How to spot fake Amazon reviews

I look for bimodal ratings – a bunch of high ratings and a bunch of low ratings.  Every time I’ve dug deeper into those, the low ratings seemed legit, unique and specific while the positives were overly positive, and sometimes weren’t American usage of words and phrases.  I’ve wondered how long it would be until the paid reviewers would get more sophisticated and it sounds like some have – posting a few negatives, some 4s in addition to 5s and even buying the products (do they ship them all back to the vendor?) to appear more legitimate.

Also, clicking on a reviewer’s other reviews either paints a picture of a real person (a UL-BPer math geek with kids, in my case) or someone who only reviews high-margin stuff where there’s money to be made (and spent) on gaming the system.

David has a good approach. I’m pretty critical of much of the whole review “industry” especially as it relates backpacking as I wrote about in The Business of Backpacking. One thing I look for is how the company responds to customer complaints, and especially by those who rated a product on the lower end of the scale.

Ultimately we need to be good consumers and exercise the lost art of common sense. There is a disturbing trend in our society that too many people believe anything they read on the Internet. Also, if the price is too good to be true, it probably is.

An interesting story. A few months ago I bought two metal park benches on Amazon. There were many reviews crucifying the company for poor instructions and screws that were defective making it impossible to assemble them. The price was right, it is easy to return stuff to Amazon, and I figured the unhappy people were probably too incompetent to assemble a simple bench, so I bought a pair. When I got them, it was easy to see the problem. The screws required a #1 Phillips head screw driver, which most people don’t have. Most people only have a #2. In my twisted mind, if you own a screw driver you should probably learn how to use it properly. Assembly took a few minutes with zero problems.

I had a similar experience with an outdoor patio gas stove. Supposedly poor instructions and difficult to assemble. Took me 5 minutes to put it together and start cooking dinner outside. The stove is awesome.

I do research my purchases that includes reading reviews and answered questions. Whenever possible I buy almost EVERYTHING via Amazon, if it is the best price. I’m a Prime Member and Discover Card often has a 5% cash back on Amazon purchases that gives me an even lower net price. But a smart buyer has to be skeptical of everything they read and use their brain. I really can’t think of a bad experience buying online, except for some cottage industry backpacking gear that lacked any communication during typical long wait times. I buy a lot to include bulky furniture and expensive electronics like our stereo system components.

On the opposite side of the equation is an eBay experience I had a few years ago. I am a stamp collector and there was a stamp that no one was bidding on and the “Buy it Now” price was incredibly low. The problem was the seller was in China. But he had over 12,000 feedbacks with something like 99.9% positive. So I took a $100 chance and purchased it. Had it appraised at over $2,000 and got confirmation is was authentic. Of course, I paid via PayPal and would have had recourse if the stamp was not as advertised.

Thanks for the posting. Most interesting and now having fun playing with Fakespot

Nick, I unquestionably believe every word you said. Because I read it here, on the internet.

⭐️⭐️

I expected better. Fell apart soon after purchase.

Should have posted in On The Web.