Amazon could root out these users rather quickly. If this "reviewer" is posting only 5-star reviews Amazon could implement a check box the user agrees to before submission. It would state that the user has not been paid or will not be paid for said review and that the review has not been influenced by the manufacturer or seller. If said user is found to be placing erroneous reviews (all 5 star reviews seems to be a dead giveaway) Amazon will remove all prior comments and ban commenting via the users account for X months. She states that she doesn't think what she's doing is wrong. It is wrong because it's a misrepresentation in many cases. Her gain is another person's loss of time and money based on what most people expect to be reasonably honest feedback. It's amazing what people will do for free junk.
Cables are notorious for this - almost every knock off type cable I've purchased from Amazon has come with an envelope asking for a review and they will provide a free gift for me. Most of those purchases go back to Amazon and I try to review them accordingly, but it's hard to judge when you've got more than 200 reviews and averaging 4.5 stars on a very specific cable you're looking for (length, color, specs, etc). In these cases Amazon eats significant shipping costs for the send and return labels - you'd think they'd want to get this under control better. But if anything I'd say returning the item is the best way to get Amazon to crack down on this since these fake reviews then cost them time and money.
Or just shadowban them. Make it so they can see their own reviews, and the seller can see them, but nobody else. After some set time like a day or a week.
That would cause a lot of problems for the business model described.
These new verified purchase review scams are because Amazon took action against incentivized reviews (which had disclosure rules that most reviewers obeyed).
Yeah, incentivized reviews might not have been great, but they were easy to spot and ignore. Their ban has led to something much, much worse.
It's not hard to picture this having been a regular feature before that, though. I pretty much assume every review of 5 stars is a shill review, and 1 star is someone who's a moron and bought the wrong thing, used it wrong, what have you. The ones in the middle are where you'll find real people who often tout both the pros and the cons, acknowledging that while a product isn't perfect, it's still good, or just saying that while they see the value in it, the construction isn't up to par, etc. etc.
Consuming reviews well is a skill you learn as you shop online. Frankly I think Amazon should stay the course. You can't possibly eliminate all the fakers. If they want to improve the service, they should just stop selling knockoffs altogether and be done with it.
For example: When I was shopping for surveillance cameras for my home, I found ones of apparently good quality that I liked. The 1 star reviews were nothing but bitching about spyware and the NSA, and the 5 stars didn't mention any possible drawbacks. A long and well written 4-star review, however, described the picture quality in detail, the issues with installing, but that once it was installed it was indeed a good product. And they included the technical details needed to establish firewall rules to prevent them sending data back to Singapore.
I don't disregard the 5 star ones but I take them with a grain of salt. I tend to look at the negative ones and see what they're complaining about--it's surprising how many are griping about things that aren't the fault of the product at all.
> Yeah, incentivized reviews might not have been great, but they were easy to spot and ignore. Their ban has led to something much, much worse.
Maybe, but it's hard to get a clear picture of what an appropriate rating would be for an item that's 4.7 stars with 500 reviews, and only some of the 5-star reviews claim to be incentivized.
Ah, but by asking the reviewer every time to confirm they are leaving an honest review, squarely puts the reviewer in the wrong if they get caught. It also put front and centre what can happen if they break the ToS.
Problem is this just puts another barrier against legitimate reviews. Amazon doesn't want to add friction to the review process, since that will discourage actual reviews and not bother the fake reviewers at all.
I've only reviewed a few items on Amazon, mostly when an item stood out as really good or absolute crap. For instance, my last review was 1 star for an esp8266 that was so poorly faked they had mounted an op-amp instead of the microcontroller (I assume because it was the cheapest thing they could find in the package size). If there are barriers to leaving a review, actual customers will leave less reviews. I certainly don't want to have to tick multiple checkboxes in order to review an item, I will just not bother leaving a review.
> Amazon doesn't want to add friction to the review process, since that will discourage actual reviews and not bother the fake reviewers at all.
Who cares about barriers to legitimate reviews? There are millions on Amazon, hundreds for any popular product. The problem is they're swamped out by the millions of fake/illegitimate ones.
Per the FCC, you must disclose advertisements. If a consumer's opinion of your review would be changed by the knowledge that you have a relationship with the seller (because they paid you, or sent you something for free), then your review is an advertisement and you must disclose that relationship. Not doing so is illegal.
I think if you don't stand to make any money or get free stuff and just like posting fake reviews on Amazon for fun, then that's legal (although likely against the ToS).
You are correct, small nitpick, it's per the FTC, not FCC.
One interesting thing I learned while trying to find a link -- You may not use the exact wording provided by an advertiser unless you specifically disclose that you used their exact wording.
How are fake reviews against the law? And how do we know that they’re fake? She has the product, and tells her opinion of it. How do we judge if her opinion is fake? I know full well the circumstantial evidence argument, but from a legal point of view, I think you’d need more.
> Suppose you meet someone who tells you about a great new product. She tells you it performs wonderfully and offers fantastic new features that nobody else has. Would that recommendation factor into your decision to buy the product? Probably.
> Now suppose the person works for the company that sells the product – or has been paid by the company to tout the product. Would you want to know that when you’re evaluating the endorser’s glowing recommendation? You bet. That common-sense premise is at the heart of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Endorsement Guides.
The FTC thinks it's fraudulent[0]. She's paid to provide the review (always 5 stars, never anything explicitly negative), yet doesn't disclose the fact she was reimbursed for the purchase by the seller.
The intent of the scheme is to deceive other shoppers, regardless of the specific arrangement between her and the sellers.
I tend to only write reviews on yelp, but they are all either 5 or 1 stars. This is because I’m not motivated to review something unless I love or hate it.
My guess is you should factor the sheer volume of purchases here as well. She’s definitely not leaning on the middle of the bell curve either way, which should prompt investigation from Amazon.
However, I’m not sure Amazon has any motivation to clear these kinds of things up. Fake reviews at least for now don’t seem to be hurting their business model.
It's easier than that. If she's posting all 5-star reviews on products that don't get rated 5-stars by other customers, those other customers shouldn't be seeing her reviews. Preferentially weight the visibility of reviews from reviewers who match the individual customers reviews on other products. This incentivizes users posting honest reviews and makes 'gaming' the system almost impossible.
Cables are notorious for this - almost every knock off type cable I've purchased from Amazon has come with an envelope asking for a review and they will provide a free gift for me. Most of those purchases go back to Amazon and I try to review them accordingly, but it's hard to judge when you've got more than 200 reviews and averaging 4.5 stars on a very specific cable you're looking for (length, color, specs, etc). In these cases Amazon eats significant shipping costs for the send and return labels - you'd think they'd want to get this under control better. But if anything I'd say returning the item is the best way to get Amazon to crack down on this since these fake reviews then cost them time and money.