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

theguardian.com

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

#241

Post by ElBarto »

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…

> Amazon is going downhill quickly

Unfortunately I have to agree.

There has been a huge increase in the number of dodgy sellers and obviously fake reviews, and Amazon does not seem to care. I reported a few dishonest listings and absolutely nothing happened despite a number of reviews corroborating it.

Prime deliveries have also started to slip (here in the UK), with 'guaranteed next day deliveries' suddenly being delayed with no update or anything.

Amazon got so successful because they earned a pretty much blind trust from customers, but trust is lost quicker than it is earned.

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

#243

Post by da_murvel »

simias wrote: post #237
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 really baffling to me how despite being one of the largest companies in the world and being centered around e-commerce Amazon doesn't do anything about these issues weakening their core product. I say "do nothing" not "fail to stop" because I haven't seen any evidence that Amazon does anything at all to prevent or discourage these behaviors. I wonder if it's because they push the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it…

I don't think it's baffling at all. Facebook is the largest social media company, and what do they do to try to stop all of the propaganda, troll factories and hateful things going on there? Naught. They know that they are the largest company and therefore doesn't have to do anything as long as their position stays the same. Which it seems to be doing. Yes, there are people leaving the platform but where do they go? There is no real contender, therefore Facebook will remain number 1.

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

#244

Post by ElBarto »

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.

Which defeats the purposes of having reviews by removing the negative reviews...

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

#245

Post by jobigoud »

Also this very interesting Planet Money episode #838 about people all over the world receiving weird packages full of random Chinese items that they never ordered.

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/04/27/606528176/epis...

Turns out they are phantom packages from vendors on Ali Baba and TaoBao gaming the review system. This is called "brushing".

They managed to interview a "brusher". So the brushers have to make themselves look completely real during the buying process, hesitating, clicking links from different vendors and only after a while select the actual item they target. To get the "verified purchase" tag something has to be mailed somewhere. But instead of the actual item the vendor sends a package with random stuff and sometimes they send these to addresses of previous unknowing international customers to make it look more real.

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

#246

Post by drb91 »

TheSoftwareGuy wrote: post #128
drb91 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you kidding? People I know have TERRIBLE judgement when it comes to products. Who builds trust based on that characteristic?

You don't normally need to trust their judgement as long as they aren't straight up lying. As long as they are making an attempt at being truthful, you just have to try to evaluate their review from their perspective. E.g, Janet says product X works really well and she loves it, but you know she likes them with a certain feature that you don't like. therefore you should stay away because the product probably has that…

It all depends on how you use reviews, I guess. I look for obvious problems and cost that in. Anecdotally it’s fairly difficult to hide bad reviews. It’s your expectations that make you unhappy; I don’t expect much buying a product sight unseen.

You see the same issues on Yelp. Reviews are always a secondary indicator of quality compared to, say, experiencing it yourself or getting a recommendation from a friend. I’d guess that the review style that is best depends highly on the good or service being sold, much like establishing consensus, and there is no general purpose review pattern that works well.

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

#247

Post by yAnonymous »

Amazon is now in the business of selling a lot of cheap crap instead of promoting quality articles. Everyone I ever talked to about this noticed it and most are looking for other ways to buy their stuff.

They are also actively engaging in fraud by having up fake reviews for low quality prime articles and then closing the reviews for said articles so legit buyers can't review them. When you report it, you get the usual "we are looking into it", but nothing ever happens.

You'd expect this kind of shady behavior from a company that is in financial trouble and I wonder how they'll deal with their tainted image going forward.

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

#248

Post by jobigoud »

failrate wrote: post #139

Ive been having a direct experience with follower bots on soundcloud. I'll post some weird music, and bots will immediately like or follow. I do not follow them back, so they unlike and unfollow.

Yeah it looks like there is a "reputation economy", even for platforms where money is only indirect. Instagram auto follow/unfollow, Twitter followers, Youtube likes and subscribers, etc.

You can buy likes/karma/points, followers/subscribers, and also whole accounts.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a burgeoning market for GitHub followers and stars so you can look good during background checks. Or that you could buy LinkedIn "acquaintances" and "skills" and even Facebook "friends".

I'm worried about what's next. Rotten Tomatoes? GoodReads?

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

#249

Post by gideonparanoid »

tammer wrote: post #108
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…

While this could be seen as off topic, I don’t think it is: I strongly recommend purchasing that bike light from your local bike shop. If you have a local bike shop, it is likely struggling. But it is also likely that the lights they have on offer there are specifically selected for their utility, particularly their utility in your locale. Perhaps it will be a few dollars more than Amazon, but you will reap the benef…

A good local bike shop is invaluable, especially if they have a good workshop.

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

#250

Post by Fnoord »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #197
tammer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this could be seen as off topic, I don’t think it is: I strongly recommend purchasing that bike light from your local bike shop. If you have a local bike shop, it is likely struggling. But it is also likely that the lights they have on offer there are specifically selected for their utility, particularly their utility in your locale. Perhaps it will be a few dollars more than Amazon, but you will reap the benef…

Depends on the shop, I guess. My local bike shop carries quite a lot of cheap garbage too, but at high markup. I also have trust issues with many such shops. I know some where at least one person working there seems competent, but in most I've been, I get the distinct vibe of employees being domain-clueless salesmen paid to push things (similar to what's typical in electronics/home appliance stores).

Such hit and miss are a reason brand loyalty exists, and a reason why people stick to a (certain) shop be it local or a big one.
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