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

#301

Post by Regardsyjc » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 5:41 PM 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…

I read somewhere that fake reviews are technically illegal in the USA. Reviewers who received a steep discount or for free are supposed to disclose based on some law supposedly- because it may be promotional. Like YouTubers, Twitch streamers, or influencers.

I don't know what law this is but I'm sure if someone ever got angry enough at Amazon and hit them with a massive lawsuit to enforce the fake review problem, Amazon would probably fix it within a few months. Amazon's pretty proactive and they tend to respond best to lawsuits. I follow lawyers for Amazon sellers who sue or threaten to sue Amazon and/or Amazon sellers in the US.

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

#302

Post by ceyhunkazel » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 5:54 PM UTC

ceyhunkazel wrote: post #275

jwillmer wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind adding an option to change amazon country?

Site is recently reopened (2 weeks) with new domain https://www.junglesearch.net and I get feedbacks to add other countries and I really like to add them. It requires some API work to get new country's categories and checking which options are working on which department so it required some work. CA, UK are on my top list to add.

Bad news Amazon closed related associate account again.

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

#303

Post by drb91 » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:00 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #286

orbifold wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well clearly there is a reason for the lower prices.

There could be various legitimate reasons, though. The brand could be overstocked in a particular item and want to get rid of inventory without harming their brand cachet - you're probably not going to find a clearance section on Gucci's website, but that doesn't mean they don't have a need for it.

This is true. But why would they have an overstock? Either it is unpopular and not worth counterfeiting or it’s counterfeited immediately because it’s popular to undercut. The scenarios seem difficult to distinguish.

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

#304

Post by Naracion » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:08 PM UTC

deltron3030 wrote: post #266

simias wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

They're betting on the regulatory force of their review system and product listing SEO, which is linked to their search algorithm. The truth is that it's easier for smaller sellers/brands who laser focus on one or a few products to outcompete bigger brands with many products, and as a consequence appear first in the search results. The more niche a product is, the easier it is to compete. It's just hard to tell an es…

>also the fault of the bigger brands not investing enough into the optimization of their listing, they don't depend on it.

I wouldn't call it their "fault", per se. Thought experiment: If I'm a third party seller on Amazon, why should I / what do I gain by investing into the optimization of my listing if I do not depend on my Amazon listing for the majority of my revenue?

Edit. Agree with the rest of your post btw

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

#305

Post by zxcvvcxz » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:34 PM 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…

"Amazon is going downhill quickly. Here's my anecdote of a niche product experience that doesn't even make up 0.0000000001% of their revenue."

Here's my anecdote: I can't stand Amazon Canada. It's complete and utter crap.

Actually everything in this country is a crappy watered-down version of the US: Amazon, Netflix, you name it.

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

#306

Post by ceejayoz » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

drb91 wrote: post #303

ceejayoz wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There could be various legitimate reasons, though. The brand could be overstocked in a particular item and want to get rid of inventory without harming their brand cachet - you're probably not going to find a clearance section on Gucci's website, but that doesn't mean they don't have a need for it.

This is true. But why would they have an overstock? Either it is unpopular and not worth counterfeiting or it’s counterfeited immediately because it’s popular to undercut. The scenarios seem difficult to distinguish.

The consumer looking it up on Amazon isn't going to know which of those two scenarios it is. Thus, my point - blaming the consumer for purchasing it is unfair. There are legitimate reasons for a consumer to think the product is a) real and b) cheaper than usual.

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

#307

Post by perpetualcrayon » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 6:44 PM UTC

jobigoud wrote: post #229

perpetualcrayon wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think there are probably a number of reasons it's different.

1) 1000 5-star reviews with maybe a handful of 3,2,1 star reviews trickling in as actual consumers realize their mistake is less of a signal not to buy than if I see another low review trickled in amongst the 10-20 5-star reviews.

2) The company defrauding by purchasing the reviews is not going to make their money back as quickly probably since they won't end up on top of search results as often. So these companies will be stretched a lot thinner and probably recoup their expenses a lot slower than if they start instantly showing up on top of peoples' search results. And in order to keep from "floating" a bunch of free stuff without reviews they'll have to be extremely coordinated about how they distribute their products and request recipients to provide the reviews in order to make it a worth while pursuit.

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

#308

Post by ceyhunkazel » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 7:01 PM UTC

jwillmer wrote: post #262

ceyhunkazel wrote: post #209

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...

Would you mind adding an option to change amazon country?

By the way Amazon canceled the affiliate account again after commenting in this thread so probably it will be closed again. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18277073

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

#309

Post by TheKarateKid » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 7:02 PM UTC

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 think a major reason behind this problem is that their entire seller system to Add/Edit Amazon product listings (Amazon Seller Central) is run almost entirely as an outsourced division.

The website is entirely different (although Amazon themed/branded). It still doesn't have full mobile support. Phone support is almost non-existent. Most customer support is outsourced to foreign countries. It is a joke.

It once took me 3 months of arguing back and forth to get an erroneous $30 seller fee refunded since there was no "supervisor" to speak to and only a broken ticket system where I would received canned apologies and promises - just to have the same result over and over.

They are clearly understaffed and/or don't know what they're doing most of the time, so counterfeit, duplicate, and junk/low quality listings get through all the time.

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

#310

Post by designtofly » Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 7:07 PM UTC

ceyhunkazel wrote: post #209

esalman wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was recently researching car dashcams. On Amazon the top brand has thousands of reviews but the most critical one accuses the seller of offering free mounts in exchange for 5* reviews. The second most prominent one is featured heavily in a deal aggregator website which I knew about from before. I decided to do my research outside of Amazon. The most reliable brand which I chose based on independent review sites and…

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've noticed that sellers have been gaming this metric as well. I was recently shopping for a phone case and other phone accessories. What I found is that sellers are re-purposing SKUs from other highly rated products. I found a ~4.5+ star product with thousands of reviews but saw that most of the reviews were for a completely different item that is no longer being sold. So they'll take a highly rated product, put a different item in its place.