Amazon Sues Fake/Paid Reviewers

Thing that gets to me on Amazon review system is that you submit it, and in theory it is checked before it is posted - as in there is a delay before it is posted. They could at least have an auto-check on some words like "shipping" so that some of the irrelevant reviews on books are flagged up and a human can check and ask for a modification.
For reviews of traders using amazon, there are all sorts of categories about packaging, delivery times etc, which weeds out some of those comments from the information in the text box. It would be helpful if they'd add those features to book reviews, so that people could be guided a bit. I did suggest it to them a while back and heard nothing......

Other than that - book reviews - I see quite a few people in general, not just this thread, saying they don't trust 5 star reviews. Hhm. My take on the start rating is "did I really enjoy this" and "is it as good as it can be for its type". So I do give five star reviews - not because it is the best book this year, but because I just had a lot of fun reading it and it was very good for its type. A lighthearted ghost/murder/romance story is not great literature (well, not classified as such yet anyway - in a 100 years it may be regarded as a classic) but is a pleasant way to spend a few hours of relaxation. Not challenging and brain stretching, "just" entertaining. Is it at the top of the game for such books? Yes. Then give it five stars. And I do tend to say things like that in my reviews. Also try and give three or four reasons why I liked it - such as very well researched historical background.

I don't trust certain types of 5 star reviews. Most of the time I can spot the difference between a genuinely enthusiastic reader review and the typical paid-reviews and vanity/clueless small-press author reviews.

That Amazon can't seem to sometimes depresses me. It's why I no longer review on Amazon.

I wonder if the Amazon reviewing system could be made more informative for buyers if every review came with two additional bits of information: the total number of reviews by the reviewer, and the average stars awarded in these reviews.


Yes, potential buyers would have to look at individual reviews and not just average stars for an item, but they could trust more highly reviews by reviewers who had reviewed a number of other items and had given a range of ratings.


I think this could help to deal with the issues of paid reviewers and friends-and-family reviews. Sure, paid reviewers could create a new identity for every review, but the potential buyer could see the review identity didn’t have a track record of awarding a range of star ratings. High star ratings would be more credible if the reviewer’s average star rating was not very high.


Just a thought.

I...really like that idea. It would tend to discourage the Fiverr reviewers and Klausner's successors/imitators.

KiwiChick said:

I wonder if the Amazon reviewing system could be made more informative for buyers if every review came with two additional bits of information: the total number of reviews by the reviewer, and the average stars awarded in these reviews.

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Perhaps the total number of reviews. Your logic is clear but I very much doubt they would display the average star rating for a reviewer. Reason as below...

KiwiChick said:

High star ratings would be more credible if the reviewer’s average star rating was not very high.
Just a thought.

Click to expand...

Quote: "60 percent of the millions of product reviews on Amazon are five stars and an additional 20 percent are four stars."
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/b...hire-meet-a-demand-for-online-raves.html?_r=1

Perhaps the credible reviewers of which you speak would be in a minority?

I mentioned a Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) investigation that Amazon are under earlier. Amazon are also one of the companies under investigation by the Competition Markets Authority regarding fake reviews. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...customers-wasting-money-feedback-twisted.html

If you haven't noticed yet, Amazon.com have recently removed the ability to distinguish verified purchases reviews in a reviewers history. Now you have to click on an individual review to see if it is a verified purchase. Amazon's only objective is to maintain the reputation of its customer reviews, and that doesn't necessarily mean making them more useful.

KiwiChick said:

I wonder if the Amazon reviewing system could be made more informative for buyers if every review came with two additional bits of information: the total number of reviews by the reviewer, and the average stars awarded in these reviews.


Yes, potential buyers would have to look at individual reviews and not just average stars for an item, but they could trust more highly reviews by reviewers who had reviewed a number of other items and had given a range of ratings.


I think this could help to deal with the issues of paid reviewers and friends-and-family reviews. Sure, paid reviewers could create a new identity for every review, but the potential buyer could see the review identity didn’t have a track record of awarding a range of star ratings. High star ratings would be more credible if the reviewer’s average star rating was not very high.


Just a thought.

Click to expand...

Trouble is, I'd probably fail this test, and a lot of people would as well. Nearly all my ratings on Amazon are 5 star, because I'm not stirred to pick up my keyboard and write a review titled "It was kind of meh, actually. Three stars." I don't think the high number of 5-stars on Amazon is so much because of Fiverr, but because people tend to write reviews when they are either really excited by something good or seriously annoyed by something bad. Most honest reviewers will probably be slanted towards high numbers, because they're trying to get the word out about the stuff they like.

I've purchased a number of books by writers on this forum. Those that I enjoyed a lot, I'll thump the drum for, because I want to encourage people to buy those books and have more written like them. If I didn't really like them? I'm not going to write little nitpicky reviews about "the third act dragged, and the characterization was bland". And I'm unlikely to buy stuff that I'm sure to hate.

Give more weight to reviewers with average to low star ratings, and Fiverr drones will randomly ding people's products just to get their rating down.

By the way, the verified purchase notation doesn't work well for Canadians. I can only buy e-books from amazon.ca, and my review will only show up on that site. On the other hand, if I put a review on amazon.com, it will also show up on amazon.ca as well, but it won't indicate a verified purchase because I didn't buy through amazon.com.