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I've been a heavy Amazon shopper for years and there is no doubt that there has been a huge spike in fake reviews recently, and they all seem to be marked as Ve

by guelo 11y ago

I've been a heavy Amazon shopper for years and there is no doubt that there has been a huge spike in fake reviews recently, and they all seem to be marked as Verified Purchase to the point that the Verified Purchase tag now makes me more suspicious that it's a fake.

coleca 11y ago
I have noticed a proliferation of "I received this product for {free | discount | etc} in exchange for my unbiased review" notices tagging reviews on what seems like every product I look for on Amazon these days. It's a shame the reviews are so gamified now that they are losing their usefulness, at least to those that realize the scam.
- zzleeper 11y ago
  The last few times I had to buy a product, I just googled stuff like "site:reddit.com usb charger" and read the comments and suggestions of actual people; much better than the fake stuff from amazon. I wonder how much it will take until someone starts a botnet discussing products on reddit..
  - mertd 11y ago
    It would be naive to think Reddit doesn't already have people dropping product suggestions for marketing purposes.
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    https://reddit.com/r/hailcorporate https://reddit.com/r/hailcorporate
ghufran_syed 11y ago
I agree, Amazon reviews used to be useful, but are now largely useless. I used to find the reviews really helpful, to the point where I was much more likely to buy something with only a few minutes research on Amazon than on any other site (although amazon's money back guarantee helped too). Now though, I usually won't buy there without doing a lot more research, which in itself imposes a cost on me, and reduces the amount I buy. Some possible markers of fake reviews I look out for, completely anecdotal: - products that have high hundreds or thousands of reviews, with almost all 5's and a few 1's. - products with a large disparity between the Amazon reviews and sites that (I think) are much less likely to be targeted for fake reviews, e.g Walmart.com or bestbuy.com It should be no harder to figure out an algorithm to stop this than to stop spam email, which makes me think sites like Amazon are not really motivated to stop the practice.
- simoncion 11y ago
  > I agree, Amazon reviews used to be useful, but are now largely useless. If you're buying tech stuff, I find that the following approach works well: * Find the thing you want on Newegg. * Read a few of the five-star reviews. * Read a few of the one-star reviews. * Read most of the four and three-star reviews. You can use these reviews to get a sense for the actual faults with the product, and to see if the inevitable DOA complaints in the one-star reviews are a real problem, or just bad luck. * If the product checks out, buy it from wherever you like.

by guelo 11y ago

coleca 11y ago

I have noticed a proliferation of "I received this product for {free | discount | etc} in exchange for my unbiased review" notices tagging reviews on what seems like every product I look for on Amazon these days. It's a shame the reviews are so gamified now that they are losing their usefulness, at least to those that realize the scam.

zzleeper 11y ago
The last few times I had to buy a product, I just googled stuff like "site:reddit.com usb charger" and read the comments and suggestions of actual people; much better than the fake stuff from amazon. I wonder how much it will take until someone starts a botnet discussing products on reddit..
- mertd 11y ago
  It would be naive to think Reddit doesn't already have people dropping product suggestions for marketing purposes.
- dredmorbius 11y ago
  https://reddit.com/r/hailcorporate https://reddit.com/r/hailcorporate

ghufran_syed 11y ago

I agree, Amazon reviews used to be useful, but are now largely useless. I used to find the reviews really helpful, to the point where I was much more likely to buy something with only a few minutes research on Amazon than on any other site (although amazon's money back guarantee helped too). Now though, I usually won't buy there without doing a lot more research, which in itself imposes a cost on me, and reduces the amount I buy. Some possible markers of fake reviews I look out for, completely anecdotal: - products that have high hundreds or thousands of reviews, with almost all 5's and a few 1's. - products with a large disparity between the Amazon reviews and sites that (I think) are much less likely to be targeted for fake reviews, e.g Walmart.com or bestbuy.com It should be no harder to figure out an algorithm to stop this than to stop spam email, which makes me think sites like Amazon are not really motivated to stop the practice.

simoncion 11y ago
> I agree, Amazon reviews used to be useful, but are now largely useless. If you're buying tech stuff, I find that the following approach works well: * Find the thing you want on Newegg. * Read a few of the five-star reviews. * Read a few of the one-star reviews. * Read most of the four and three-star reviews. You can use these reviews to get a sense for the actual faults with the product, and to see if the inevitable DOA complaints in the one-star reviews are a real problem, or just bad luck. * If the product checks out, buy it from wherever you like.