It’s impossible. You spend hours of time and hundreds or even thousands of dollars on something to end up feeling ripped off.
The system is fundamentally broken.
In college we learned how to evaluate sources. It was called "The CRAAP Test".
https://researchguides.ben.edu/source-evaluation
It behooves every consumer to make use of available sources of information, but to weight them appropriately and consider the components of "CRAAP" to evaluate them.
There is a lot of good signal that can be gleaned, even from a fake or negative review. Do not discount the inherent subjectivity that posters introduce.
I don't weight reviews heavily, unless some aspect is a real standout. The preponderance of reviews can sometimes tip the balance in my decision to buy/not buy, but they're often more helpful in learning comparative features/quality of similar items. If I'm shopping in unfamiliar territory, the knowledge of reviewers is invaluable to help me know more about such a product line.
Often, if enough reviewers complain about a specific defect or flaw, it will not hinder me from a purchase, but I'll be aware and informed that this product may be problematic in that specific way, and if reviewers have focused on a cosmetic or non-essential defect, I count it as an advantage that they didn't find any "showstoppers".
The best way I have found to evaluate online reviews has been to focus on the 2-3 star ratings that have actual rationale and logic behind their negative review.
Then evaluate if the reason that the reviewer did not enjoy the product, service, or experience is a deal-breaker for me or if it’s a tradeoff that I can live with
You see, what might be a turn-off for someone else might actually a plus for me.
The concept though is 1000% valid, we need a review platform that somewhat guarantees, verifies and vets all reviews that it displays.
Maybe, instead of anybody publishing a review, it's this central entity that has a due diligence team that crafts a review. And instead of making money from the affiliate links to the products sites, they make money from people paying to read the verified reviews.
How do you build a business / culture that resists being "corrupted" (i.e. getting easy revenue and growth that's not in the customer's interest)? I believe this is a genuinely hard problem.