You bought that Solar Charger on Amazon because of Fake Reviews

[OnTheRoadAgain]

So for quite a while I suspected that a lot of Amazon reviews were fake....but I wasn't sure how.
A LOT of mediocre Chinese goods are flaunting tons of stellar "American Consumer" reviews of their products.....and many are fakes.

Amazon is in the business of making money from sales transactions. Most of Amazon's revenues come from the sale of Chinese goods.
So if Amazon were to aggressively Police fake reviews, their sales would suffer.

So when you go to Amazon and read all the wonderful reviews on Chinese made products, just know that many of them...maybe most of them, were paid for reviews.
MANY Chinese manufacturers and distributors have taken full advantage of Americas relatively lax and free market and have exploited loopholes, if not just bypassed any sense of honest and decency, to make that sale to you....the "rich", American consumer.

Even though I KNEW this was going on, because I often could tell something fishy was going on with certain reviews......I had no evidence.

Now I do.......
https://www.businessinsider.com/fake-amazon-reviews-for-sale-buy-merchants-amazons-choice-2021-2

So when you go shopping on Amazon, Caveat Emptor......Let the buyer beware.
You might see review after review after review of supposedly American Consumers who all bought this wonderful Chinese product that works so incredibly well !!! when in fact only two real American consumer reviews have ever been posted for that item...and the reviews are really bad. Those are your REAL reviews.

With many Chinese made items, the reviews are fake, paid for reviews designed to lure you into buying a poorly made, unreliable cheap Chinese product.
And Amazon couldn't care less as the cash just keeps pouring in.

The truly good products don't need fake reviews.

 

[JMc]

Yet 95% of “The truly good products” still come from Chinese factories. The Chinese aren’t the sole makers of crap — my travel trailer was “hand-crafted in Oregon” USA — and apparently wired by blind stoner monkeys.

 

[OnTheRoadAgain]

Yeah, but there's more blind stoner monkeys in China than the USA.....just numbers
(plus almost everything comes from China)

Oh..China says thanks for all the stimulus money. They got the bulk of it and are asking when the next one will be.

 

[D308]

Just to add to this, I purchased a radio from a Chinese manufacturer. The radio had a lot of problems and the software to program it was terrible. I gave an honest review stating all of the problems I had encountered.
I received a rather colorful response from the Chinese seller asking me to remove the bad review. She told if I don’t they will be punished for having bad reviews. In the mean time, they had agreed to refund my money if
I sent it back. The problem was it cost a lot of money to send it back. They wanted me to declare it as a gift with a value of no more than ten dollars. So what happens if it gets lost in the mail? I’m out 200.00 dollars and the postal service might pay me for the 10 dollar evaluation. They (the manufacturer) didn’t want it insured for the full amount.
Apparently they are taxed on the real value of the item. Anyway, sure enough They claimed they never received it and were refusing a refund. I called PayPal and they were able to track it and told me it had been onsite at their site for over two weeks.
When I emailed them and called them out on it they agreed to refund the money. However, they only agreed to pay for the purchase price and not the shipping.
I told her I would not remove it unless I was refunded the whole amount including shipping. She told me that she would have to pay for that herself but would do so to keep from being punished.
In the end I sold out and got my money back and removed the negative review.

So maybe that’s why there isn’t many negative reviews.

 

[Frick]

Yet 95% of “The truly good products” still come from Chinese factories. The Chinese aren’t the sole makers of crap — my travel trailer was “hand-crafted in Oregon” USA — and apparently wired by blind stoner monkeys.

Depending on the model, maybe. One town in Oregon has two trailer factories ( makes several brands each) , next to the state pen. They hire right outta the prison gate, min wage, treat them badly, bust their ass to hurry and only worry about the specific things that get inspected. Significant other worked here a stint.

 

[Batvette]

The article is helpful but isnt a condemnation of the whole system.
We would have to assume every Chinese supplier is willing to pony up $11k for 1000 reviews.
It also doesnt mention how they can manipulate reviews from verified purchasers.
What someone else said about getting negative reviews removed is certainly true, though that does help the burned consumer with recourse.
I bought a Costway 54l fridge freezer from Amazon, it had a number of issues out of the box, though sorta worked. I contacted Amazon not looking for a refund yet but exploring my options. I noted that the listing said item was not returnable due to "hazardous materials", said that must be an error and provided a link to the DOT regs which said r134a had no such restrictions. Curiously, though I never asked, Amazon provided a full refund 12 hrs later and said I could keep the fridge.
When I submitted a 2 star review a few days later it was rejected for not adhering to amazon guidelines. I rewrote it though there was nothing wrong before and it just didnt post.
About 2 months later I finally got it posted but Costway keeps changing the listing to get away from the bad reviews. I just keep posting a new review because I feel a duty to warn potential buyers, whether mine was free or not.
And free was not the bargain you'd think, I sold it 6 months later for $100 when I could afford a good quality unit. (National Luna, $1300 and worth it)
And told the buyer about the issues.
Theres another scam running where amazon sellers can simply hijack thousands of reviews and apply them to another product.

 

[Bob B]

One odd thing I have run across on Amazon is if you look at the graph that shows % of 1-5 star reviews and total reviews at the top .... maybe it shows 10% 2 star reviews with a total of 50 reviews .... you click on the 2 star area to see those reviews .... and there are no actual reviews.\
I have even seen sometimes that maybe only 2-3 5 star reviews are actually there and all the others have been removed.

So, it seems that sometimes even though the review has been removed it still shows up in the stats.

Hope that made sense.

 

[HRTKD]

One odd thing I have run across on Amazon is if you look at the graph that shows % of 1-5 star reviews and total reviews at the top .... maybe it shows 10% 2 star reviews with a total of 50 reviews .... you click on the 2 star area to see those reviews .... and there are no actual reviews.\
I have even seen sometimes that maybe only 2-3 5 star reviews are actually there and all the others have been removed.

So, it seems that sometimes even though the review has been removed it still shows up in the stats.

Hope that made sense.

I was thinking that someone entered a star rating but didn't write anything.

 

[Bob B]

I was thinking that someone entered a star rating but didn't write anything.

Could be either way .... but it has been suspicious to me as to which ones are missing.

 

[HRTKD]

Could be either way .... but it has been suspicious to me as to which ones are missing.

Yeah, if you wanted to leave a review, why not take the time and write something useful? However, I discount almost every one line review as being from a bot.

 

[Batronca]

Death by China by Peter Navarro (Author), Greg Autry (Author)​

 

[ArthurEld]

A lot of reviews are fake on Amazon and it doesn't matter where the item is made or sold from.
I trust items that have 10,000 good reviews.
It is also possible to search elsewhere for reviews.

 

[Batvette]

A lot of reviews are fake on Amazon and it doesn't matter where the item is made or sold from.
I trust items that have 10,000 good reviews.
It is also possible to search elsewhere for reviews.

Seriously?

 

[chrisski]

Seriously?

Can you explain this? Do you think this is just a china problem? Recently saw an article about a Italian lady who lost her job from the COVID pandemic and earned side cash as a fake review writer on Amazon.

 

[LB3]

When I see 8,000 5 star reviews for a niche product and 75 for the competing product, I assume they’re mostly fake. It doesn’t have to be a Chinese vendor, I always weight the negative reviews more heavily. It’s unfortunate we have to do this.

 

[ereams65]

Is it just me or does this whole thread beg for the Capt. Obvious meme? Listen folks, it's simple; don't trust anyone you don't know. Sheesh.
At the same time, it's also as important to recognize that a huge portion of "bad reviews" are also fake. 'Karen' gets upset because Company A didn't offer her Free widgets for her 9700 watt hair dryer and next thing you know she's slamming Company A all over the internets. Come on people.....gamble a little, lol.

I will also add that the majority of happy consumers actually don't take the time to do a review of any type, they just buy again from the same place. In my opinion, if you've only bought 1 of any single item then you aren't qualified to review it. Anything man made can break.

 

[HRTKD]

Listen folks, it's simple; don't trust anyone you don't know.

Agreed. I don't trust anyone in this thread, except for @chrisski. He's been around long enough, with enough posts, that I'm fairly sure he's not a bot.

 

[Batvette]

Can you explain this? Do you think this is just a china problem? Recently saw an article about a Italian lady who lost her job from the COVID pandemic and earned side cash as a fake review writer on Amazon.

I did not know the italians were making and selling battery chargers.
Maybe ferrari owners are leaving their headlights on.
Its been my experience from buying direct from Chinese vendors that they have a lot to learn about business ethics. Also, buying from a third party organization in your own country like ebay or amazon gives you a layer of protection. So I found the statement I highlighted to be nonsensical. Indeed you can find anecdotal stories of dishonest behavior from around the world. Chinese business seems to have it institutionalized.

I would argue against the idea that reviews are worthless. Having no system of feedback at all would be worse. Most of the abuse seens to be in low cost items anyway.

 

[Substrate]

I have to admit that some reviews are so outlandish due to total mis-application of the product:

I have 500 watts of panels, and I was told this 10A SCC would do the job. Minutes later, I smelled smoke and the lcd is blank! And now they won't refund me. DO NOT BUY!

I bought a brand-new 200ah AGM. I have a good 1.25a Battery Tender that I use to charge my motorcycle for decades. I put it on and left it in the garage for a week to top up. To my surprise, the new AGM has bulging sides, and top is all warped. This was to be a present for my Dad, and now it's ruined. DO NOT BUY!

Let your mind run free and come up with your own:

I bought these ninja-sword decorations to hang on the wall and they look great. But when I tried to use them at a BBQ, not only were they not sharp enough to cut our steaks, one flipped off the grill and stabbed me in the leg, and I had to go and get stitches. DO NOT BUY!

If one is looking for comedy, you can find them in the Amazon reviews.

 

[Batvette]

Amazon has long allowed satirical comedy reviews on certain products, I remember some for a desk you hung over the steering wheel of your car. Another was a pair of rca cables for audiophiles that were something like $10k a pair.