Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews • Hacker News Board

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#111

Post by x0054 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:20 AM UTC

Amazon is going downhill quickly. I target shoot with a compound bow as a hobby, and as a result I usually buy a set of arrows a year. In 2015 when I would search for "target arrows" on Amazon the first page results would be for legit American companies who make exceptional arrows for about $30 per set of 6. Now, and for the last 2 years if I search for "target arrows" I get pages and pages of Chinese crap arrows (I purchased several sets and returned them). The crappy ones are also selling for $30 per set but they are made out of weak aluminum and come bent up. To get the nice American made ones I have to got 10-20 pages deep or search by brand name and even than the real ones are usually on page 2 with page one featuring the same crap from China. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure they can make quality arrows in China, but what makes it to the top of Amazon is utter crap.

I noticed this with many other products as well, but the arrows is a particularly noticeable example because it's something I regularly replace as they get beat up and destroyed (I shoot a lot).

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#112

Post by joelx » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:21 AM UTC

x0054 wrote: post #111

Amazon is going downhill quickly. I target shoot with a compound bow as a hobby, and as a result I usually buy a set of arrows a year. In 2015 when I would search for "target arrows" on Amazon the first page results would be for legit American companies who make exceptional arrows for about $30 per set of 6. Now, and for the last 2 years if I search for "target arrows" I get pages and pages of Chinese crap arrows (I…

I suggest Amazon solves this by requiring ALL purchasers to leave reviews of ALL products they buy. Or by adding a $10 fee to every purchase that can only be refunded by leaving a review.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#113

Post by bootlooped » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:28 AM UTC

x0054 wrote: post #111

Amazon is going downhill quickly. I target shoot with a compound bow as a hobby, and as a result I usually buy a set of arrows a year. In 2015 when I would search for "target arrows" on Amazon the first page results would be for legit American companies who make exceptional arrows for about $30 per set of 6. Now, and for the last 2 years if I search for "target arrows" I get pages and pages of Chinese crap arrows (I…

It's not clear those low-price low-quality products aren't legitimately listed first because most people prefer them.

Edit: ignore the above, I failed to read the part where they said the price was the same.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#114

Post by faizshah » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:28 AM UTC

DanielleMolloy wrote: post #70

I check Fakespot, and click on some reviewer profiles. The idiots doing full-time positive product reviewing are so easy to spot by their hilarious review history that you start to assume that Amazon doesn’t do anything against them on purpose. They also mainly flock on the crap within a single month or so (but this is one of many Fakespot metrics). I tried buying a new bicycle light last week and literally every pro…

I just looked for a headphone splitter for an iPhone. Every result on the page had pretty high reviews, but when you click on the results and look at the reviews you see weird five star reviews like "great planner with a great cover" and "this was the perfect organizer for my daughter's drawers" at the top of the reviews for a highly rated headphone splitter. I don't know what's going on with Amazon, but I ended up going to best buy to look for peripherals.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#115

Post by kakarot » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:32 AM UTC

joelx wrote: post #112

x0054 wrote: post #111

Amazon is going downhill quickly. I target shoot with a compound bow as a hobby, and as a result I usually buy a set of arrows a year. In 2015 when I would search for "target arrows" on Amazon the first page results would be for legit American companies who make exceptional arrows for about $30 per set of 6. Now, and for the last 2 years if I search for "target arrows" I get pages and pages of Chinese crap arrows (I…

I suggest Amazon solves this by requiring ALL purchasers to leave reviews of ALL products they buy. Or by adding a $10 fee to every purchase that can only be refunded by leaving a review.

That will just create a shitload of low-effort noise in between useful reviews.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#116

Post by bootlooped » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:32 AM UTC

kaffee wrote: post #75

Let's not forget that these fake reviews are being paid for. That's clearly better than non-paid-for fake reviews. That is, there's some friction for the malicious actors. Imagine how much less spam we would have if it cost 1 cent to send an email. Friction can do a lot of good. This is all to say that it looks like Amazon and others (e.g., Steam) are doing the right thing in requiring a verified purchase in order to…

If you were a purveyor of fake reviews, you would want to track the reviews you peddled. It's knowable if reviews disappear over time.

What would be the incentive to come clean to Amazon about your own fake reviews? I don't think the people who sell fake reviews are likely to grow a conscience spontaneously.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#117

Post by hippich » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:34 AM UTC

faizshah wrote: post #114

DanielleMolloy wrote: post #70

I check Fakespot, and click on some reviewer profiles. The idiots doing full-time positive product reviewing are so easy to spot by their hilarious review history that you start to assume that Amazon doesn’t do anything against them on purpose. They also mainly flock on the crap within a single month or so (but this is one of many Fakespot metrics). I tried buying a new bicycle light last week and literally every pro…

I just looked for a headphone splitter for an iPhone. Every result on the page had pretty high reviews, but when you click on the results and look at the reviews you see weird five star reviews like "great planner with a great cover" and "this was the perfect organizer for my daughter's drawers" at the top of the reviews for a highly rated headphone splitter. I don't know what's going on with Amazon, but I ended up g…

It is sellers abusing product variation feature on amazon. Basically it works like that - they find out of stock product with high number of positive reviews, add it as a variation to their own product. Since this product is out of stock, it would not show up on the product page as an option to select, yet they gain all reviews/stars from that product. This needs to be reported to Amazon.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#118

Post by phakding » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:38 AM UTC

joelx wrote: post #112

x0054 wrote: post #111

Amazon is going downhill quickly. I target shoot with a compound bow as a hobby, and as a result I usually buy a set of arrows a year. In 2015 when I would search for "target arrows" on Amazon the first page results would be for legit American companies who make exceptional arrows for about $30 per set of 6. Now, and for the last 2 years if I search for "target arrows" I get pages and pages of Chinese crap arrows (I…

I suggest Amazon solves this by requiring ALL purchasers to leave reviews of ALL products they buy. Or by adding a $10 fee to every purchase that can only be refunded by leaving a review.

I don't think I would agree to that model. I wouldn't like my money being held hostage for a review. If they give me a dollar discount, on the other hand, I would be much inclined to leave a review.

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#119

Post by ajross » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:38 AM UTC

x0054 wrote: post #111

Amazon is going downhill quickly. I target shoot with a compound bow as a hobby, and as a result I usually buy a set of arrows a year. In 2015 when I would search for "target arrows" on Amazon the first page results would be for legit American companies who make exceptional arrows for about $30 per set of 6. Now, and for the last 2 years if I search for "target arrows" I get pages and pages of Chinese crap arrows (I…

Isn't the solution to that problem branding and not nationalist policing by the retailer? I mean, reading your post I don't see what Amazon can do to make you happy except ban "chinese" manufacturers.

If you're seriously a regular buyer of these products, surely you have a few manufacturers that you know and trust, just like serious hobbyists in other activities have preferred brands of balls or shoes or guitar strings or whatever. Can't you just search for those?

Re: Fake review factories that run on Facebook and post five-star Amazon reviews

#120

Post by eightysixfour » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 1:44 AM UTC

phakding wrote: post #118

joelx wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest Amazon solves this by requiring ALL purchasers to leave reviews of ALL products they buy. Or by adding a $10 fee to every purchase that can only be refunded by leaving a review.

I don't think I would agree to that model. I wouldn't like my money being held hostage for a review. If they give me a dollar discount, on the other hand, I would be much inclined to leave a review.

It is the same model, just semantics. Either way they are increasing the price of the product by some amount and decreasing it when you leave a review.