Author Topic: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report  (Read 2327 times)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson

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Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« on: October 20, 2018, 06:30:42 PM »
Let's hope more buyers take note of the suggestions to spot fake reviews.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45916368

How to spot a fake review

Do not rely on ratings - delve deeper and read the reviews
Check the dates - look at when the reviews were posted. If many of them were posted in a short time period, it might mean there has been a push for reviews on Facebook groups or other platforms
Impartial reviews - click on some reviewers and check their history. Do they give everything five stars?
Pattern of ratings - are the ratings at different ends of the scale with very little in between? It is rare that people are completely polarised about a product
Source: Which?

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guest819

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Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2018, 06:40:17 PM »
As a reader of hundreds of books a year, if I had to delve that deeply into a book that I was going to purchase - I'd move on.

TBH if a book is of interest to me then I buy it up to $5 without thinking about it. Beyond that I need to know the author. I might read their bio, but that's usually a total crapshoot.

So, I look at the cover, then the description, then if I'm not sure the first half dozen neg's and pos's and decide.

Beyond that if I'm not convinced, I move on.

If I'm typical of the average buyer, then you have nothing to worry about.
 

Jan Hurst-Nicholson

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Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2018, 11:46:25 PM »
As a reader of hundreds of books a year, if I had to delve that deeply into a book that I was going to purchase - I'd move on.

TBH if a book is of interest to me then I buy it up to $5 without thinking about it. Beyond that I need to know the author. I might read their bio, but that's usually a total crapshoot.

So, I look at the cover, then the description, then if I'm not sure the first half dozen neg's and pos's and decide.

Beyond that if I'm not convinced, I move on.

If I'm typical of the average buyer, then you have nothing to worry about.

This is the part that they are complaining about.

Some online sellers are offering people free goods in return for positive product reviews, an investigation by consumer group Which? has found.

Its investigator joined several "rewards for reviews" groups and was hired to write high-rated reviews in return for free items.

Paid-for, or fake, reviews flout rules set by platforms such as Amazon and Facebook.

A similar investigation by BBC 5 live uncovered the trade in false reviews.

Fake five-star reviews being bought and sold online
The Which? investigator found five sellers who gave instructions to order an item through Amazon, write a review and share the link, with the promise of a refund.

The investigator gave an honest review of the items, but in three out of five cases was not refunded because the reviews were not positive enough or the seller could no longer be contacted.

The consumer group said that in one example the investigator gave a smartwatch a two-star review. They were told by the seller to rewrite it because the product was free, so it "is the default to give five-star evaluation".

In another, the investigator was told that a "refund will be done after a good five-star review with some photo" after receiving some wireless bluetooth headphones. But after posting a three-star review with photos they were told they would not be refunded unless they wrote a five-star review.

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guest215

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Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2018, 12:40:45 AM »
I'd add to watch for repeated phrases. Repeated for that particular book, repeated for that author, and repeated across different authors who have similarities to one another.

Particularly, repeated phrases with no specific details about the book at all. Something like, "A fast-paced thrill ride from beginning to end! Couldn't put it down! Can't wait for more!"

There are phrase repositories for high-volume reviewers.  Just pick a few phrases from the repository, mix and match, and you can easily generate reviews with no effort.

Spotting these does mean taking the time to actually read several reviews and paying overall attention to such things, but since such reviews often so short, that's not hard to do with ongoing casual observation.

And of course it's important to note that this is no smoking gun. It's just potential evidence that you can stack up alongside other potential evidence so you can make your own determination. Certainly, phrases like "Couldn't put it down!" can be entirely legit. It's the context and overall pattern that can be the indicator.

I, for one, don't think most real readers are that unsophisticated, and can pick up on these things if they know what they're looking for.

 

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Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2018, 08:10:48 AM »
I'd add to watch for repeated phrases. Repeated for that particular book, repeated for that author, and repeated across different authors who have similarities to one another.

But with the caveat that repetition doesn't always mean fake.  If someone feels they have to leave a review (like when Amazon sends an eMail or other message asking them to review their purchase) they may use something short and even repetitious if they have a lot of reviews to do just to save time.

Granted, most of the repetitious reviews are fake, but not necessarily all of them.

If you saw the feedback I leave as an eBay buyer, you might think I'm a fake reviewer too.  LOL.
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Ghost5

Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2018, 10:24:33 AM »
If you saw the feedback I leave as an eBay buyer, you might think I'm a fake reviewer too.  LOL.

Me too! I only leave a review if I have something great to say. Otherwise, I don't say it. So my reviews skew to five stars.
 

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Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2018, 10:44:50 AM »
If you saw the feedback I leave as an eBay buyer, you might think I'm a fake reviewer too.  LOL.

Me too! I only leave a review if I have something great to say. Otherwise, I don't say it. So my reviews skew to five stars.
Particularly with books, I'm very much the same, so my reviews also skew toward the top, even though they're all legit.

It's also worth noting that people like me, who spend a lot of time picking books, are less likely to be disappointed. We've seen bad reviews in which it was obvious the reviewer wanted something other than what he or she was buying but wasn't really looking carefully. Someone who pays more attention may certainly get caught by surprise by something like a bad ending, but taking time upfront means fewer low-star experiences.


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Jan Hurst-Nicholson

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Re: Online sellers 'pay for positive reviews' - Which report
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2018, 05:55:27 PM »
If you saw the feedback I leave as an eBay buyer, you might think I'm a fake reviewer too.  LOL.

Me too! I only leave a review if I have something great to say. Otherwise, I don't say it. So my reviews skew to five stars.
Particularly with books, I'm very much the same, so my reviews also skew toward the top, even though they're all legit.

It's also worth noting that people like me, who spend a lot of time picking books, are less likely to be disappointed. We've seen bad reviews in which it was obvious the reviewer wanted something other than what he or she was buying but wasn't really looking carefully. Someone who pays more attention may certainly get caught by surprise by something like a bad ending, but taking time upfront means fewer low-star experiences.

Talking about not reading carefully, or being surprised. I picked up a Catherine Cookson book from our retirement village library, and then I saw another one and grabbed that too. When I started reading the second one I felt that it wasn't Catherine Cookson's usual style. The further I got into the book the more I disliked it and wondered when the story 'proper' was going to start. I'd got to chapter 4 when I decided to check on the title, and then saw that the author was Catherine Coulter and it was an historical romance  :doh:. Stopped reading it. Good job I hadn't bought it. :icon_rolleyes:

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