Problem with reviews on Amazon is, just like any other review system - it can be gamed. Reviews can be "bought" - sometimes literally, sometimes "under the tab

Problem with reviews on Amazon is, just like any other review system - it can be gamed. Reviews can be "bought" - sometimes literally, sometimes "under the table" (reviewers are supposed to disclose things like "I was sent this item by the seller for feedback and review" or similar - but do you think all reviewers are honest?). What also happens (far more often than you'd believe - but if you look close, you can find it) is a product will be sold and gain a large number of great reviews, then the seller will turn around, and mark the item's cost up to some insane amount (an item normal selling for $5.00 will be marked up to $99999.99), only to later put a different item (description, pictures, etc) in it's place (keeping the SKU the same), drop the price back down to something reasonable, and now "new item" has "old item" 5-star reviews. I see this all the time on Amazon when I look at my purchase history over a year or more time-frame. I purchase a lot of stuff on Amazon, and I mostly see this kind of thing on the hobby electronics and stuff I purchase, but I have seen it also on regular products. I'll look at my past purchases, and the name and picture of a purchase I made will be changed to something I know for a fact I didn't purchase (because it was something I'd never purchase, due to non-interest, my purchasing patterns, or not marketed for my demographic or such). Of course, this is with "hobby electronics" - a lot of which are drop-shipped out of China/Hong Kong, or were imported to the USA for "Amazon Fulfillment" purposes. But I have no doubt this same thing happens with other, more general products. If the seller doing this plays their cards right (like selling RAM sticks with the reviews for flash memory cards), it can sometimes be very difficult to tell that a swap was made, without reading every review very carefully. Imagine this being done with products like clothing or fashion accessories...!