Ask HN: Do you use an Amazon fake review checker? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Do you use an Amazon fake review checker?

3 pointscainxinth5 comments

It’s well known that Amazon has a fake review problem. A few years back, Fakespot emerged to address that problem. It analyzes reviews and generates a letter grade for its estimation of how many are fake. After some time, I started hearing that Fakespot had either been compromised, gamed by sellers, or just stopped working. It still exists, but I stopped using it.

I switched to ReviewMeta, which seemed to work better. Granted, these are just algorithms, they don’t actually know which reviews are fake, but I like that it gives me some insight into otherwise inscrutable sellers.

However, lately ReviewMeta’s site has been going down frequently. And worse, it now says almost every single thing I check is free of fake reviews… which is basically impossible and means it’s likely also no longer effective.

So, do you use a fake review checker, and which one?

I always assumed there was some form of cheating the system with reviews, but was not aware that there were tools out there to help the end consumer. I always relied on wits and common sense. Thank you for posting this and looking forward to seeing what others use. I would definitely use this kind of tool.

Cheating happens, but sometimes customers are rewarded with an Amazon gift card for leaving a positive review.

Not only that, they send cards in the physical mail offering $30 to $50 for 5 star reviews. I've received a few of them at my home.

Fake review checkers are vulnerable to the same problems real reviews are. People run the software. People can be bought. For me, nothing beats sorting reviews by "new" and doing a sniff test of the most glowing reviews. If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's probably cheap Chinese bullshit.

Nope!

For random cheap stuff (cables, etc.) under $25 or so, I’ve never had an issue with either picking the WireCutter’s top pick or Amazon’s Choice. I can’t imagine spending more time thinking about inconsequential purchases like this.

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