The internet is a fun and fascinating place with so much information, so many products, and games. You name it, if you have interest in it, its out there on the world wide web! The internet has become a big part of most people’s lives. No longer do we have to drive all over town to find what we want. We can click and order. What convenience, right? And for many of us, this has become a way of life. Let’s face it, the retail stores most of us grew up with are a dying breed, even in major metro areas, and the product choices online are endless (way beyond what we normally would have access to) so virtual shopping is really all the rage! The problem is we can’t touch or feel the product firsthand. We are often required to rely on internet reviews–reviews from other customers who came before us to know if a product is good or not. But are they trustworthy?
I wrote several years back how I found my negative reviews on Yelp were being hidden, and that there were several lawsuits by companies saying Yelp wasn’t being fair (I still don’t trust them). That raised my eyebrows high. About five years ago, I started realizing one in every five purchases I made on ebay involved fraud too. So I steered clear of those as much as possible.
I tried to buy from big stores instead and like many people I found what I needed was often at Amazon. So I shopped there. I thought all was okay. But there are some serious loopholes!
If you are super internet savvy, you’ve probably become aware of the paid reviews. People are paid to review products to raise a product’s visibly, and no doubt, a product with more positive reviews will sell more product. But with paid reviewers out there, who aren’t legitimate or honest, the game has changed. Reviews can be worthless! Yes, paid reviewers are scamming the system acting as legitimate purchasers. Amazon is rife with this today.
If you find a product you like on Amazon, do some quick research before you buy. Are the reviews suspicious?
Here are two tools for you to use: FakeSpot.com and ReviewMeta.com. There are probably many more (feel free to post them in the comment section). I run products I’m interested in from Amazon through both of these tools now, and it’s quite illuminating!
Here is an example. I took a product from Amazon, “Pure Biology Anti Aging Night Cream“. I ran it through FakeSpot, then ReviewMeta. Check out the results.
Wow, right?
Amazon showed over 900 reviews with a five star rating and said it was an Amazon best seller! The two websites above, however, completely disagreed! So much for trustworthy reviews.
If I am buying something that is not on Amazon, I search Google for reviews and find as many different reviews as I can from different respectable companies (for example, if I was buying a camera, I would go to man different retailers to see their reviews — places I can take the product back to, for example). Good products usually are rated good across multiple reputable seller websites (Best Buy, B&H Photo, etc.). Bad products will not have any reviews but in one location, or they will be good in one location but bad in many others.
If you don’t check the source of a review, however, you can get taken again. Here is an example: Look at this review here. Look at the print on the far right of the page.
Do you see it?
It says “Advertising Disclosures”.
If you click it, it reads, “The content that appears on this page are from companies from which this website receives compensation, which may impact how, where and in what order products appear…”
If that doesn’t say run, I don’t know what does!
We are in the most deceptive time in our history on so many levels, if you ask me. And if you don’t pay attention when shopping online, you may very well get taken again and again and again.
I hope this information helps you get a good value for your dollar during our busy holiday shopping season!
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