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Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

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Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#11
post #9
post #4

Every product I order from Amazon from a Chinese brand has an offer for a free 'gift' for leaving a good review.

That and requests to delete my review in exchange for a refund.

Then it's only a matter of time before consumers start gaming the system right back. Write a poor review, await a refund offer, then write the real review.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#12
Companies undermining consumer reviews undermines the justification for consumer capitalism. The idea is supposed to be that a merchant sells a product that solves some problem real or imagined at a given quality level. The consumer is supposed to be able to make a fair evaluation of the quality and fitness of the product and compare it with their budget and the item's price and make a decision.

If companies systematically and intentionally destroy the consumer's ability to do this, then why should their state charters even be valid?

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#13

So, at what point does this become a problem for Amazon (for example)? They _seem_ to not care.

I've stopped using amazon for anything unless either I already know exactly what it will be or if its throwaway and I dont care.

Even books now are often something that looks like it was printed on photocopy paper from a word processor.

I think amazon is converging to its niche (maybe not a niche if there is ~a trillion in annual revenue at stake) as a Walmart replacement. For instances where quality matters, I think they are already off the table for many people.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#14

So, at what point does this become a problem for Amazon (for example)? They _seem_ to not care.

When they stop growing and decide fixing it is the way to win market share against Costco etc / Direct to Consumer purchasing.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#15

I invite people to checkout BestBuy's online shop. Just about every single item has a rating from 4.0 to 4.8 out of 5. I have yet to see a single listing under 4 stars. There are of course, unrated items, but can you honestly believe that virutally every product they carry is nearly perfect? Who actually writes a 5 star review for a no-name brand of tape and cable ties? When everything is perfect, nothing is, and I d…

and Doordash. how is everything >4? are we really to believe that McDonalds has a rating of 4.6 out of 5?

it makes the system completely useless.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#16

I invite people to checkout BestBuy's online shop. Just about every single item has a rating from 4.0 to 4.8 out of 5. I have yet to see a single listing under 4 stars. There are of course, unrated items, but can you honestly believe that virutally every product they carry is nearly perfect? Who actually writes a 5 star review for a no-name brand of tape and cable ties? When everything is perfect, nothing is, and I d…

Even if you didn't feel the reviews were gamed--why would BestBuy leave bad reviews on its site--it would basically be admitting they sell bad products. Ideally maybe they are removing products that get continuous bad reviews before you see them, but generally reviews can't come from the same place you buy items and be trustworthy.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#17

I invite people to checkout BestBuy's online shop. Just about every single item has a rating from 4.0 to 4.8 out of 5. I have yet to see a single listing under 4 stars. There are of course, unrated items, but can you honestly believe that virutally every product they carry is nearly perfect? Who actually writes a 5 star review for a no-name brand of tape and cable ties? When everything is perfect, nothing is, and I d…

Even if you didn't feel the reviews were gamed--why would BestBuy leave bad reviews on its site--it would basically be admitting they sell bad products. Ideally maybe they are removing products that get continuous bad reviews before you see them, but generally reviews can't come from the same place you buy items and be trustworthy.

> why would BestBuy leave bad reviews on its site

Because any website that doesn't do this I immediately assume is untrustworthy and I will choose to buy nothing from them at all.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#19

I invite people to checkout BestBuy's online shop. Just about every single item has a rating from 4.0 to 4.8 out of 5. I have yet to see a single listing under 4 stars. There are of course, unrated items, but can you honestly believe that virutally every product they carry is nearly perfect? Who actually writes a 5 star review for a no-name brand of tape and cable ties? When everything is perfect, nothing is, and I d…

Even if you didn't feel the reviews were gamed--why would BestBuy leave bad reviews on its site--it would basically be admitting they sell bad products. Ideally maybe they are removing products that get continuous bad reviews before you see them, but generally reviews can't come from the same place you buy items and be trustworthy.

I can understand if a company uses truly bad reviews as an indicator that they should stop carrying the product. That makes sense, and you'd have survivorship bias from that. However, the problem I see with BestBuy's approach is that even average reviews are being diluted by a deluge of 5 star reviews. Decent products should be getting 3 out of 5 stars and only the truly exceptional ones should be getting the perfect 5/5.

I sense the problem is partly due to the shortcomings of the X/5 rating system.

Re: Almost 40% of U.S. Consumers Trust Online Reviews Less Than They Did 5 Years Ago

#20

I invite people to checkout BestBuy's online shop. Just about every single item has a rating from 4.0 to 4.8 out of 5. I have yet to see a single listing under 4 stars. There are of course, unrated items, but can you honestly believe that virutally every product they carry is nearly perfect? Who actually writes a 5 star review for a no-name brand of tape and cable ties? When everything is perfect, nothing is, and I d…

In theory, they could actively remove bad items from the catalog, thus not having any lower than 4.0.

Yeah, I'm aware that is not what is happening there, but you seeing no item lower than 4.0 is not a certain and general sign of fraud.

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