66

Post by jlavine » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:34 PM UTC

cstejerean wrote: post #37

IAmGraydon wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really should never be shopping on Amazon for high margin products that are easy to fake. This means perfume, cosmetics, sunglasses and name brand clothing. These items are cheap to manufacture (even the real ones), but get their high perceived value from brand. Those Raybans you love? A $250 pair costs Luxotica around $5 to manufacture. So items like these are common to fake because the fakers can often get a pr…

Fakes I’m not too worried about, I can usually spot those. The problem is that many categories are flooded with garbage products with inflated reviews. Try to find a bathroom scale. Tons of choices with 4.5 stars and above, but most of the reviews are fake, so it would take hours to sort through the choices and find a decent product. Same for most things I’ve wanted to buy recently (hiking poles and a daypack are two…

I find that it's usually pretty clear from the bizarre language, excess enthusiasm, and lack of detail which reviews are fake or paid for, without need to refer to any 3rd-party websites. For many products with fewer than 100 ratings, it's clear that all or almost all of the ratings are fake. This often happens when there are several versions of essentially the same product, presumably all from the same factory in China. It's usually best to stick to the one or two variants with the most reviews.

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#67

Post by lovemenot » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:34 PM UTC

notacoward wrote: post #49

marviel wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd think that Amazon would have the machine learning resources to detect likely-fraudulent items with high accuracy, should they be interested in preventing such obvious fraud.

They have the resources. What they lack is the proper incentive. As long as fake reviews don't completely destroy the customer experience to the point that people forego any other advantages (mostly convenience) of shopping there, Amazon will continue to reap the short-term benefit of more apparent variety, more apparent quality, and more sales. Any effort beyond keeping the fakery just short of destroying the brand…

I'd venture further and claim that it's in Amazon's long-term interest to drive down the perceived brand value of third-party suppliers through its distribution channel.

Costs are lowered and the value of Amazon's brand is relatively increased. Similar to stocking own-brand product in a supermarket. This weakens the negotiating position of big name brands.

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#68

Post by netinstructions » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:36 PM UTC

And I've had issues trying to leave less than perfect reviews - seems like only after I spend time typing up the review (and sometimes uploading photos) does Amazon come back and say, sorry can't publish this.

Seems like a dark pattern to encourage only positive reviews.

http://www.netinstructions.com/amazon-dark-patterns/

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#69

Post by Ensorceled » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:37 PM UTC

themodelplumber wrote: post #46

fireattack wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I think most people perceive anything less than 4 stars (or even 4.5 stars for some) as "bad". I for one won't buy anything that are "merely" 3-stars.

True, I gave a tech book 3 stars once and the author contacted me to request that I reconsider, explaining that anything less than 5 stars could doom a brand new tech book on Amazon. He offered personal support and training in return for raising the score. It didn't work, but it also convinced me that he has a good point regarding the score: Reviews are difficult ground due to their subjective nature, and a lot of re…

So, when you were giving the book 3 stars, how did you judge the book? Did that match what you then learned (3 stars dooms a book). Did you intend to doom the book or feel it should be doomed?

Re: Some Amazon Reviews Are Too Good to Be Believed – They're Paid For

#70

Post by chaostheory » Mon, Jul 30, 2018, 11:38 PM UTC

jameslk wrote: post #55

There will always be a desire to pay for reviews, since 70%-80% of shoppers check reviews before buying[0][1] (and growing[2]). Amazon could help fix this problem by creating "sponsored" reviews. This way a company can pay for reviews in a non-scummy way, a reviewer (and Amazon) gets paid, and a customer can tell whether the review was paid for or not. Or just pass laws to regulate reviews. 0. http://www.peopleclaim.…

Amazon has done this for years now. It's call Amazon Vine. Select Amazon customers with high review ratings are given free* products for which they have to give unbiased reviews. It's both sponsored by Amazon as well as various manufacturers.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help

It has mixed results. Amazon is upfront about Vine reviewers getting free product and resulting reviews have a Vine tag on top. Customers tend to not like Vine reviews vs verified purchase reviews. While there are negative Vine reviews, most are positive. It may be due to a psychological quid pro quo, since you tend to get more products from the same manufacturer if you offer positive reviews vs negative ones. It's just really hard to be unbiased when you keep getting "free" stuff from one of your favorite companies.

*It's taxable according to Amazon's cost in most cases so you get to figure out Amazon's margins for a lot of products. If it's manufacturer sponsored, then the item isn't taxable as income. Food and similar products are also not considered taxable.