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

#161

Post by TheRealDunkirk » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:18 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…

> That is, there's some friction for the malicious actors.

Fake reviews are just another form of marketing, like traditional junk mail. Making mail spammers pay postage doesn't seem to have changed the fact that most of the snail mail I get is junk, even in the digital age. Charge reviewers a quarter or a dollar to leave a review. If I was passionate enough -- one way or the other -- to leave a review, I'd pay it! I'll bet it would squelch the fake reviews overnight. Just tune the charge to find an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio.

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

#162

Post by i_made_a_booboo » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:20 AM UTC

DominikPeters wrote: post #73

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #27

Couldn't you post a five star review, get reimbursed, and then change your review to an honest one? Asking for a friend.

The offers on those Facebook groups all seem to ask for amazon profile name before agreeing on the deal, to check your reviewing history. I doubt your proposed scheme would be long-lived.

So you have to be an honest fake reviewer.

The irony.

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

#163

Post by losteric » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:24 AM UTC

ajross wrote: post #119

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 strin…

Uh, QA? The source nation isn't the problem, is that Amazon is listing those crappy products over quality items.

Although, I would LOVE if Amazon let me filter out products not made in America.

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

#164

Post by monocularvision » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:25 AM UTC

dclowd9901 wrote: post #142

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.

Nah. Better solution is removing reviews from people who get refunds. Double win by incentivizing manufacturers to refund a disgruntled customer.

According to the article, people were getting refunded via side channel and keeping the products.

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

#165

Post by nitrogen » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:33 AM UTC

losteric wrote: post #163

ajross wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 strin…

Uh, QA? The source nation isn't the problem, is that Amazon is listing those crappy products over quality items. Although, I would LOVE if Amazon let me filter out products not made in America.

I'd love a retail site that let me search by useful criteria, like country of origin, ingredients (e.g. food must contain or must not contain X), dimensions (not just '3" to 9"' when I want exactly 6.5"), etc. Amazon has most of the data already listed in tables on the product pages.

I want Octopart for everything else.

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

#166

Post by user111233 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:36 AM UTC

antidesitter wrote: post #82

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…

> Imagine how much less spam we would have if it cost 1 cent to send an email. Friction can do a lot of good. Incidentally, this was the motivation behind a PoW system called Hashcash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash .

Bitmessage had this and it would burn up my laptop cpu trying to send a text message but spammers with gpu farms could still take out the whole network with no troubles.

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

#167

Post by hackits » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:41 AM UTC

drb91 wrote: post #69

bingbingo wrote: post #4

Shit like this is what made me lose confidence in Amazon and I stopped my prime subscription. My wife bought me “luxury” branded jackets and clothing for fall. Half of them were counterfeit. I called Amazon and they said I can return them and they’ll send me new ones. Ok. How will I know those won’t be counterfeit? Worse, I found a jacket was counterfeit after the return period when it literally started to fall apart…

Why aree you ordering brands off amazon rather than from the brand? You get what you pay for. Good luck on the fraud charge.

People here don't like being told the truth.

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

#168

Post by la6470 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:55 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…

After you returned it did you leave a review? You should have left one start reviews for those sellers.

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

#169

Post by macintux » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:56 AM UTC

castlecrasher2 wrote: post #157

djsumdog wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you just got to a sporting goods shop; either a local or a chain like REI or Dicks, and pay the retail premium and know what you're getting? I don't want retail to go away. Fuck Amazon.

Before the fake review epidemic, buying on Amazon meant I didn't have to drive out for an hour or longer and instead spend time on other things.

For any product I care about, I do my best to find online retailers who specialize in that category. I'll buy disposable stuff off Amazon, or something I literally cannot find anywhere else, but that's about it.

I broke my rule last week to buy a CB radio that was about 66% the usual retail price, so of course the seller rewarded me by having it delivered 600 miles away (either that, or USPS seriously messed up) and then failing to respond to my inquiries.

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

#170

Post by PostOnce » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 3:57 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…

Why not order online from a sporting goods store, or, if possible, direct from the manufacturer?

"Get everything in one place" was more valuable when we had to travel from place to place and it took 30 minutes, but traveling from one website to another takes no time, so the proposition isn't as strong.

Return policies, security, etc, are concerns still, but those cons come along with the pros of no commingling, probably a lower price if ordering direct, and supporting the economic diversity of having more than one store.