How to Spot a Fake Five-Star Amazon Review
More than half of Amazon’s sales are from third-party products. But the reviews for these products are not trustworthy . After BuzzFeed News reported on the strange world of fake Amazon reviews, the Reply All podcast interviewed a fake review writer who revealed “the hallmark of fake reviews.”
After all the praise, a fake review usually includes “one discarded negative that can be easily ignored.” It’s possible that a pair of sunglasses will get dirty if you don’t clean them, or the phone case won’t snap into place if you don’t press hard enough. A flaw that only an idiot would notice or complain about is a flaw that real buyers complain about. The reviewer might just lie and say that the real flaw is easy to fix.
Since actual reviews sometimes include the same language, this is a tricky trick. And since these reviews are written by real people and they did buy the product (but the seller reimbursed them), it’s hard to know who is real and who is fake, even if you look at the reviews. You’re luckier if you miss out on 5-star and 1-star reviews (yes, there are paid 1-star reviews that downgrade competitors’ ratings). Read reviews with 2, 3 and 4 stars. Follow this rule from one of Lifehacker’s oldest friends, comedian and productivity expert Merlin Mann:
Magic Shop | Repeat all