Someone is messing with their ratings system. Maybe lots of people. Or maybe Amazon itself.

I want to buy a Lightning to headphone adapter for my phone. Sounds simple enough, right? I look for the ones with 5 stars as a lot of Amazon electronics are junk. There are plenty of them listed and I picked one.

Heh. The listing shows five stars with 0 negative reviews, but when you read the reviews they are almost 100% negative. I looked at maybe 10 of them and they are all the same. I finally gave up and bought what appears to be an Apple branded one on eBay. We'll see if it works.

We need a new coffeemaker and have always used drip machines. Cuisinarts have held up well in the past so I looked at those. Amazon sells thousands of them so there are lots of reviews. Or are there?

I looked at several different models and it turns out that the same reviews are shown for nearly of them. People complain about the glass carafe on models that have a metal one. People complain about switches on models that have buttons. Obviously these reviews are not real.

What's going on?

I often will use Fakespot to test the quality of Amazon reviews.

In some cases it seems that Amazon lumps reviews together for different models (appliances) or different editions (books). Sometimes the actual purchased item is specified, other times it's not.

Then there are the fake reviews (often all clustered around the same time frame).

Some explanations:

https://www.theguardian.com/te...dled-product-reviews

https://webapps.stackexchange....er-the-wrong-product

Ever consider subscribing to Consumer Reports?

I have two coffee makers. Both are Brauns. One with a simple on-off switch, the other with a click and auto-on/auto-off feature. You’re welcome to either one for the price of shipping. Unfortunately, shipping may be more than the price of a new one off Amazon.

I bought a two-pack of lightning-to-headphone adaptors at Best Buy for $14.

Issues with Amazon reviews are hotly debated on author's forums. The main issues are:

Fake good reviews posted by authors, their friends, and people they pay to post them.

Bad reviews posted by vengeful and unstable fans of fellow authors. Or vengeful and unstable authors themselves. Or the people they pay to do the hatchet jobs.

Reviews posted by people whose opinions are suspect, to put it kindly. (My favorite is the five-star review I got from someone who got an email from Amazon prompting them to review it, but who thought they meant they wanted a review of Kindle: "I don't know what to say. I turn it on and it works.")

I trust nobody except professional reviewers like Consumer Reports and Publishers Weekly. Maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
I often will use Fakespot to test the quality of Amazon reviews.

I’ve never heard of Fakespot. Thanks!

FYI, Steve, I've been relying on Wirecutter reviews lately. They are very detailed, they explain their expertise, they explain why they reviewed and didn't review particular products. It's like Consumer Reports on well-written steroids.

quote:

Ever consider subscribing to Consumer Reports?

Re Steve's OP, I think there must be a lot of variation depending on the item. I recently searched on Amazon for cheap peel and stick floor tiles. The numerical scores were sort so-so to good, but by looking at the photos people uploaded, I could quickly decide that those things were way too cheap and the photos looked horrible. I very quickly decided not to buy that brand and only buy from Lowes or HD where I can see the product.

Which is all to say, in that category, it seems the reviews did what they're intended to, i.e. they gave me a good idea of what I would get if I purchased that item.

Re WTG's other comment:

quote:

In some cases it seems that Amazon lumps reviews together for different models (appliances) or different editions (books).

I have noticed this elsewhere as well (probably either Lowes or HD online, since that's where I spend all my non-WTF screen time these days!)

P.S. +1 about the Wirecutter. If they have a review of the thing you're looking for, it's usually super helpful.

I have also been using the Consumer Reports website now for 24 hours (or is it 48??) and am finding it super helpful.

But all of this brings me back to the problem of internet shopping -- you can't see what you're getting and it can be a huge hassle!

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
P.S. +1 about the Wirecutter. If they have a review of the thing you're looking for, it's usually super helpful.

I have also been using the Consumer Reports website now for 24 hours (or is it 48??) and am finding it super helpful.

But all of this brings me back to the problem of internet shopping -- you can't see what you're getting and it can be a huge hassle!

That matters more for things that have differences in quality and feel that are not readily apparent unless you see it in person. Clothing and towels come to mind. But an Instant Pot? I'm happy buying that on Amazon.

Ordered Nikon binoculars from Amazon. One review mentioned that he got grey market binoculars with
only a one year warranty.
I asked. The response was that the Nikon warranty was for one year. It is lifetime.
Sent them back.
Paid a little more and got them for REI.
Going to do some bird watching. Bob won't get on a bike or trike anymore. He does
like going to the wetlands park in Tucson for birding.

Just one?

quote:

Bad reviews posted by vengeful and unstable fans of fellow authors. Or vengeful and unstable authors themselves. Or the people they pay to do the hatchet jobs.

Yeah, I've seen those. Heck, I've had a few of those. Amazon actually pulled one of 'em.

Just installed fakespot. Seems like a great add-in for Chrome. So far, so good.

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:

quote:

Bad reviews posted by vengeful and unstable fans of fellow authors. Or vengeful and unstable authors themselves. Or the people they pay to do the hatchet jobs.

Yeah, I've seen those. Heck, I've had a few of those. Amazon actually pulled one of 'em.

I've only asked once and they said no.

The person had posted many, many one-star reviews that made no sense and a few five-star reviews that also made no sense and were all for books by the same author. Amazon didn't find this situation actionable.

This kind of thing makes one jaundiced about amateur reviews.