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

theguardian.com

221–230 of 334 posts

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

#221

Amazon is worth an enormous amount of money. They can afford to solve this problem. Here's one idea: invite regular amazon users with accounts active for at least > 1 year, who have some kind of verified identity/address, and ask them to become certified reviewers. Give them amazon credits/coupons in exchange for reviews of all the items they've purchased in the last 6-12 months (if they haven't yet left a review for…

You mean like Amazon Vine program?

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

#222
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'…

Charging for reviews doesn't solve anything. The company paying you for the review will then just reimburse you for the cost of the fake review as well. But you'd get rid of almost all honest reviewers

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

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got a bike light on ebay and after a few months the battery failed. Even though legally I have 1 year warranty I just can't be bothered arguing with a seller for days and then having to pay return shipping which is almost as much as the light is. I ended up getting a light at the store. Cost me a little bit more but the quality is soooo much better and the battery can be replaced rather than having a sealed plastic…

It might be worth reaching out to Ebay and asking for a return—they have ridiculously consumer-friendly return policies, and even if the merchant doesn't want the return, Ebay can force it and hold it against their PayPal earnings.

Yes, every time I have complained about something bought on Ebay it has been resolved in my favour.

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

#224

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.

Quite often, thanks to eBay, Amazon and other online, those retail stores simply aren't there any more. My options are destroyed, and I have no choice but to try and buy online or drive miles on a "maybe chance". There used to be a superb hardware store and a great outdoor store near me. Both have closed along with so much else on the high street. If I try and get a lot of what the hardware store carried either onlin…

And shoddy business rates that drove the high street away.

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

#225
post #32

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…

I wonder how this is in Europe where the buyer can get very hefty fines for buying counterfeit goods and even heftier fines for bringing said goods across borders. Personally I don't shop at Amazon so I don't know if it's a problem here.

I've never had a counterfeit item, as in not the actual brand I bought. There is a lot of crappy cheap stuff though.

One thing I've noticed is items with the "top seller" tag but if you actually check the category in which they are top seller, it's a category that has nothing to do with the product.

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

#226

I was looking in Amazon for a protective case for the iPhone XR that my SO has preordered. Apparently there are many cases and even more reviews of very happy customers (verified purchasers as per Amazon) who were making very positive comments on the perfect fit of the case (on a phone that is not yet on sale).

Probably the inventory variant scam. They added the new case as a variant of older ones and got the reviews carried over.

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

#227
post #112
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.

Door Dash more or less forces users of their app to review the last delivery they had in order to place their next order. Maybe there is a way around it but it’s non-obvious. As a result, the worst rating of a restaurant I’ve seen is a 4.2 out of 5. Because people, myself included, just tap 5 stars to get it out of the way.

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

#228
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One way to overcome this sort by "Most reviews" which normally Amazon hides (I think they do it to give chance to sell new brands/products more). You have more chance to find the product you want and more trustful if it had 10K reviews instead of 10 reviews. I wrote about how to do it. Full disclosure, I am the author of free web app tool on the article. https://medium.com/@ceyhunkazel/amazon-search-hack-eliminate...

I directly clicked through to your junglesearch.net Looks nice! But is it really free, or do you 'live' off user search data?

Thank you for the comment. It is really free , I do not sell user search data I do not even record them, I only use Yandex Metrica to see how users use the site to improve site usability. One main problem is user try to chose "Most reviews" sort option without choosing any Amazon Department (When All Departments is active most of sort options will not work so I do not show them) and I even placed a site tour to make users notice it and it worked for some some users but not all of them but it is an improvement. Actually money comes from Amazon Associates Program that's the only way to monetize the site.

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

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fake review services have already figured out how to slow-drip reviews. If you put a mediocre product on Amazon and buy reviews, there will be no legit review history to compare against either. It's a tough nut to crack if the fake reviews are linked to real purchases already.

I'd say by slow dripping the reviews won't they have to contend more with the "real" reviews? After all by pushing a bunch of 5 stars quickly the average will be bumped up substantially and be unaffected by real reviews. At least in this case they'll have to contend with legit reviews and will not be as easy to sprout all the way to the top of the search results for same reason.

It's the same no? If there are 10 times more fake reviews than legit ones and they can spread them over time, you can't use the distribution to detect it.

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

#230
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 remember the daily deals used to be all useful products. Now I just feel like I am browsing some Chinese market.
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