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I'm not even sure that Amazon really benefits from this. I have become super wary to buy things from Amazon even with good reviews, because I am suspicious the

I'm not even sure that Amazon really benefits from this. I have become super wary to buy things from Amazon even with good reviews, because I am suspicious the reviews are fake.

nerfhammer 8y ago
I'm sure Amazon has done studies on what the effect is. It could be that products with fake positive reviews sell better individually but the presence of fake reviews in general reduces sales overall. But the former is really easy to measure and the latter is much harder.
- gowld 8y ago
  Yep. It's easy to A/B test a narrow feature over a short timespan, but it's hard to test the multi-year effect of pollution -- by the time you learn the answer, you've already lost.
bonestamp2 8y ago
I agree. I am using amazon less now than before because I can't trust amazon the way I used to. Part of that is fake reviews. It may not hurt amazon now, as they're still acquiring a lot of new prime users (baby boomers) but they too will sour and then it will be too late for amazon to earn trust back. It's an easy problem to solve too... only allow reviews from people who have purchased the product on amazon. Nearly every other major e-commerce site does that. The fact that amazon hasn't required this is a good sign that they don't think that is the most beneficial thing to them. Their system already has this feature, but most sellers don't enable it.
- tracker1 8y ago
  Many reviewers are ordering through amazon, and are paid outside of amazon... Amazon needs to invest in heuristics for reviewers. If someone literally reviews over 90% of what they order on Amazon, they're probably paid for it. If someone only buys things via external links, they're probably paid for it. There's lots that Amazon can do. Hell, putting seller stickers on co-inventory to track the counterfeiters would be a nice start.
  - bonestamp2 8y ago
    > putting seller stickers on co-inventory to track the counterfeiters would be a nice start Great idea! They'd still have the benefits of mixing inventory but then you can track who is putting fakes in the bin.
TheRealDunkirk 8y ago
It's pushing me to buy more things from brick-and-mortars, because an actual store MUST apply some curation, and they're highly incentivized not to carry crap that someone will have to return the next day.
stordoff 8y ago
The prime reason I buy many things from Amazon is trust (if I have a problem with something, I know customer support will accept the return and I will have a refund/replacement quickly). If this problem becomes bad enough, it could definitely overrule that.
- tracker1 8y ago
  But, depending on the seller, they don't accept the return, or refund/replace the item.

I'm not even sure that Amazon really benefits from this. I have become super wary to buy things from Amazon even with good reviews, because I am suspicious the reviews are fake.

nerfhammer 8y ago

I'm sure Amazon has done studies on what the effect is. It could be that products with fake positive reviews sell better individually but the presence of fake reviews in general reduces sales overall. But the former is really easy to measure and the latter is much harder.

gowld 8y ago
Yep. It's easy to A/B test a narrow feature over a short timespan, but it's hard to test the multi-year effect of pollution -- by the time you learn the answer, you've already lost.

bonestamp2 8y ago

I agree. I am using amazon less now than before because I can't trust amazon the way I used to. Part of that is fake reviews. It may not hurt amazon now, as they're still acquiring a lot of new prime users (baby boomers) but they too will sour and then it will be too late for amazon to earn trust back. It's an easy problem to solve too... only allow reviews from people who have purchased the product on amazon. Nearly every other major e-commerce site does that. The fact that amazon hasn't required this is a good sign that they don't think that is the most beneficial thing to them. Their system already has this feature, but most sellers don't enable it.

tracker1 8y ago
Many reviewers are ordering through amazon, and are paid outside of amazon... Amazon needs to invest in heuristics for reviewers. If someone literally reviews over 90% of what they order on Amazon, they're probably paid for it. If someone only buys things via external links, they're probably paid for it. There's lots that Amazon can do. Hell, putting seller stickers on co-inventory to track the counterfeiters would be a nice start.
- bonestamp2 8y ago
  > putting seller stickers on co-inventory to track the counterfeiters would be a nice start Great idea! They'd still have the benefits of mixing inventory but then you can track who is putting fakes in the bin.

TheRealDunkirk 8y ago

It's pushing me to buy more things from brick-and-mortars, because an actual store MUST apply some curation, and they're highly incentivized not to carry crap that someone will have to return the next day.

stordoff 8y ago

The prime reason I buy many things from Amazon is trust (if I have a problem with something, I know customer support will accept the return and I will have a refund/replacement quickly). If this problem becomes bad enough, it could definitely overrule that.

tracker1 8y ago
But, depending on the seller, they don't accept the return, or refund/replace the item.