For many of us, online shopping offers a quick and convenient alternative to heading down to the store. It saves us time, money, and endless frustration. However, online shopping isn’t without its risks. Buying something sight unseen can sometimes be a recipe for disaster.
That’s where user reviews come in. Amazon has a five-star review system that allows buyers to leave honest feedback about their purchases. Unfortunately, you can’t always take these reviews at face value.
Fake reviews have infiltrated most online marketplaces, making it difficult for shoppers to know just what information to trust. Here, we’re going to discuss how to spot fake Amazon reviews to make sure that you always get the best quality for your money.
Avoid Five-Star Reviews
Even though the FTC bans deceptive practices such as fake reviews, scammers will often pay shills to leave positive feedback on their product. These positive reviews often drown out genuine reviews. They can even boost scam products to ratings of four stars or more.
More five-star reviews are likely fake than two, three, or four-star reviews. If you want to avoid scammers, concentrate on the more moderate comments. With two to four-star reviews, you’ll also get a better feel for both the pros and the cons.
You may want to avoid looking at one-star reviews, as these are more likely to be fake as well. Some sellers do more than pay shills to spam their products with positive feedback. They also pay for people to leave one-star reviews for their competitors.
The ratio of reviews can also be telling when sussing out fake reviews. If there are lots of five and one-star reviews, the seller is likely to be using fake feedback.
Look at the Language
Sometimes, the language in a review can be a dead giveaway that the feedback is fake. Vague reviews, especially those in the one-star and five-star ranges, are always suspicious. If someone simply says a product is “great” or “awful” and offers no other information, you should discount the review.
Buyers that recommend a competing product should also raise a red flag. Another seller likely paid reviewers to spam their competitor with negative reviews and redirect shoppers to their own products.
Check Out User Pictures
It’s much harder for scammers to fake pictures of a product than it is a written review. Looking through pictures that other buyers have posted can give you a better idea of a product’s quality.
Reviews with pictures attached often come from real, verifiable shoppers. If you see any written feedback contradicting what the pictures show, it’s likely to come from a fake source.
Use an App
If you do a lot of shopping on your mobile device, you can find convenient apps that help you to detect fake reviews. Many of these apps also come as browser extensions for your desktop or mobile device.
With a dedicated extension such as ReviewMeta or FakeSpot installed, you can automatically see whether a product has trustworthy reviews. These evaluation tools analyze and flag any reviews that are unreliable or suspicious.
You can use your browser extension to analyze reviews in real-time as you shop, or you can input the URL of a product. Either way, the right app will be able to tell you whether a seller is reliable or whether fake reviews flag them as a scammer.
Read the Q&A Section
Most products on Amazon boast a Q&A section where potential buyers can ask past purchasers about their user experience. You can find information in the Q&A section that you might not see in the review section, including details such as durability, longevity, ease of use, and even product specs.
Just keep in mind that not all answers come from legitimate buyers, especially those that seem overly complimentary or use “salesy” language. It’s best to use the Q&A as a supplement to the reviews rather than an alternative. The information you find there can help you to decide if a given review is fake or not.
Know the Return Policy
Scammers know that their product is inferior, and they expect unhappy customers after purchase. Often, these scammers adopt a no-returns policy for their products so that customers can’t come to them seeking a refund. Products without returns may be more likely to have fake reviews.
Sellers that have confidence in the quality of their product should have no problem allowing for free and easy returns through sites such as Amazon. You may even want to look for products that offer a warranty for additional security.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here, we’ll answer the most common questions that shoppers have regarding how to spot fake reviews on Amazon.
On average, how many Amazon reviews are fake?
While there are plenty of legitimate reviews on Amazon, you may be surprised by how much feedback you see is unreliable. As many as 42% of the millions of reviews on Amazon may be fake.
Can verified Amazon reviews be fake?
With so much fake feedback floating around out there, plenty of shoppers rely on verified Amazon reviewers for honest information. Unfortunately, even verified reviews can be fake.
Some sellers offer free or discounted products in exchange for five-star reviews, regardless of quality or customer satisfaction. These misleading reviews can convince shoppers to pay for an inferior product, often at the same or higher price than its competitors.
Wrapping Up
These days, fake reviews are prevalent on marketplaces such as Amazon. They can make it difficult to find quality products at the best price. With a little bit of research, though, it’s possible to spot fake Amazon reviews and avoid making a regrettable purchase.
At dailydeals.org, we offer the very best Amazon deals and promos to help you save money when you shop. Knowing how to spot fake Amazon reviews will help you shop smart and make the most of our offers.