How to recognize fake Amazon reviews.
Amazon is an online shopping giant, and like many other people, you and your friends and family are likely counting on Amazon as the source of most of your purchases. It also means that you trust the information the platform offers about products. Nobody wants to order one thing and receive something completely different.
The problem is that Amazon is inundated with fake reviews that affect product ratings. Therefore, you can never be 100% sure whether you are buying a quality product. However, there are methods and online tools you can use to spot fake reviews before you decide to buy an item on Amazon.
What’s a Fake Review on Amazon?Â
At a time when the internet is inundated with fake news, we now have fake reviews to fight. A fake review is exactly what it sounds like – a dishonest review posted by the company behind the product, a paid employee, or someone else who is biased and interested in selling that product.
The number of people willing to write fake reviews is terrifying. There are dozens of groups on Facebook that trade fake reviews on Amazon for money. These are tens of thousands of Facebook users willing to post fake product reviews in exchange for a refund or other form of financial incentive.
Why Are Fake Reviews Dangerous?Â
You might think that a couple of fake Amazon reviews don’t really matter. However, hundreds and thousands of such reviews can skew the rating. While they increase product sales, fake reviews also hurt competitors’ sales, even if those competitors might have a higher quality product.
If you often visit Amazon looking for great deals, you know that every popular brand with high-quality products has no analogues. A generic, untitled product often sells for a much lower price (almost always due to lower quality). The low price combined with 5-star reviews can convince you to buy it.
In fact, there is a good chance these reviews are fake and you end up with a product that doesn’t match its quality brand equivalent.
What’s Amazon’s Response?Â
Amazon’s only visible measure to address fake reviews is Amazon’s Confirmed Purchase label. If you see reviews marked this way, it means that Amazon has verified that the person who wrote the review actually bought the product on Amazon and did not receive it at the discounted price. In fact, it doesn’t filter out even half of the illegitimate reviews on the platform.
If you want to distinguish fake reviews from real ones on Amazon, there are several signs you should look out for. You can also use third-party tools to filter out fake Amazon product reviews.
How to Spot Fake Reviews on Amazon
There are a number of strategies you can use to spot fake Amazon reviews.
- Read reviews carefully. This advice may seem trivial, but many users browse reviews, paying attention only to product ratings. If you actually spend your time reading reviews, it’s not hard to tell if they’re fake. A fake review will be either overly positive without any specific product details. Or they may spend too much time researching the strengths of the product and trying to refute other negative reviews on the site.
- Check when reviews were posted. If a product only has recent reviews, especially if they don’t seem too scattered, that’s a big red flag.
- Look for a mixture of different ratings. If a product has many 5-star reviews or 1-star reviews that do not state the reason for rating the product, those reviews are most likely fake. Instead, look for a mixture of moderately positive product reviews. 3- or 4-star reviews, barring occasional 2-star reviews, are a good mix.
- Check reviews on Amazon’s Confirmed Purchase label.
- Find a product outside of Amazon. If you’re still unsure about a product, you can cross-reference it online outside of Amazon. Try looking for customer reviews and product questions and answers on other review sites and online platforms.
Use FakeSpot to Uncover Fake ReviewsÂ
Third party sites and tools can be extremely helpful when it comes to detecting fake Amazon reviews. They use special algorithms that analyze each review to determine which ones are most likely to be fake.
FakeSpot is a free application that you can use online to determine the legitimacy of product reviews on Amazon and eBay. After installing the app and creating a FakeSpot account, you can start using it on Amazon. Go to any product page and run FakeSpot to authenticate reviews and ratings for that product.
How to Report a Fake Review to Amazon
If you come across a clearly fake product review, you can report it to Amazon. This can be especially useful if you notice that a single product has several seemingly illegal reviews that affect the product’s rating.
To report a fake review on Amazon, select Report Abuse directly below the published review. Fill out the form in the pop-up window and select “Report” to confirm.
Become a Savvy Amazon Shopper
Amazon is still the unrivaled online shopping platform that you can use to find great deals and buy everything you need, from a microSD card for Nintendo Switch to a last minute Christmas present for a friend or colleague. By learning to spot fake reviews on Amazon, you can avoid purchases you regret in the future and only get products that are worth buying.
Have you ever given up on a product because of fake reviews and ratings online? How can you tell fake from real Amazon product reviews? Share your Amazon experience with us in the comments below.
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