Amazon leads the way when it comes to online shopping and rapid-fast delivery. Just scrolling through the thousands of reviews from seemingly satisfied customers shows the e-commerce giant is doing something right.
With a long list of reviews on millions of products, you may be wondering if some words are too good to be true.
So, are Amazon reviews fake, or are they the real deal? I couldn’t help but think the same thing, so I did some digging and discovered the truth about Amazon reviews!
Are Amazon Reviews Fake?
While many Amazon reviews are legitimate, thousands of fake reviews are on the website. Recent reports have found that an average of 42% of reviews on Amazon are fake. To find genuine reviews on Amazon, customers can look for “verified purchase” next to the reviewer’s name, indicating they actually bought the product.
If you want to know more about Amazon reviews and how to spot the fakes from the real ones, keep reading!
What Percentage Of Amazon Reviews Are Fake?
Amazon has over 12 million products and continues to grow each year.
Considering the huge volume of product listings, and the hundreds or thousands of reviews that accompany them, it makes sense that a portion of those is fake.
According to a Fakespot monitoring assessment, 42% of the 720 million reviews left on Amazon from March to September were unreliable, a slight increase from 36% the year before.
The exact figure may never be known due to the constant submission of reviews and sneaky tactics used by some sellers to boost their reviews and ratings.
Smaller e-commerce retailers may have a dozen reviews compared to the hundreds or even thousands for most product listings on Amazon.
ReviewMeta is another Amazon analyzer that uses a different approach by showing what the Amazon rating would be if questionable reviews weren’t included.
Whether you’re using Fakespot, ReviewMeta, or looking at reviews yourself, you can spot fake ones with obvious grammar and spelling mistakes.
Reviews that only use words like amazing or great, and new reviewers who have only left one review, are likely fake.
Also, be on the lookout for excessive one or five-star reviews. Some dishonest companies will pay people to leave five-star reviews for their products and one-star reviews for competitors.
Extremely short reviews that are highly negative or glowing with positivity are potentially fake, too.
What Do Real Amazon Reviews Say?
To understand what Amazon reviews are fake, it’s important to recognize signs of real reviews, too.
Just reading the actual review should give you a good indication of how genuine it is. Does it sound like a real person wrote it, someone, who actually used the product?
Fake reviews are usually relatively short and centered around generic terms like good or bad.
Real Amazon reviews tend to be much longer and descriptive, telling you how the item looks, feels, and functions rather than just glossing over the important parts.
Often, the most trustworthy Amazon reviews are those with two, three, or four stars.
That’s because people are more likely to use these ratings when honestly describing a product, even if it’s not what a brand wants to hear.
Those middle-ground reviews usually include pros and cons, so you can decide what to buy instead of only relying on one-sided reviews.
What Does Verified Purchase Mean On Amazon?
One of the most important ways to spot real Amazon reviews is to look for “verified purchase” next to the review.
This means Amazon verified the reviewer bought the product from Amazon at a normal price.
Verification reassures you that those reviews are real and trustworthy. Keep in mind this doesn’t necessarily mean that all reviews without the verified badge are bad.
It just means that Amazon couldn’t confirm the item was purchased from Amazon or that the customers did not receive a special discount.
When someone goes through their Amazon account orders to leave a review, the retailer is able to verify their purchasing history and assign a verified review badge accordingly.
Does Amazon Have An Official Review Program?
Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program is open to real shoppers who want to review certain products they have already purchased.
The retailer’s goal is to gain authentic feedback, particularly for newer products that don’t have many reviews.
When someone buys a participating product, Amazon may reach out and ask them to write a review.
The company selects reviewers at random, so long as they meet the eligibility criteria, bought an item participating in the program, and have no history of dishonest or abusive reviews.
Customers who complete their review within a special offer period will earn a small reward, like an Amazon gift card under $5, to thank them for assisting future shoppers.
The “Early Reviewer Program” orange badge tells you if a product has early reviews.
While sellers can pick which products are included in the program, they can’t influence which customers get the review offer or what the reviews say. Sellers are not allowed to communicate with shoppers about their reviews either.
Amazon wants honest, genuine feedback only, so the company won’t change or take down Early Reviewer Program reviews, so long as they meet Community Guidelines.
You can count on these reviews to offer open and honest feedback on relatively new products.
If you want to know more about Amazon, you might also be interested in reading up on what is Amazon’s choice, what are Amazon daily deals, and how to get a receipt from Amazon.
Conclusion
Amazon is the world’s top online retailer for millions of must-have products, so many items have hundreds or even thousands of reviews to sift through.
Unfortunately, Amazon can be a target for fake reviews, with some sneaky companies offering discounts or freebies to shoppers in exchange for dishonest reviews.
Recent estimates state as much as 42% of all Amazon reviews may be unauthentic and unreliable. There are a few ways you can tell the real, trustworthy reviews apart from others, including verified purchase or Early Reviewer Program badges.
Sites like Fakespot and ReviewMeta use high-tech analytics to spot the fake reviews, which may also be useful while shopping on Amazon.
