How You Can Spot Fake Amazon Reviews
October 16, 2019
sources: Shutterstock / YouTube/howtwos101
Does anyone remember what life was like before Amazon? The massive e-retailer offers a one-stop shop for literally anything your heart could ever desire. However, some Amazon retailers sell misleading or counterfeit products, hence the importance of reading a product’s reviews. But now, retailers are having company employees write fake reviews so that their products receive amazing ratings, even if the item they’re selling is far from it. So, what can you do to spot these fake reviews and protect your hard-earned money?
The answer lies in one clever website. Fakespot is a free site that analyzes Amazon reviews to help you determine which comments are real and which comments are fake. All you have to do is copy and paste the review text to their page, and the site will start looking for the telltale signs and patterns that a review is misleading. Although the site may not be 100% accurate, using it is a way of being a little more comprehensive with your Amazon research before purchasing an item.
When it comes to Amazon reviews, the most important takeaway is to use your common sense. If a review sounds fake, it probably is. If there doesn’t seem to be much diversity or specificity between review comments, they were probably written by paid employees. Always read the return policy before buying an item, and it never hurts to have a second set of eyes scan the item or reviews in question. Amazon claims that they are working hard to combat these fake reviews, but in the meantime, we need to be vigilant about what we buy and about what we spend.