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posted by janrinok on Thursday September 15 2022, @10:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the how-many-liars-how-many-tales dept.

New Research Exposes the Pervasive Practice of Fake Online Product Reviews:

Can you really trust that online product review before you make a purchase decision? New research has found that the practice of faking online product reviews may be more pervasive than you think.

According to researchers, a wide array of product marketers actually purchases fake online reviews through an online marketplace found through social media. As a result, marketers receive many reviews and high-average ratings on e-commerce sites that include Amazon, Walmart and Wayfair, among others.

[...] Here's how it works: Sellers post in private online groups to promote their products. They then pay customers to purchase certain products and leave positive reviews. These social media groups exist for a number of online retailers.

[...] To conduct their research, the study authors built a sample of approximately 1,500 products that were observed soliciting fake reviews over a nine-month period. The researchers found that the types of products involved represented many categories. They then tracked the outcomes of these products before and after the buying of fake reviews, and were able to document how the platform, in this case Amazon, regulates fake reviews.

"For the products in our research observed buying fake reviews, roughly half of their reviews were eventually deleted, but the deletions occurred with an average lag of over 100 days, allowing sellers to benefit from the short-term boost in ratings, reviews and sales," says Proserpio. "Almost none of the sellers purchasing fake reviews were well-known brands. This is consistent with other research that has shown online reviews are more effective and more critical to smaller, lesser-known brands."

Journal Reference:
Sherry He, Brett Hollenbeck, Davide Proserpio, The Market for Fake Reviews, Market Sci, 2022. DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2022.1353


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by anubi on Friday September 16 2022, @01:06AM (4 children)

    by anubi (2828) on Friday September 16 2022, @01:06AM (#1271902) Journal

    I find most positive reviews read just like an ad, and seen as such. They sometimes elaborate on some unique aspect of the product that impressed them that I had overlooked.

    While some leave glowing reviews because they were genuinely impressed with the product. ( I was led to a particular brand of 18650 flashlight as a result of reviews of others who had bought these things and disassembled them on the forums. When I saw how repairable they were, I bought a dozen of them for my various bugout bags, car and earthquake kits.).

    Negative reviews reek of disappointment, and sometimes incorrectly place blame.

    Nevertheless, I find comments from disappointed people useful when they elaborate on what the problem was.

    I always read the negative reviews first. They show me what to look for.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @01:10AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @01:10AM (#1271904)

      Which flashlight?
      You can't expect to get paid for a review if you don't identify the product.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by anubi on Friday September 16 2022, @03:35AM

        by anubi (2828) on Friday September 16 2022, @03:35AM (#1271916) Journal

        That's exactly why I didn't.

        If you are curious, it is specifically an Ultra fire WF-502b. Amazon. Pack of 3. No battery. ( You don't want their batteries! )

        18650 cells I recover from spent power tool batteries work better than what I usually get bundled in the deal. ( Quite expensive to ship lithium cells too. You end up paying for that. )

        I am not impressed with their batteries.

        Just the flashlight itself. It is made from machined aluminum, which is also a heat sink. It is of good thermal design as well as mechanical, and I can swap parts around in the event of partial damage. The weak part is the rubber membrane covering the power switch on the end. Finger oils and use will eventually rot it. Takes about three years. Yes, I have used these since I discovered I could take dud power tool and laptop batteries apart for their cells and use/ charge the 18650 as individual cells.

        A contact issue exists where the PCB the switch is soldered to is held by a threaded retaining ring, however this is easily addressed by tightening the ring. It is a design I feel like I could maintain if I really had to depend on it.

        The light output claims are exaggerated.

        But it's plenty bright for me. Yes, it does get hot. I estimate about 5 watts heat dissipation. I may get an hour or so of bright light, but some have 5 mode light modules in them which offer three brightness, a strobe mode, and an SOS mode. This is part of the light engine, not the switch. There are numerous colors and options available, such as modes, LED types ( wattage, light color from IR to UV ), reflector beam gradients, using various light engines. All swappable amongst the housings, so if you damage your favorite UV refrigerant leak detector, you can probably transfer the UV engine to another housing.

        And mine was made so that the industrial flat end 18650 cells fit too without having the end tip.

        Now that's good and bad. It means you can readily use whatever cell you get your hands on. It also means you can easily permanently ruin the light engine if you put the cell in backward ( reverse polarity).

        So, how in the hell could I rate such a thing?

        It's exactly what I want. In the hands of a doofus, it may not last a few seconds.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @01:39AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @01:39AM (#1271907)

      I always read the negative reviews first. They show me what to look for.

      Can we get a "-1 Informative" mod?

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @02:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @02:15AM (#1271911)

      I can see you reasoning. I don't really care too much to write reviews, but in the half dozen or so that I did, I only wrote 5-star ones because I didn't have any interest in writing any for "meh" items, and I didn't get anything that was 1-star worthy. If I wrote any these days, I'd probably sound like the paid reviewers.

      I also don't trust any "badged" reviewers. Maybe its unfair, but if you've written 500 reviews for mostly mundane stuff, I can't help but question your thoroughness or integrity. I generally ignore those posts, at least maybe until that time where I start seeing a bunch of 1-star reviews that say "I was sent this item to give my honest opinion and I think it is a load of crap."

  • (Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Friday September 16 2022, @02:39AM (1 child)

    by MIRV888 (11376) on Friday September 16 2022, @02:39AM (#1271912)

    Chinese knock off products via Alibaba / Amazon are using using fake reviews?
    My eyes have been opened.
    Buy cheap products. Get cheap products.
    Blatant copyright & patent rip offs are the norm.
    It looks like a DJI Mavic II. It just isn't.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by HiThere on Friday September 16 2022, @01:33PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 16 2022, @01:33PM (#1271974) Journal

      The problem is that more expensive products are not guaranteed to be better. Even many major brands don't seem to care much about quality control anymore.

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bradley13 on Friday September 16 2022, @07:19AM (2 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Friday September 16 2022, @07:19AM (#1271936) Homepage Journal

    Just for grins I looked at some random no-name flashlight on Amazon. Some of the five-star reviews: "Can move bean in and out it is bright", "great brightness, good design". Fake reviews are usually obvious, because they are cranked out in the thousands by people with questionable language skills. They rarely include any details about the product.

    If I leave a 5-star review of a product, I make a point of saying *why*. For example, I recently bought a Philips Hue starter kit, and I was pleasantly surprised that the two bulbs were already registered with the base station, so I mentioned that detail.

    Also, as others have said, the lower-ranked reviews are often more informative. Not the 1-stars - those are grumpy people annoyed that the weather was bad. The 3- and 4-star reviews show what some people didn't like about the product. You can decide whether those are things that you care about. If people fuss that a flashlight isn't bright enough, that's important. If they complain that it's too small - and you want a small flashlight - then you're good.

    Also, I've learned to avoid Amazon unless I can't find a product anywhere else. Too many counterfeits, and Amazon seemingly doesn't care. I prefer to buy directly from manufacturers, or at least from online shops that do not allow third-party sellers.

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @10:03AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 16 2022, @10:03AM (#1271948)

      However, Amazon lists quite a few unusual pipe fittings and chemicals. My latest were sodium chlorite and citric acid ( to bleach a toilet and mold growing on stucco ), and a small vial of reagent grade potassium iodide ( just in case...but it's enough to dose the whole town for radiation...( Dose is two drops of SSKI for adult ), and even then, dosed by a professional. Timing is critical. Otherwise, it will do more harm than good. ). But it will keep forever, and I consider my city nearby a prime target should the big toys start flying. My concern is just availability. I saw the Ukrainians being charged several times what I paid - for just one dose! Just another thing to put up in the garage rafters, where I stick stuff I don't think I will ever need. Along with the water purification filters. If the time ever comes I actually need this stuff, everyone else will be needing it too, and my chances of getting any will be nil. I will need enough to share with neighbors. They will have stuff I need too.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday September 16 2022, @05:16PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday September 16 2022, @05:16PM (#1272002)

      Then there are companies like ________ (big name home improvement store) who have entire programs setup where they enlist reviewers to receive free product and write "honest" reviews about the product. Of course, the reviewers don't have anything resembling tenure, or a contract, or anything - they just know that if _________ likes the reviews they are writing, they'll continue to get free stuff on a regular basis.

      Soylenti _________ has been such a reviewer for about 2 years now, having received several hundred dollars worth of random stuff, they are still hoping for that offer of a free new refrigerator to come around, so they continue to take photographs according to the guidelines and write reviews that a refrigerator manufacturer might think: "Hey, I want that person to be on the list to review our new refrigerator..."

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
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