<story><title>An example of how brands build fake reviews on Amazon</title><url>https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/g19a1w/heres_a_brand_thats_building_its_reviews_steadily/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>1024core</author><text>I bought something from Amazon, and it wasn&amp;#x27;t up to spec, so I left a 3-star review.&lt;p&gt;Well, I got contacted by the seller, offering me $20 to take down the review. I ignored it.&lt;p&gt;Then a few weeks later, they upped the offer. And in response, I downed the stars.&lt;p&gt;Last I heard from them, they were offering me $70 to take down the review. For something that cost under $15.&lt;p&gt;Amazon itself doesn&amp;#x27;t help either.  I bought something (a food item) from Amazon, and it was nowhere close to the quality in the photographs or description. I wrote a review, describing how the actual item was of much lower quality than expected. Amazon refused to post my review! And I&amp;#x27;ve been an Amazon customer for nearly 20 years!</text></item><item><author>jasode</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt;You don&amp;#x27;t look for that &amp;lt;i&amp;gt; Verified purchase &amp;lt;&amp;#x2F;i&amp;gt; text ?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re not being sarcastic...&lt;p&gt;Those &amp;quot;Verified Purchase&amp;quot; reviews can also be faked by manufacturers&amp;#x2F;sellers reimbursing the credit-card payment of the Amazon shopper.&lt;p&gt;Example: 
 &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.buzzfeednews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;nicolenguyen&amp;#x2F;her-amazon-purchases-are-real-the-reviews-are-fake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.buzzfeednews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;nicolenguyen&amp;#x2F;her-amazon...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>mandeepj</author><text>&amp;gt;  Yes, both the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews can be gamed.&lt;p&gt;You don&amp;#x27;t look for that &amp;lt;i&amp;gt; Verified purchase &amp;lt;&amp;#x2F;i&amp;gt; text ?</text></item><item><author>jasode</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; as a consumer I see a 4.9 rating as indistinguishable from a 0.9 rating.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been an Amazon customer for more than 20 years.  Yes, both the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews can be gamed.  Many 5-stars reviews are fake because of bribery.  Many 1-star reviews are from competitors trying to hurt their rivals.&lt;p&gt;That said, I still find Amazon reviews useful if I &lt;i&gt;read the texts&lt;/i&gt; instead of depending on the number of stars.  I go to the 3-star and 2-star reviews and read the &lt;i&gt;specific&lt;/i&gt; complaints customers are writing about.  Some reviewers also post useful photos.&lt;p&gt;For example, I needed to buy a guest bed for COVID quarantine so I looked for &amp;quot;air mattress&amp;quot; on Amazon:  &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;s?k=air+mattress&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;s?k=air+mattress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most of those have 5-star reviews.  I ignore that and simply &lt;i&gt;read the texts&lt;/i&gt;.  After digesting some reviews, I learn that all air mattresses regardless of brand suffer from leakage (usually after the 30-day return period).  Some recommended getting a foldable foam mattress as an alternative to totally avoid the issues with leaks and broken air pumps.  That&amp;#x27;s what I ended up buying and it was the Amazon reviews that steered me away from air mattresses.</text></item><item><author>nkozyra</author><text>That ship has sailed, in my opinion.&lt;p&gt;Reviews - particularly on Amazon - are meaningless. The cat-and-mouse game has gone so far that as a consumer I see a 4.9 rating as indistinguishable from a 0.9 rating. Buying from an unknown brand is a crapshoot. Buying from a known brand on Amazon isn&amp;#x27;t much better.&lt;p&gt;And it makes me wonder how long these black hat practices are going to be useful to sellers. Most Amazon users have to be feeling the same way at this point.</text></item><item><author>zeepzeep</author><text>A friend of mine is in a facebook group that has lists of products you can buy, then 4&amp;#x2F;5-star review and get your money back. We&amp;#x27;re talking 10-100€ products.&lt;p&gt;He goes as far as reviewing everything he doesn&amp;#x27;t buy there with less than 3 stars so his account isn&amp;#x27;t suspicious.&lt;p&gt;Doing this he completely destroys what reviews are meant to be, not only helping shady companies but also hurting legit ones.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ceejayoz</author><text>I reported someone trying to bribe me to remove a review. Amazon passed it along to them and the company started emailing me creepy stalker stuff about my Instagram.</text></comment>
<story><title>An example of how brands build fake reviews on Amazon</title><url>https://www.reddit.com/r/Supplements/comments/g19a1w/heres_a_brand_thats_building_its_reviews_steadily/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>1024core</author><text>I bought something from Amazon, and it wasn&amp;#x27;t up to spec, so I left a 3-star review.&lt;p&gt;Well, I got contacted by the seller, offering me $20 to take down the review. I ignored it.&lt;p&gt;Then a few weeks later, they upped the offer. And in response, I downed the stars.&lt;p&gt;Last I heard from them, they were offering me $70 to take down the review. For something that cost under $15.&lt;p&gt;Amazon itself doesn&amp;#x27;t help either.  I bought something (a food item) from Amazon, and it was nowhere close to the quality in the photographs or description. I wrote a review, describing how the actual item was of much lower quality than expected. Amazon refused to post my review! And I&amp;#x27;ve been an Amazon customer for nearly 20 years!</text></item><item><author>jasode</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt;You don&amp;#x27;t look for that &amp;lt;i&amp;gt; Verified purchase &amp;lt;&amp;#x2F;i&amp;gt; text ?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re not being sarcastic...&lt;p&gt;Those &amp;quot;Verified Purchase&amp;quot; reviews can also be faked by manufacturers&amp;#x2F;sellers reimbursing the credit-card payment of the Amazon shopper.&lt;p&gt;Example: 
 &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.buzzfeednews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;nicolenguyen&amp;#x2F;her-amazon-purchases-are-real-the-reviews-are-fake&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.buzzfeednews.com&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;nicolenguyen&amp;#x2F;her-amazon...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>mandeepj</author><text>&amp;gt;  Yes, both the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews can be gamed.&lt;p&gt;You don&amp;#x27;t look for that &amp;lt;i&amp;gt; Verified purchase &amp;lt;&amp;#x2F;i&amp;gt; text ?</text></item><item><author>jasode</author><text>&lt;i&gt;&amp;gt; as a consumer I see a 4.9 rating as indistinguishable from a 0.9 rating.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve been an Amazon customer for more than 20 years.  Yes, both the 5-star reviews and 1-star reviews can be gamed.  Many 5-stars reviews are fake because of bribery.  Many 1-star reviews are from competitors trying to hurt their rivals.&lt;p&gt;That said, I still find Amazon reviews useful if I &lt;i&gt;read the texts&lt;/i&gt; instead of depending on the number of stars.  I go to the 3-star and 2-star reviews and read the &lt;i&gt;specific&lt;/i&gt; complaints customers are writing about.  Some reviewers also post useful photos.&lt;p&gt;For example, I needed to buy a guest bed for COVID quarantine so I looked for &amp;quot;air mattress&amp;quot; on Amazon:  &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;s?k=air+mattress&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;s?k=air+mattress&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most of those have 5-star reviews.  I ignore that and simply &lt;i&gt;read the texts&lt;/i&gt;.  After digesting some reviews, I learn that all air mattresses regardless of brand suffer from leakage (usually after the 30-day return period).  Some recommended getting a foldable foam mattress as an alternative to totally avoid the issues with leaks and broken air pumps.  That&amp;#x27;s what I ended up buying and it was the Amazon reviews that steered me away from air mattresses.</text></item><item><author>nkozyra</author><text>That ship has sailed, in my opinion.&lt;p&gt;Reviews - particularly on Amazon - are meaningless. The cat-and-mouse game has gone so far that as a consumer I see a 4.9 rating as indistinguishable from a 0.9 rating. Buying from an unknown brand is a crapshoot. Buying from a known brand on Amazon isn&amp;#x27;t much better.&lt;p&gt;And it makes me wonder how long these black hat practices are going to be useful to sellers. Most Amazon users have to be feeling the same way at this point.</text></item><item><author>zeepzeep</author><text>A friend of mine is in a facebook group that has lists of products you can buy, then 4&amp;#x2F;5-star review and get your money back. We&amp;#x27;re talking 10-100€ products.&lt;p&gt;He goes as far as reviewing everything he doesn&amp;#x27;t buy there with less than 3 stars so his account isn&amp;#x27;t suspicious.&lt;p&gt;Doing this he completely destroys what reviews are meant to be, not only helping shady companies but also hurting legit ones.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amiga_500</author><text>Did the first company complain about you to Amazon, who then blacklist you for not playing ball?</text></comment>