fake book reviews on amazon

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How to Spot a Fake Review on Amazon

Last Updated: June 22, 2022 Approved

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 43 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 91% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 257,240 times. Learn more...

If you use reviews on Amazon.com to make purchasing decisions, be aware that not all reviews are unbiased. Friends, relatives, and paid reviewers may leave glowing 5-star reviews, while enemies and rivals may hope to damage the item's reputation with 1-star "put-down" reviews—all without revealing their personal association, bias, or financial incentive. How can you tell if a review has a hidden agenda?

Spotting a Fake Review

• If the review is very short, it may be a fake. If the writer just wants to affect the overall score, their main intent may be to vote via the "star" rating, and to boost or lower it. But because one must write a review as well, the review itself may be very short -- 4 or 5 lines at most. [1] X Research source
• If the review is vague and doesn't have details about the product itself, it may not be genuine. It uses generalities that could apply to many different books or products. [2] X Research source

• If the review was written for a friend, the book or item may be merely described as wonderful, great for everybody, amazing, etc., and the reviewer may say that they're planning to purchase one for everyone they know for the holidays.
• If the review is by an enemy or rival, on the other hand, the item may be called pathetic, ridiculous, or a waste of time. The reviewer may recommend an alternate product or author that "has more credibility" or that you will like better.

Considering and Reacting to the Reviews

• One-star reviews should always be suspect, especially if it's a review for a book by a controversial author.

• When reading a review, don't judge it based on whether you share the writer's opinions of the product or book; consider instead if the review is thoughtful, fair, and well-written. Even people who disagree with you may have valid points that warrant a "helpful" click.

Community Q&A

• If a review includes spam, offensive language, or other wording that is contrary to Amazon.com's review policies, click the link to "Report Abuse" (above the Yes/No buttons for "Was this review helpful to you?"). This allows you to "Report this content as inappropriate" and include a reason if you wish; Amazon.com staff will then evaluate the review and take appropriate action. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Consider the shape of the five-star review profile especially if there are a large number of reviews. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Remember the bell curve from your statistics and probability class? A bell curve shape (actually half of a bell curve) of the one to five star ratings is to be expected if the product generally is good. This is a mathematical way of stating the old maxim, "You can't please everyone." Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• If the five-star review profile has a dumbbell shape then the product generally is good except that there are quality control issues in the manufacturing that too frequently results in a dud. Thanks Helpful 8 Not Helpful 4
• Lastly, if the large number of ratings are heavily or nearly exclusively one star or five stars then the product is exceedingly poor or excellent respectively. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 7

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/12/prime-day-tips-for-spotting-a-fake-reviews-on-amazon.html
• ↑ https://www.digitaltrends.com/web/how-to-spot-fake-reviews-on-amazon/
• ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-it-really-five-stars-how-to-spot-fake-amazon-reviews-11545314400
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/business/book-reviewers-for-hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html

About This Article

Fake reviews on Amazon are inescapable, but there are some telltale signs you can look out for to help you make better purchasing decisions. Fake reviewers are usually short and vague, and they give you almost no information on the product. If a review claims the product is amazing or terrible but doesn’t give any details, it’s possible that it’s fake. Try clicking on the reviewer's name and looking at how many reviews they've left recently. If they’ve only reviewed that product or they’ve recently left a lot of vague, short reviews, they may have been paid for it. Look for the “verified purchase” tag on reviews when forming an opinion about a product, which tells you that they bought it directly from Amazon. For more tips, including how to leave feedback on reviews to help other buyers, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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