Why buy fake reviews when you can just create them in bulk with a GPT2 model?
see also: https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.09177
Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
381–390 of 429 posts
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#382At this point people should just accept that all online reviews are fake. Unfortunately, we've found ourselves right back at where we started. There's just no good way to ensure trust at every step in the system.
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#383Yes, yes, quit buying stuff from Amazon. That's what I said when I went to buy compression socks within the last week. I'll just buy from the vendor (OS1). Hey, they take Apple Pay, too. And, hey, what's this $0.98 that ended up in my cart? "Route package protection"?[0] You mean you're passing on the cost of package insurance to me? Fuck that, you can just cancel that $100 order for that $0.98.
If it's not bullshit like that, then my credit card info gets published to the world. So, fake reviews or not, there is a certain appeal to Amazon in that after 20 years I've not had credit card info published nor have I caught them trying to charge me for package insurance. Though I might not trust Amazon reviews, I trust the rest of their process far more than I do some random vendor. Which is why, much as I might wish otherwise, I continue to shop at Amazon.
[0]https://route.com WTF? Track packages and charge money for it? Who funds this shit?
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#384Fake reviews, that surely Amazom is aware of.
Knock-off products, that again are not a secret.
Unless there's viable competition, these things are not going to change.
Lied to. Stripped of our privacy. Influenced and manipulated by analysis of our own behaviours. And so on.
It's a shame it's come to this.
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#385I received a bulk mailer recently that looked like an "Amazon postcard" that was essentially recruiting for fake reviewers.
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#386Fake reviews and fake products.
I wanted to buy turkish cotton bath towels the other day, and it's basically impossible to find (really, try it). Nearly every listing has misleading discriptions in spite of 5 star reviews.
I feel like unless I know the specific brand or product, I'm using Amazon less and less. I guess there's a niche for competitors - better search and a high quality filter.
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#387RANT_MODE: ON Nothing new. This has been the case for years. The worst of it was that they used to (I think this might no longer be the case) accept reviews from anyone with an account, whether they bought the product or not. We have direct experience on this. My wife used to sell products on Amazon. People were leaving reviews that tagged as "Verified Review" BEFORE the product was delivered. Often times they would…
Yes, they accept reviews from non "Verified Purchasers". This is typically a platform for tiresome SJW soapbox palavering. > before..delivered Community Team at one time sanctioned this behavior. Now they don't bother. > warfare Were you perhaps paying into the minimum number of seller features? Not FBA? > ad poison As an ardent adblocker that's a bridge too far. That's more the province of disincentivizing 419 email…
> Were you perhaps paying into the minimum number of seller features? Not FBA?
Full FBA
> Don't allow Amazon to be your sole selling platform.
Exactly.
I have friends who we know people who have had products suspended on Amazon for nonsense (or unknowable, due to the opacity you mentioned) reasons. They decided Amazon was more risk than they wanted to put on 100% of their income generation strategy. They started to work the direct channel. It took time and effort. Now about 30% of their income is direct and does not depend at all on Amazon. They want to eventually reach 75%, with 100% being the ultimate dream. They want to leave Amazon but they are stuck until they can replace their income through direct sales.
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#388Amazon has a problem with fake reviews and it seems they are ok with it. I bought a replacement screen from Amazon and it wasn’t working properly. I thought I did something wrong so I contacted the seller/manufacturer and they told: oh yeah, it‘s defective, we‘ll just give you your money back. I agreed and then the person said „cool, now in order to process your request, please click these buttons on Amazon” and they…
As an economics grad, I always wondered why online reviews existed at all. There's no skin in the game for anyone. If your neighbor recommends you a crap lawnmower, he'll have to explain to you why he thought it was good. You can ask him questions and compare his motivations to yours. He'll also end up living next to a badly mowed lawn if he doesn't put some work into it. The seller has every reason to pay people to…
Honestly it didn't used to matter as much because the number of honest people leaving legit reviews outnumbered the influence of actors exploiting the system. But that was a while ago. But I swear at one point the fact that no one had skin in the game wasn't significant. People seemed to understand what they were for and used them accordingly. And the vultures hadn't discovered them yet.
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#389Earlier quoted context omitted.
How are so many people buying counterfeit stuff on Amazon? What are they buying? Why would someone copy it? Are they just looking at price?
Here’s an example from real life just last week. Clorox ToiletWand Refill. Go look on Amazon, I’ll wait here. You’ll find many different sellers, some obviously “third party”, and some that look original but when you delve into the reviews you find stuff like this: https://imgur.com/9vyE8kq I didn’t want to buy a toilet cleaner that would fall apart and make me fish it out of the toilet, so we went and got them from…
I don't understand why counterfeiting isn't just an immediate ban for the vendor. Isn't this a huge liability risk? Or do the get some protection because they're just the "marketplace", like a common carrier?
Re: Fake Amazon reviews 'being sold in bulk' online
#390Amazon has a problem with fake reviews and it seems they are ok with it. I bought a replacement screen from Amazon and it wasn’t working properly. I thought I did something wrong so I contacted the seller/manufacturer and they told: oh yeah, it‘s defective, we‘ll just give you your money back. I agreed and then the person said „cool, now in order to process your request, please click these buttons on Amazon” and they…
If someone wants to check how serious this problem can get search Amazon for "laser protection googles", check the prices of cheap googles and compare to their very high ratings. There is no way those cheap pieces of plastic can protect eyes from lasers, and there are tests in youtube to probe it. Amazon is allowing a horrible health problem for their customers, some people will have severe eye issues or can get blind for life.