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I was looking for a 2nd USB C charger for my new MacBook and found one[1]. It had 378 5 star, 'verified purchase' reviews. All filed on July the 12th, 2018! I

I was looking for a 2nd USB C charger for my new MacBook and found one[1]. It had 378 5 star, 'verified purchase' reviews. All filed on July the 12th, 2018! I reported this to Amazon via Twitter on July the 18th [2] (Sorry, German). I checked yesterday and despite Amazon promising to look into this, all reviews where still there. So I tweeted to them again and, at last, they're deleted today. But why is this not detected automatically? 378 verified 'customers' that all review the product, with five stars, on the same day?? What are the chances? And the language of the reviews was also so similar that even a Markov model could be used to detect they must be from the same person (or bot). No machine learning needed. [1] https://www.amazon.de/MAOFINE-MacBook-Adapter-Charger-Replacement-white/dp/B07DKC7XS6 https://www.amazon.de/MAOFINE-MacBook-Adapter-Charger-Replac... [2] https://twitter.com/virtualritz/status/1019741791422173185 https://twitter.com/virtualritz/status/1019741791422173185

Sir_Substance 8y ago
>378 verified 'customers' that all review the product, with five stars, on the same day?? What are the chances? Depends on the product. For a highly anticipated release like a video game or an iphone, pretty high. I would say that this sort of thing should raise an automatic ticket in a moderation queue, but I wouldn't autodelete the reviews.
patd 8y ago
And now all of those reviews seem to have disappeared ... Maybe it's more effective to complain on HN.
gideon_b 8y ago
The company makes 378 real purchases then mails 378 real products to random addresses scattered throughout the US. This allows them to leave verified reviews. There's a whole industry around this - The Reply All podcast interviewed people who make these reviews. They talk about the economics of reviews and Amazon's reluctance to admit there is a problem. https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/124 https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/124

Sir_Substance 8y ago

>378 verified 'customers' that all review the product, with five stars, on the same day?? What are the chances? Depends on the product. For a highly anticipated release like a video game or an iphone, pretty high. I would say that this sort of thing should raise an automatic ticket in a moderation queue, but I wouldn't autodelete the reviews.

patd 8y ago

And now all of those reviews seem to have disappeared ... Maybe it's more effective to complain on HN.

gideon_b 8y ago

The company makes 378 real purchases then mails 378 real products to random addresses scattered throughout the US. This allows them to leave verified reviews. There's a whole industry around this - The Reply All podcast interviewed people who make these reviews. They talk about the economics of reviews and Amazon's reluctance to admit there is a problem. https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/124 https://www.gimletmedia.com/reply-all/124