08-28-2019, 09:35 AM | #1 | |
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Why You Should Beware of Amazon's 4 & 5 Star Reviews
Per Consumer Reports Article
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08-28-2019, 09:51 AM | #2 |
Grand Sorcerer
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The WSJ is running a series of articles on the Big Tech companies and some of their issues. Last week, they had some articles that focused on Amazon and it's long time policy of basically abdicating their catalog management to the various sellers. It's something that I've complained about with regards to ebooks for a long time.
Amazon has long had issues with sellers gaming the review process. It's an natural by product of Amazon's business model. In general, if a product is over a certain amount of money, I don't use Amazon's internal comparisons or ratings to decide what to buy. |
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08-28-2019, 10:03 AM | #3 |
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Or, I don't know ... maybe just don't give much credit to reviews that "include unrelated items such as dish soap, garbage bags, and vitamins" when you're looking at headphones?
A modicum of common sense (not to mention due diligence) will always be required when vetting potential online purchases. Are people really silly enough to not peruse the actual content of some reviews before clicking the buy button? What would be "better?" Having to decide whether to buy something sight-unseen with absolutely no customer review system whatsoever? Or having a customer review system (albeit inherently game-able) to assist them? I guarantee that more people would be getting duped with the former. Last edited by DiapDealer; 08-28-2019 at 10:08 AM. |
08-28-2019, 10:22 AM | #4 | |
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08-28-2019, 10:41 AM | #5 |
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I often use fakespot
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08-28-2019, 10:42 AM | #6 | |
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If the latter part is true, the boosted star rating will appear in the listings. It will be visible when the reviews of unrelated items aren't. If every seller started doing this, it would break the rating system entirely. It is therefore a flawed system, regardless of common sense. |
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08-28-2019, 10:43 AM | #7 |
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I'm all for it. Unfortunately that's a constantly moving target. The game evolves in lockstep with the system. I'm merely noting that the worst review system imaginable still puts customers in a much better position to make informed decisions than no review system whatsoever. Whingeing that "it should be better" is a fairly pointless endeavor for the most part. Especially considering that it's been a steady diet of "better than it used to be" all along. *shrug*
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08-28-2019, 10:51 AM | #8 | ||
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Quote:
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Even under the flawed system, they still have more tools available to them to spot unscrupulous sellers and questionable products than they ever have in the past. Last edited by DiapDealer; 08-28-2019 at 10:54 AM. |
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08-28-2019, 07:22 PM | #9 |
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Another possible way to avoid getting burned is to stick with well known names and try to decide between the best of those. E.g., if you're buying a frying pan you could limit your choices to Calphalon, Cuisinart, All Clad, etc.
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08-29-2019, 07:08 AM | #10 |
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Unless of course it's a seller who is dealing counterfeit merchandise, which can be an issue with electronics. Amazon does shut them down when they get complaints. Once again, it's a natural result of Amazon's business model.
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08-29-2019, 08:51 AM | #11 |
o saeclum infacetum
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Not just electronics; also designer merchandise and health and beauty products, among others. The only real protection against fake goods is to eschew third party sellers.
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08-29-2019, 09:14 AM | #12 |
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While I prefer Sold by Amazon/Fulfilled by Amazon (even if it's a little pricier), I will occasionally settle for merely Fulfilled by Amazon (provided the seller's reputation is sufficiently high, and didn't begin to be tracked yesterday). But buy something that doesn't ship from an Amazon facility and isn't covered by Amazon's return policy?? That's not happening. No matter how high the product's star rating is, or how much cheaper it is than the alternatives.
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08-29-2019, 09:28 AM | #13 | |
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Quote:
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08-29-2019, 10:11 AM | #14 | |
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Quote:
I wish there was a reliable way to filter searches to only ever show Fulfilled by Amazon items, the rest might as well not exist for me. |
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08-29-2019, 10:23 AM | #15 |
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I have my own reliable rating system. Works really good and I am almost always happy with my purchases ..
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