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About LinkBacksRead more.Prolific reviewers post thousands of 5 star ratings, then sell off freebie goods on eBay.
Read more.Prolific reviewers post thousands of 5 star ratings, then sell off freebie goods on eBay.
Was only today reading Which magazine, which mentioned that it's recent research showed that buyer interest in unkown brands on an Amazon spoof website (for the purposes on the research) doubled when accompanied by 5 star reviews, when compared with the same ads with low star reviews. They've passed their data onto the Competitions and Markets Authority, which has opened its own investigation.
I only read the one star or negative reviews and then make my decision.
Kovoet (04-09-2020)
I'm always a bit sceptical if it's too good to be true.
While I usually look for goods with higher 4-5 star ratings, I also look at the negative feedback because that usually gives you a much more honest opinion on the item.
If I'm honest I have more issue with 'Chinese' companies either pretending they're in the UK on places like ebay/amazon and the only way you can really tell is when you look at the delivery times. Wouldn't be so bad if you could filter them out properly.
Don't get me wrong, I've had some cracking stuff sent over from China directly for peanuts, and I know a lot is made there anyway but sometimes I just want it 'next day' and don't want to trawl through all the 'Chinese' entries to find the 'cheapest' UK option....
*light gasp*
Nahhhh, totally not true, no one thought it would be like this!
"For its part Amazon insists that it uses AI to spot bad actors"
Two paperclips and a crisp packet doth not an AI engine make...
Top article. 5 stars. Would read again.
PS follow instructions carefully. Do not use on[message truncated]
(you can send the cheque later)
Output (05-09-2020)
Unfortunately Amazon is simply falling foul to human nature. Amazon are simply falling foul of the same problem as TripAdvisor and all other sites that rely on community reviews. There is no way for an algorithm to know if something is genuine or not, that requires human involvement. Unfortunately, humans are expensive.
Having spent a number of hours this week trying to find decent reviewed stuff on amazon, I've come to the conclusion its just an utter cesspool. Chinese sellers are rife and openly cloneing other suppliers stuff. I suspect that its not a coincidence that Amazon does not have a UK only option like Ebay. (And even if they did Chinese sellers just use a UK address and ship from china anyway.) Amazon has been very active in getting the chinese into Amazon and to hell with the consequences. This sadly just makes Amazon drop down my list of places to get stuff.
Other month i bought some gear and had 2weeks of back and forth and finally get told just buy a new one and ship the old one back. Yay for disposible tech eh?
Friesiansam (05-09-2020)
Humans are cheap, especially those that work for Amazon. If too many of them have been dropping dead of exhaustion, just bung some customers a couple of vouchers or summat and they'll happily do your donkey work for you.Originally Posted by Spudbynight
I have it on 'very good authority' that Amazon are amazing, the absolute best retailers on the planet with, like, the bestest ever customer service and no other retailer can compete with how great a service Amazon offer......
It beggars belief that someone would choose to shop somewhere other than Amazon!!
_______________________________________________________________________
I've had many emails from people in China offering me free review stuff, dont see an issue with it, how many companies these days are paying "influencers" to push their products...
Hey, you just broke my Sarcasmometer.
Hold on right there. Just gonna buy another .... from Amazon, of course.
Amazon does have its uses. Like .... books.
And occasionally, some very cheap Chinese item, like my phone stand for video calls.
But for anything substantial, I would ONLY use "sold and fulfilled by" either Amazon or another household name, like Epson, Canon, MS, etc. Or in very rare cases, a company I know personally to be reputable, even if not household names.
My new printer was delivered today .... from John Lewis. Though even there, customer service has dived in recent years.
A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".
As for reviews, I head straight for 1 star too but I don't entirely dismiss good reviews. I find you can usually get a Good sense of whether a great review is written by someone genuinely using the product, but the simple percentage of 4 and 5 star reviews is meaningless.
One thing nearly always stands out. If you want good reviews, and I mean well-written, independent opinion from someone qualified to judge, you best bet (though its not infalluble) is those written in proper publications by those paid to actually evaluate and assess the product. After 20+ years and several thousand reviews written, not once did I ever get offered a bung for a good review. If I had been I'd have declined, then told the publication and stepped away from that product review.
Why? Because I'd only need to get caught doing that ONCE and my reviewing days would be finished. Vested self-interest says it just wasn't worth it, even if I had been inclined to take it.
A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".
Output (05-09-2020)
Just out of curiosity, where do these people get your details from? I've never had anyone approach me to review anything.
I get loads of invites. Amazon let you, or rather used to let you, have an email in your public profile the idea being people could contact you to find out more about your review etc get product advice. What's happened is that you now get bombarded with spam asking you to review products and get discounts, money back etc. The principle of "will you review my product" is ok just about but it's mostly expected positive review in exchange for refund once it's posted. Not ok. Honest reviewers declare when they've been solicited to provide a review. I've never accepted the invite. I only review what I've genuinely bought and used. At one point I was in the top 3000 reviewers. No big boast, I guess most people just don't review much. I didn't make that much effort tbh. Certainly not one review every 4 hours or whatever that crazy figure was in the article.
Amazon hold huge expo's in China courting the factories and sellers there offering them direct access to western consumers without the middlemen which means lower prices for us in the race to the bottom for sellers.
I take it by "bung" you'd not only count money, but also receiving the review sample itself?
While obviously not a written publication, Wendell said in a recent video from Level1Techs that SK Hynix offered him a free review sample of a GOLD S31 SSD, but on the condition that he doesn't say anything bad about it or compare it against other brands like WD, Crucial and ADATA.
He declined and bought the product himself (from Amazon as a matter of fact) instead, revealing their attempt in the resulting video. As a result, many in the video comments said they promptly did a search to see if there were any YouTube channels who did take the deal.
It could have just been one person on the marketing side that thought they were doing a good thing for the company rather than making a really dumb mistake that could affect their reputation, but it obviously instantly puts other reviews in question when revealed.
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