[Misc] Fake Reviews on Amazon!

METALMICKY · Dec 11, 2024

What with Xmas imminent I spend far more time browsing on Amazon and frankly I'm shocked how rife fake reviews are. Since has this been an acceptable epidemic?

Some are fairly easy to spot but after a while you can fairly accurately tune in to manufacturer ' speak '. Bizarrely Amazon even have a little notice on the customer review summary that states 'AI-generated from the text of customer reviews'. For me that sometimes scans as we'll cobble together opinions to mislead.

A prime example would be reviews of Samsung's Tag 2 tracker. If you've not done your own homework three quarters of the reviews would have you believe it's actually a GPS tracker.

Triggaaar · Dec 11, 2024

METALMICKY said:
What with Xmas imminent I spend far more time browsing on Amazon and frankly I'm shocked how rife fake reviews are. Since has this been an acceptable epidemic?

Some are fairly easy to spot but after a while you can fairly accurately tune in to manufacturer ' speak '. Bizarrely Amazon even have a little notice on the customer review summary that states 'AI-generated from the text of customer reviews'. For me that sometimes scans as we'll cobble together opinions to mislead.

A prime example would be reviews of Samsung's Tag 2 tracker. If you've not done your own homework three quarters of the reviews would have you believe it's actually a GPS tracker.

I looked at a product a few years ago, and it had about 25 reviews, all of which were 5*, all written on the same day, and all by people who had never written another review. I don't think Amazon give a shit.

Zeberdi · Dec 11, 2024

I was a top reviewer on Amazon for several years (top 1,000) ) It’s a known fact Amazon has platformed fake reviews for years. It became so bad they actually ended their reviewers league table because it was being spammed by fake accounts.

Chinese sellers are problematic- I was told by an Amazon cr agent, that some Chinese sellers set up multiple networks of reviewers to post reviews their own items and post negative reviews on other sellers.

Unsolicited free goods were frequently sent to Amazon top reviewers who gave products 5 star reviews just to keep getting free products from their favourite stores.

I opted out of receiving free items as it was all junk I didn’t want anyway.

The best reviews are those with photos and those that are neither good nor bad (4 stars) and use original sounding syntax and personal details - not 5 star

“excellent item, fit perfectly, well made” or “excellent seller, arrived on time” x 30 all in the space of 24 hours.

Peteinblack · Dec 11, 2024

We are alert to Fake Reviews on Trip Advisor too, when looking for hotels or restaurants.

Usually, it is the only review the poster has ever given; if it is a bad review, we assume that it is a rival trying to damage their competitor, and if it is a glowingly good review, it is probably a friend or family member of the '5*' hotel or restaurant owner.

Cheeky Monkey · Dec 11, 2024

Same with IMDb, littered with fake 10/10 reviews for absolute shite.

Coldeanseagull · Dec 11, 2024

These are a good thread 5*

thedonkeycentrehalf · Dec 12, 2024

I brought some cheap PC speakers and they died after a few weeks so I left a suitably critical review. The seller then sent an email offering me Amazon vouchers to remove the negative review.

I contacted Amazon to report this and just got a standard email back which didn't even address the issue.

A week later, the seller got in touch again offering 2 x £25 Amazon vouchers to remove the review. At that point, I decided that if Amazon didn't care why should I so took the e-vouchers, checked they were in my account and removed the review. I then bought myself some more expensive speakers and still had credit to use for other things.

If that is still how Amazon respond to reviews then no wonder there are so make dodgy reviews on the site.

happypig · Dec 12, 2024

Chinese sellers will also pull the item and relist it under a different seller name if it gets bad reviews. We had some grow lights that caused a fire and when I posted a review (with photos), they pulled all their items. Two days later they were all back up under a different name.

Justice · Dec 12, 2024

A bad review appeared on my google my business page, I had no reference of the job and asked publicly for their invoice number.
The review was then changed to a five star review all very strange.

Eeyore · Dec 12, 2024

Zeberdi said:
I was a top reviewer on Amazon for several years (top 1,000) ) It’s a known fact Amazon has platformed fake reviews for years. It became so bad they actually ended their reviewers league table because it was being spammed by fake accounts.

Chinese sellers are problematic- I was told by an Amazon cr agent, that some Chinese sellers set up multiple networks of reviewers to post reviews their own items and post negative reviews on other sellers.

Unsolicited free goods were frequently sent to Amazon top reviewers who gave products 5 star reviews just to keep getting free products from their favourite stores.

I opted out of receiving free items as it was all junk I didn’t want anyway.

The best reviews are those with photos and those that are neither good nor bad (4 stars) and use original sounding syntax and personal details - not 5 star “excellent item, fit perfectly, well made” or “excellent seller, arrived on time” x 30 all in the space of 24 hours.

I was offered a second heater at half price from a Chinese firm in exchange for a top review. I said yes, because the heater is actually very good. So no guilty feelings there. The same firm wanted to then start sending me pretty useless products in exchange for good reviews. I told them that nothing they were sending me was any good and stepped away from any relationship. I don't trust them anyway. But if a company wants to send me a decent product for free that's worthy a good review, I'd be happy to do it.

I suspect in many cases though that some of these reviewers don't even know what the product is and may work for the companies involved.

Arthur · Dec 12, 2024

Not Amazon but a company affiliated by the club (they sell their licensed jigsaw). Makes them look a bit shit if even the people who are being given free stuff to leave a review can't leave a decent one.

METALMICKY · Dec 12, 2024

Eeyore said:
I was offered a second heater at half price from a Chinese firm in exchange for a top review. I said yes, because the heater is actually very good. So no guilty feelings there. The same firm wanted to then start sending me pretty useless products in exchange for good reviews. I told them that nothing they were sending me was any good and stepped away from any relationship. I don't trust them anyway. But if a company wants to send me a decent product for free that's worthy a good review, I'd be happy to do it.

I suspect in many cases though that some of these reviewers don't even know what the product is and may work for the companies involved.

Nailed it with your last para. The example I gave in my initial post about the Samsung 2 Tag shows that. There's going to be a lot of upset punters when they realise it can't be used as some sort of cheap but accurate GPS tracker for their car if it gets stolen.

Eeyore · Dec 12, 2024

Arthur said:
Not Amazon but a company affiliated by the club (they sell their licensed jigsaw). Makes them look a bit shit if even the people who are being given free stuff to leave a review can't leave a decent one.

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Ha, those ones are funny. It's like car insurance reviews where someone has never claimed and says how excellent the provider is.

Fungus · Dec 12, 2024

TBH, I always look at the one-star reviews first (ignoring the irrelevant moans about delivery or whatever).

I want to know if there’s a good reason NOT to buy something I fancy.

Nobby Cybergoat · Dec 12, 2024

Reading this makes me think that internet reviews are basically useless

I might start loads of threads on here instead?

Anyone tried out the LG 960543XJ ?

kevo · Dec 12, 2024

METALMICKY said:
What with Xmas imminent I spend far more time browsing on Amazon and frankly I'm shocked how rife fake reviews are. Since has this been an acceptable epidemic?

Some are fairly easy to spot but after a while you can fairly accurately tune in to manufacturer ' speak '. Bizarrely Amazon even have a little notice on the customer review summary that states 'AI-generated from the text of customer reviews'. For me that sometimes scans as we'll cobble together opinions to mislead.

A prime example would be reviews of Samsung's Tag 2 tracker. If you've not done your own homework three quarters of the reviews would have you believe it's actually a GPS tracker.

I think the worst site on the internet is Trustpilot. They should call it Untrustpilot.

It is completely misleading and full of fake and paid-for reviews. One way I've found to spot them is to check whether there are a large number of 5 and 1 star reviews. If there are very few 3 and 4 star reviews, this indicates that most genuine reviews are giving 1-star! It may be the case that people are only moved to write a review if something is either very good or very shit, but when you see this, do a quick check of the 5-star ones and you can soon tell that the majority are completely fake.

The one site I do tend to trust for reviews is Checkatrade, as they go to some lengths to make sure they are genuine and verified.

Justice · Dec 12, 2024

kevo said:
I think the worst site on the internet is Trustpilot. They should call it Untrustpilot.

It is completely misleading and full of fake and paid-for reviews. One way I've found to spot them is to check whether there are a large number of 5 and 1 star reviews. If there are very few 3 and 4 star reviews, this indicates that most genuine reviews are giving 1-star! It may be the case that people are only moved to write a review if something is either very good or very shit, but when you see this, do a quick check of the 5-star ones and you can soon tell that the majority are completely fake.

The one site I do tend to trust for reviews is Checkatrade, as they go to some lengths to make sure they are genuine and verified.

Checkatrade is a pet hate of mine being a tradesman I wouldn’t join it if you paid me.
I was on a job and a customer hired a tiler from said site from the minute he turned up all he was worried about was getting a review and kept pestering the client. He wasn’t even that good at his job proper weirdo.

thedonkeycentrehalf · Dec 12, 2024

Fungus said:
TBH, I always look at the one-star reviews first (ignoring the irrelevant moans about delivery or whatever).

I want to know if there’s a good reason NOT to buy something I fancy.

Also filter by newest as the fake ones are often when the product is first put on sale (with the obvious caveat that you are not looking at something with only a small number of reviews).

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