10 ms·

Its ridiculous the amount of energy and effort you have to waste in order to find a product that you don't suspect as being counterfeit on Amazon these days. Th

Its ridiculous the amount of energy and effort you have to waste in order to find a product that you don't suspect as being counterfeit on Amazon these days. The other day, I wanted a super bright flashlight that ran on AAA batteries and was of decent quality and price. I had to pour over the millions of listed flashlights, most looking physically identical, with the exception of the brand name printed on the flashlight itself. Then I read about how these flashlights are all mass produced by the same manufacturer and re-branded after distribution, so essentially 100 different flashlight brands are essentially the same flashlight (sorry, did a google search on this, don't remember exact link). Anyways, I used Fakespot on a lot of these listings and it was pretty interesting to see just how many had questionable and outright blatantly fake reviews. Found the one I wanted, almost $20 and a couple of hours later. The flashlight definitely lived up to what it promised but I can't help but wonder if it would've just been easier to do this at a brick and mortar retail spot, like Fry's Electronics.

Scaevolus 10y ago
It was especially hilarious during the hoverboard craze-- there were hundreds of versions of the exact same item, being sold for $200-$1500.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  Were there any hover boards that weren't private labels?
  - fapjacks 10y ago
    And now: http://www.ul.com/newsroom/featured/uls-involvement-in-hoverboard-certification/ http://www.ul.com/newsroom/featured/uls-involvement-in-hover...
danjoc 10y ago
All those rebrands are coming from alibaba. Just go to ali express and buy direct if you want one. The "entrepreneurs" using jungle scout are flooding amazon with rebranded alibaba stuff.
- komali2 10y ago
  This is go-to strategy for /r/entrepreneur's crowd. If I remember correctly, Tim Ferris even recommends it in "4 Hour Workweek."
  - stagbeetle 10y ago
    It's the go to of the (small-business) entrepreneurs all over the web (TheFastlane, /r/entrepreneur, etc.). I'm fairly certain it started around 4 years ago with Matt Clark's "Amazon Selling Machine." A friend who paid the $1000 let me watch the course and it was a pretty simple (and old) tactic. Buy wholesale and sell at markup. Except this time you would have it under your own "private label" (i.e a Chinese factory would slap your logo on a generic and sell it to you). Apparently he made a killing doing the same thing with silicone spatulas.
    - OJFord 10y ago
      > $1000 ... course Wow. Surely the best advice such a course could possibly give would be 'convince people you can teach them to make money, and charge a lot for it'.
      - thejosh 10y ago
        Yeah a few years ago it was SEO courses , now Amazon selling courses which are way overpriced, next ... ? Who gets rich in a goldfish, the miners or the person selling the tools?
        foota 10y ago
        If you're in a goldfish I think you're already out of luck
        s917 10y ago
        I think he's trying to say "you can't teach a goldmine to ride a bicycle". Edit: Humorless. Sad.
jseliger 10y ago
Yeah. A variation on my own story: http://seliger.com/2017/01/09/tools-continued-careful-buy-amazon http://seliger.com/2017/01/09/tools-continued-careful-buy-am... . It's definitely changed my buying habits. For example, I just got a Fujitsu SnapScan... from Office Depot. There's no way I'm buying a moderately expensive electronic item from Amazon anymore.
- mhb 10y ago
  Agreed that Amazon should make it clearer when it is the actual seller, but, in your example, you knowingly bought from a third party. Why would this affect your future purchases from Amazon when Amazon is the seller?
  - nommm-nommm 10y ago
    Commingled inventory means that Amazon can sell and ship a knockoff sent in by a third party seller.
  - dawnerd 10y ago
    What I dislike is when something has prime listed on it and when you look closer it's not even sold or shipped by amazon. Just some company that "meets the requirements". I use amazon's prime because their warehouse in 30 minutes away and I get stuff same day or overnight.
    - bonestamp2 10y ago
      I used to get my stuff that quickly, now they just wait a day or two before shipping it so it's still 2 days before it arrives.
      - nommm-nommm 10y ago
        Yeah, they've been doing this forever with super saver shipping. They literally will not ship a product for 5 days if a warehouse is close.
esMazer 10y ago
I only buy when is sold directly "by amazon" if the seller is not amazon then all bets are off.
- fredophile 10y ago
  My understanding is that Amazon mixes their stock with items from other sellers as long as they have the same sku. If this is true there is no benefit in buying things sold directly from Amazon.
- nerdy 10y ago
  The thread says repeatedly that Amazon is the seller... https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844037804237709314 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844037804237709314 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844038535388823552 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844038535388823552 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844274765154205696 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844274765154205696 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844271713256951808 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844271713256951808
- CPLX 10y ago
  That doesn't work at all to solve this problem.
spatulon 10y ago
Out of interest, what torch did you end up buying?
- HoppedUpMenace 10y ago
  J5 Hyper V Tactical Flashlight. Was really bright as advertised. No complaints but its hard for anyone to understand how bright a flashlight is until you actually use it, but youtube videos definitely help and so do legit reviews.
  - fapjacks 10y ago
    These specific flashlights can be bought from AliExpress for two or three dollars a piece. I totally agree that they're a great light, just don't pay more than a couple bucks for one. I bought a pack of five for ten dollars.
    - sjs7007 10y ago
      link?
      - fapjacks 10y ago
        Sorry, I can't seem to find a link. It's been a year or so since I bought them, but I've got one of these flashlights in every room where I spend time, and a couple in my hiking/camping gear. They are not stupid bright, but the light is bright and very uniform. I'd keep checking AliExpress. I'm sure a pack of them will pop up again sometime. Sorry I couldn't find a link.
peterjlee 10y ago
When I buy phone chargers from Amazon I intentionally avoid the manufacturer branded ones because I know it's going to be fake. I usually choose a well known 3rd party brand with good reviews.
- jrnichols 10y ago
  poor experiences with cheap phone chargers/etc are the reason I've been sticking to the Amazon Basics line. and then Anker, because the cats won't chew through those.
  - andyzweb 10y ago
    >poor experiences with cheap phone chargers/etc are the reason I've been sticking to the Amazon Basics line. This is a brilliant strategy on Amazon's part.
    - jessaustin 10y ago
      So what's the over/under on when Amazon will be cluelessly selling commingled counterfeits of "Basics" items? A week?
      - chipperyman573 10y ago
        Amazon Basics is amazon's line of products, you can't sell them yourself because they'd always be counterfit (or used)
        jessaustin 10y ago
        By the same process in which Amazon has sold counterfeit NoStarch books, Amazon could also sell counterfeit "Basics" products. At this point, we're pretty sure it has something to do with commingling...
        chipperyman573 10y ago
nkrisc 10y ago
Let me guess, those millions of listings of the same flashlight also ranged in price from $1.55 to $67.99, right?
- HoppedUpMenace 10y ago
  Yep, super sketchy to say the least.
zn44 10y ago
I wouldn't be too confident about quality or authenticity of products in brick and mortar retail spots
- ams6110 10y ago
  I wonder about that too. How do I really know that a pair of Levi jeans at Target is genuine?
  - timthelion 10y ago
    It doesn't matter. Levi's these days are trash. Bought a pair at the official Levi's store which lasted all of 6 months before there were holes in the pockets. (to replace a 5 year old pair that was fine except I was too fat for it.)
    - tremon 10y ago
      Agreed, I've had the same experience with clothing. I have a 15-year old sweater that is still in better condition than the ones I purchased one or two years ago. It seems to me that most stores either sell counterfeit products, or all mid-tier brands have given up and sell low-tier products for the same old prices. It's no surprise then that consumers are flocking to low-price, low-tier stores: at least they know what they get.
    - coldpie 10y ago
      If you're still on the market for cheapo whatever jeans, I've had good wear time on jeans from Round House. I've seen others recommend Pointer brand from LC King, though I don't have personal experience with them. Both USA-made.
  - suvelx 10y ago
    They're almost guaranteed to be 'genuine' Levis. But you can't be sure Target hasn't asked Levis to counterfeit themselves.
    - 10y ago
ericd 10y ago
Not a handheld flashlight, but if you're still looking, I highly recommend the Black Diamond Spot found here here: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-headlamp/ http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-headlamp/ . Super bright, but adjustable, durable, good spread and throw distance, and sips power at reduced brightness settings. And related, I've had very good luck with just going with The Wirecutter's/The Sweethome's picks when I don't feel like poring through a bunch of reviews on things. As a warning, though, I'm normally immune to the desire to buy random crap I don't really need, but they seem to break through that for some reason.
nommm-nommm 10y ago
>Then I read about how these flashlights are all mass produced by the same manufacturer and re-branded after distribution, so essentially 100 different flashlight brands are essentially the same flashlight (sorry, did a google search on this, don't remember exact link). This is called a "private label." You can find the exact un-branded product and order direct from China from either Alibaba or Ali-Express or eBay for like half the price of Amazon (if you don't mind waiting for something to ship from China)
nathancahill 10y ago
Yeah, it's terrible. I pretty much won't touch anything new on Amazon unless it has: been recommended by a friend or been well-received on /r/BuyItForLife or Sweethome/Wirecutter.
parametrek 10y ago
> The other day, I wanted a super bright flashlight that ran on AAA batteries and was of decent quality and price. I had to pour over the millions of listed flashlights, most looking physically identical, with the exception of the brand name printed on the flashlight itself. Then I read about how these flashlights are all mass produced by the same manufacturer and re-branded You need a trusted third party to collate all of the information about a product category and then filter out all the crap. I have conveniently already done this for flashlights: http://flashlights.parametrek.com/index.html http://flashlights.parametrek.com/index.html (Yes, I run it and yes it uses affiliate links.) Also, AAA cells are terrible for flashlights. A single AAA cells is okay for a compact penlight but many use 3xAAA cells and 95% of the time 3xAAA lights have the worst engineering of any flashlight.
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  "trusted third party" Who can guarantee the third party is either trusted or impartial?
  - parametrek 10y ago
    > guarantee Of course that is not possible. At best you can grade someone's past behavior according to a set of criteria. Though in this case most of https://reddit.com/r/flashlight/ https://reddit.com/r/flashlight/ would probably say that I am trustworthy and impartial ^_^
jmspring 10y ago
If we are at the point where Amazon is being compared to quality at Fry's, things have gotten really bad. Fry's has so many issues with returns, etc. and just slapping them back on the shelf.
0x38B 10y ago
This is where Amazon loses out for me. I've started buying things on sites devoted to that item - a camera and lenses on FredMiranda, flashlights on Candlepower forums (highly recommend it for flashlights), and so on.
reeddavid 10y ago
I've had the same problem with kitchen strainers, bike seats, and microphone stands. Hundreds (thousands?) of nearly-identical products on Amazon, all private-labeled, most with questionable reviews. Zero confidence that it's a good product.
AlexandrB 10y ago
I ran into this recently while shopping for SLR filters. The listing on amazon.ca [1] looked pretty legit but price was too good and a few reviewers claimed these were fake. What threw me off in particular is that the seller for these B+W filters is B/W. However once I checked what else B/W was selling alarms went off immediately as it's all kinds of stuff with "BW" in the name, like these cheap security cameras [2]. I'm not sure how the average person has a snowball's chance in hell of spotting stuff like this on Amazon. It's getting very sketchy. [1] https://www.amazon.ca/XS-Pro-Clear-Filter-Multi-Resistant-Coating/dp/B004NCRYZK/ https://www.amazon.ca/XS-Pro-Clear-Filter-Multi-Resistant-Co... [2] https://www.amazon.ca/BWND4S-Definition-FormatTVI-Vari-Focal-40m-White/dp/B01LWX7H67/ https://www.amazon.ca/BWND4S-Definition-FormatTVI-Vari-Focal...
sytelus 10y ago
Also the funny thing is that most of these fakes have extra-ordinary specs :). So the real ones have lower but true specs and are listed at much higher prices. The consequences is that you can't even see real item until you get to 4th or 5th page!
ansible 10y ago
I had a similar situation with multi-tools. I was looking for other brands outside of the big ones (Leatherman, SOG, Gerber) to set what my options were. On Amazon, there were a bunch of nearly identical multi-tools sold under different brands names. That turned me off from wanting to buy there at all. Ending up buying one directly from Leatherman's website.
arjie 10y ago
Thanks for FakeSpot. I used to use the "honest and unbiased" check. If your review is "honest and unbiased" you're probably reviewing a bullshit product. Ah ha, it looks like FakeSpot is fooled when Amazon removes the bad reviews. Have a look at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010NEW9JM/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010NEW9JM/. That's obviously some low quality bullshit. Find in page for 'honest' and it has the trigger phrase. > I received this set at a discounted price in exchange for my fair and honest review. > My wife and I review products that we receive either free or at a discount in exchange for our honest and unbiased reviews. > Disclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest/unbiased review. I wish we could kill these products and sellers with some secondary review process. Also, Amazon should understand that we generally don't want these reviews removed because that effectively creates an antibiotic-resistant version of fake reviewers. Much better to leave them in so I can killfile them.

Scaevolus 10y ago

It was especially hilarious during the hoverboard craze-- there were hundreds of versions of the exact same item, being sold for $200-$1500.

nommm-nommm 10y ago
Were there any hover boards that weren't private labels?
- fapjacks 10y ago
  And now: http://www.ul.com/newsroom/featured/uls-involvement-in-hoverboard-certification/ http://www.ul.com/newsroom/featured/uls-involvement-in-hover...

danjoc 10y ago

All those rebrands are coming from alibaba. Just go to ali express and buy direct if you want one. The "entrepreneurs" using jungle scout are flooding amazon with rebranded alibaba stuff.

komali2 10y ago
This is go-to strategy for /r/entrepreneur's crowd. If I remember correctly, Tim Ferris even recommends it in "4 Hour Workweek."
- stagbeetle 10y ago
  It's the go to of the (small-business) entrepreneurs all over the web (TheFastlane, /r/entrepreneur, etc.). I'm fairly certain it started around 4 years ago with Matt Clark's "Amazon Selling Machine." A friend who paid the $1000 let me watch the course and it was a pretty simple (and old) tactic. Buy wholesale and sell at markup. Except this time you would have it under your own "private label" (i.e a Chinese factory would slap your logo on a generic and sell it to you). Apparently he made a killing doing the same thing with silicone spatulas.
  - OJFord 10y ago
    > $1000 ... course Wow. Surely the best advice such a course could possibly give would be 'convince people you can teach them to make money, and charge a lot for it'.
    - thejosh 10y ago
      Yeah a few years ago it was SEO courses , now Amazon selling courses which are way overpriced, next ... ? Who gets rich in a goldfish, the miners or the person selling the tools?
      - foota 10y ago
        If you're in a goldfish I think you're already out of luck
        s917 10y ago
        I think he's trying to say "you can't teach a goldmine to ride a bicycle". Edit: Humorless. Sad.

jseliger 10y ago

Yeah. A variation on my own story: http://seliger.com/2017/01/09/tools-continued-careful-buy-amazon http://seliger.com/2017/01/09/tools-continued-careful-buy-am... . It's definitely changed my buying habits. For example, I just got a Fujitsu SnapScan... from Office Depot. There's no way I'm buying a moderately expensive electronic item from Amazon anymore.

mhb 10y ago
Agreed that Amazon should make it clearer when it is the actual seller, but, in your example, you knowingly bought from a third party. Why would this affect your future purchases from Amazon when Amazon is the seller?
- nommm-nommm 10y ago
  Commingled inventory means that Amazon can sell and ship a knockoff sent in by a third party seller.
- dawnerd 10y ago
  What I dislike is when something has prime listed on it and when you look closer it's not even sold or shipped by amazon. Just some company that "meets the requirements". I use amazon's prime because their warehouse in 30 minutes away and I get stuff same day or overnight.
  - bonestamp2 10y ago
    I used to get my stuff that quickly, now they just wait a day or two before shipping it so it's still 2 days before it arrives.
    - nommm-nommm 10y ago
      Yeah, they've been doing this forever with super saver shipping. They literally will not ship a product for 5 days if a warehouse is close.

esMazer 10y ago

I only buy when is sold directly "by amazon" if the seller is not amazon then all bets are off.

fredophile 10y ago
My understanding is that Amazon mixes their stock with items from other sellers as long as they have the same sku. If this is true there is no benefit in buying things sold directly from Amazon.
nerdy 10y ago
The thread says repeatedly that Amazon is the seller... https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844037804237709314 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844037804237709314 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844038535388823552 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844038535388823552 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844274765154205696 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844274765154205696 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844271713256951808 https://twitter.com/billpollock/status/844271713256951808
CPLX 10y ago
That doesn't work at all to solve this problem.

spatulon 10y ago

Out of interest, what torch did you end up buying?

HoppedUpMenace 10y ago
J5 Hyper V Tactical Flashlight. Was really bright as advertised. No complaints but its hard for anyone to understand how bright a flashlight is until you actually use it, but youtube videos definitely help and so do legit reviews.
- fapjacks 10y ago
  These specific flashlights can be bought from AliExpress for two or three dollars a piece. I totally agree that they're a great light, just don't pay more than a couple bucks for one. I bought a pack of five for ten dollars.
  - sjs7007 10y ago
    link?
    - fapjacks 10y ago
      Sorry, I can't seem to find a link. It's been a year or so since I bought them, but I've got one of these flashlights in every room where I spend time, and a couple in my hiking/camping gear. They are not stupid bright, but the light is bright and very uniform. I'd keep checking AliExpress. I'm sure a pack of them will pop up again sometime. Sorry I couldn't find a link.

peterjlee 10y ago

When I buy phone chargers from Amazon I intentionally avoid the manufacturer branded ones because I know it's going to be fake. I usually choose a well known 3rd party brand with good reviews.

jrnichols 10y ago
poor experiences with cheap phone chargers/etc are the reason I've been sticking to the Amazon Basics line. and then Anker, because the cats won't chew through those.
- andyzweb 10y ago
  >poor experiences with cheap phone chargers/etc are the reason I've been sticking to the Amazon Basics line. This is a brilliant strategy on Amazon's part.
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    So what's the over/under on when Amazon will be cluelessly selling commingled counterfeits of "Basics" items? A week?
    - chipperyman573 10y ago
      Amazon Basics is amazon's line of products, you can't sell them yourself because they'd always be counterfit (or used)
      - jessaustin 10y ago
        By the same process in which Amazon has sold counterfeit NoStarch books, Amazon could also sell counterfeit "Basics" products. At this point, we're pretty sure it has something to do with commingling...
        chipperyman573 10y ago

nkrisc 10y ago

Let me guess, those millions of listings of the same flashlight also ranged in price from $1.55 to $67.99, right?

HoppedUpMenace 10y ago
Yep, super sketchy to say the least.

zn44 10y ago

I wouldn't be too confident about quality or authenticity of products in brick and mortar retail spots

ams6110 10y ago
I wonder about that too. How do I really know that a pair of Levi jeans at Target is genuine?
- timthelion 10y ago
  It doesn't matter. Levi's these days are trash. Bought a pair at the official Levi's store which lasted all of 6 months before there were holes in the pockets. (to replace a 5 year old pair that was fine except I was too fat for it.)
  - tremon 10y ago
    Agreed, I've had the same experience with clothing. I have a 15-year old sweater that is still in better condition than the ones I purchased one or two years ago. It seems to me that most stores either sell counterfeit products, or all mid-tier brands have given up and sell low-tier products for the same old prices. It's no surprise then that consumers are flocking to low-price, low-tier stores: at least they know what they get.
  - coldpie 10y ago
    If you're still on the market for cheapo whatever jeans, I've had good wear time on jeans from Round House. I've seen others recommend Pointer brand from LC King, though I don't have personal experience with them. Both USA-made.
- suvelx 10y ago
  They're almost guaranteed to be 'genuine' Levis. But you can't be sure Target hasn't asked Levis to counterfeit themselves.
  - 10y ago

ericd 10y ago

Not a handheld flashlight, but if you're still looking, I highly recommend the Black Diamond Spot found here here: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-headlamp/ http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-headlamp/ . Super bright, but adjustable, durable, good spread and throw distance, and sips power at reduced brightness settings. And related, I've had very good luck with just going with The Wirecutter's/The Sweethome's picks when I don't feel like poring through a bunch of reviews on things. As a warning, though, I'm normally immune to the desire to buy random crap I don't really need, but they seem to break through that for some reason.

nommm-nommm 10y ago

>Then I read about how these flashlights are all mass produced by the same manufacturer and re-branded after distribution, so essentially 100 different flashlight brands are essentially the same flashlight (sorry, did a google search on this, don't remember exact link). This is called a "private label." You can find the exact un-branded product and order direct from China from either Alibaba or Ali-Express or eBay for like half the price of Amazon (if you don't mind waiting for something to ship from China)

nathancahill 10y ago

Yeah, it's terrible. I pretty much won't touch anything new on Amazon unless it has: been recommended by a friend or been well-received on /r/BuyItForLife or Sweethome/Wirecutter.

parametrek 10y ago

> The other day, I wanted a super bright flashlight that ran on AAA batteries and was of decent quality and price. I had to pour over the millions of listed flashlights, most looking physically identical, with the exception of the brand name printed on the flashlight itself. Then I read about how these flashlights are all mass produced by the same manufacturer and re-branded You need a trusted third party to collate all of the information about a product category and then filter out all the crap. I have conveniently already done this for flashlights: http://flashlights.parametrek.com/index.html http://flashlights.parametrek.com/index.html (Yes, I run it and yes it uses affiliate links.) Also, AAA cells are terrible for flashlights. A single AAA cells is okay for a compact penlight but many use 3xAAA cells and 95% of the time 3xAAA lights have the worst engineering of any flashlight.

nommm-nommm 10y ago
"trusted third party" Who can guarantee the third party is either trusted or impartial?
- parametrek 10y ago
  > guarantee Of course that is not possible. At best you can grade someone's past behavior according to a set of criteria. Though in this case most of https://reddit.com/r/flashlight/ https://reddit.com/r/flashlight/ would probably say that I am trustworthy and impartial ^_^

jmspring 10y ago

If we are at the point where Amazon is being compared to quality at Fry's, things have gotten really bad. Fry's has so many issues with returns, etc. and just slapping them back on the shelf.

0x38B 10y ago

This is where Amazon loses out for me. I've started buying things on sites devoted to that item - a camera and lenses on FredMiranda, flashlights on Candlepower forums (highly recommend it for flashlights), and so on.

reeddavid 10y ago

I've had the same problem with kitchen strainers, bike seats, and microphone stands. Hundreds (thousands?) of nearly-identical products on Amazon, all private-labeled, most with questionable reviews. Zero confidence that it's a good product.

AlexandrB 10y ago

I ran into this recently while shopping for SLR filters. The listing on amazon.ca [1] looked pretty legit but price was too good and a few reviewers claimed these were fake. What threw me off in particular is that the seller for these B+W filters is B/W. However once I checked what else B/W was selling alarms went off immediately as it's all kinds of stuff with "BW" in the name, like these cheap security cameras [2]. I'm not sure how the average person has a snowball's chance in hell of spotting stuff like this on Amazon. It's getting very sketchy. [1] https://www.amazon.ca/XS-Pro-Clear-Filter-Multi-Resistant-Coating/dp/B004NCRYZK/ https://www.amazon.ca/XS-Pro-Clear-Filter-Multi-Resistant-Co... [2] https://www.amazon.ca/BWND4S-Definition-FormatTVI-Vari-Focal-40m-White/dp/B01LWX7H67/ https://www.amazon.ca/BWND4S-Definition-FormatTVI-Vari-Focal...

sytelus 10y ago

Also the funny thing is that most of these fakes have extra-ordinary specs :). So the real ones have lower but true specs and are listed at much higher prices. The consequences is that you can't even see real item until you get to 4th or 5th page!

ansible 10y ago

I had a similar situation with multi-tools. I was looking for other brands outside of the big ones (Leatherman, SOG, Gerber) to set what my options were. On Amazon, there were a bunch of nearly identical multi-tools sold under different brands names. That turned me off from wanting to buy there at all. Ending up buying one directly from Leatherman's website.

arjie 10y ago

Thanks for FakeSpot. I used to use the "honest and unbiased" check. If your review is "honest and unbiased" you're probably reviewing a bullshit product. Ah ha, it looks like FakeSpot is fooled when Amazon removes the bad reviews. Have a look at https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010NEW9JM/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010NEW9JM/. That's obviously some low quality bullshit. Find in page for 'honest' and it has the trigger phrase. > I received this set at a discounted price in exchange for my fair and honest review. > My wife and I review products that we receive either free or at a discount in exchange for our honest and unbiased reviews. > Disclaimer: I received this product at a discount in exchange for my honest/unbiased review. I wish we could kill these products and sellers with some secondary review process. Also, Amazon should understand that we generally don't want these reviews removed because that effectively creates an antibiotic-resistant version of fake reviewers. Much better to leave them in so I can killfile them.