Are Amazon Reviews Trustworthy?

DashCamMan

DashCamMan

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I used to have a lot of trust in Amazon reviews but I have a gut feeling they are being manipulated by unscrupulous sellers now.

Sometimes I check the list of "On-Dash Video" best sellers to see what is selling well.

The number 2 camera on the list as of today is the Falcon Zero F170.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B00SGXUUTO
This camera seems to have been released about 1 month ago and has 37, 4 or 5 star reviews. It outsells virtually all other dash cameras, yet it is not mentioned in any other dash cam websites. How did these buyers find out about this camera?

Same thing happened with the KDLinks X1.

Usually they follow a similar pattern:
1. A brand name is applied to a generic Chinese camera (typically in a slightly different form factor than what we have seen on this site)
2. No specifications are mentioned
3. Rave reviews come out of nowhere
4. Then I start getting emails on why "the best selling dash cam on Amazon" is not on DashCamTalk

Anyone have any insight on what is going on here? I have a theory but not 100% sure.
 
That Falcon Zero camera is available in Australia under another name (I have a sample here actually) and it's not a good product, has been a headache for the importer as well, I'm sure there's some manipulation or trickery that goes on to get these reviews on Amazon, how they cheat the system I don't know but when you work with these products you can easily see when things don't add up, I'm sure the same is true of other product categories as well

When you get those messages asking why the best sellers on Amazon aren't on here perhaps you should have them ask the sellers that very same question, if the products were so great surely people would be on here talking about it, not one post endorsement spammers as we sometimes see but real users
 
I also can not understand why this F170 is the best seller.
 
KDLinks came out of nowhere, and their reviews are strangely out of control positive as well. (I smell a big fat phony) I never heard of Falcon Zero either.

I can assure everyone that 100% of Pier28 Amazon reviews are legit, and were earned the old fashioned way. (over-the-top customer service/support, plus mainly only selling Street Guardian/Panorama products)
 
It is safe to assume that manipulation of consumer opinion is widespread all across the internet. It is hardly just an Amazon review phenomenon. It applies to almost every industry, the music business, motion pictures, books, politics, you name it.

This subject has even been a focus of academic study going back more than a decade. If anyone is feeling geeky, you can read a paper published by MIT in 2004 entitled "Strategic Manipulation of Internet Opinion Forums:Implications for Consumers and Firms".

Here is a quote:

"The simplest firm strategy is to anonymously post online reviews praising its own
products, or bad-mouthing those of its competitors. There is ample evidence that such manipulation
takes place. For example, when, in February 2004, due to a software error, Amazon.com’s Canadian
site mistakenly revealed the true identities of some of its book reviewers, it turned out that a sizable
proportion of those reviews were written by the books’ own publishers, authors, and competitors
(Harmon 2004)."
 
I don't like the fake reviews at all, positive or negative, it's not the way to do business

maybe others will get some advantage and pickup sales that our product won't get but so be it, not interested in doing anything dodgy to make a living
 
I think we know who is on the buyamazonreviews payroll. It's all the "top" Amazon reviewers.

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Truth:
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Dashmellow said:
It is safe to assume that manipulation of consumer opinion is widespread all across the internet. It is hardly just an Amazon review phenomenon. It applies to almost every industry, the music business, motion pictures, books, politics, you name it.

This subject has even been a focus of academic study going back more than a decade. If anyone is feeling geeky, you can read a paper published by MIT in 2004 entitled "Strategic Manipulation of Internet Opinion Forums:Implications for Consumers and Firms".

Here is a quote:

"The simplest firm strategy is to anonymously post online reviews praising its own
products, or bad-mouthing those of its competitors. There is ample evidence that such manipulation
takes place. For example, when, in February 2004, due to a software error, Amazon.com’s Canadian
site mistakenly revealed the true identities of some of its book reviewers, it turned out that a sizable
proportion of those reviews were written by the books’ own publishers, authors, and competitors
(Harmon 2004)."
Click to expand...

I understand better where you are coming from on paid reviews now Dashmellow. In the early days of this site, that wasn't an issue but maybe it is becoming an issue here as well even though the site is still quite small.
 
Pier28 said:
I think we know who is on the buyamazonreviews payroll. It's all the "top" Amazon reviewers.

B2RxVqG.png

6ak90Sm.png

NwhXWSw.png
Click to expand...

I have no idea about the ins and outs of Amazon but I would have to question the validity of a top 10 hall of fame reviewer, if these are meant to be reviews from people that have used the product what kind of consumer buys so much product that they could be responsible for all these reviews

it looks like some are spending some serious money to get these reviews too
 
I wish I had thought of the scam. It looks to be quite lucrative.

On second thought, I want nothing to do with this kind of scam. However, I can see it would pay well. I always look at the 1 and 2 star reviews. If a lot of them post the same problems I figure something is wrong. I have never figured out amazons rating system. It always seems to make the 4 and 5 stars look like a higher percentage than they should be when 1 and 2 star reviews are common.

http://www.buyamazonreviews.com/
Price List:

3 Reviews $74.26!
5 Reviews (Reg: $124.50, w/ 20% $99.60!)
10 Reviews (Reg: $249.50, w/ 20% $199.60!)
15 Reviews (Reg: $374.50, w/ 20% $299.60!)
20 Reviews (Reg: $499.50, w/ 20% $399.60!)
25 Reviews (Reg: $623.75, w/ 20% $499.60!)
30 Reviews (Reg: $748.50, w/ 20% $599.60!)
35 Reviews (Reg: $873.50, w/ 20% $699.60!)
40 Reviews (Reg: $998.50, w/ 20% $799.60!)
45 Reviews (Reg: $1122.75, w/ 20% $899.60!)
50 Reviews (Reg: $1247.50, w/ 20% $999.60!)
100 Reviews (Reg: $2495.50, w/ 30% $1746.60!)
130 Reviews (Reg: $3243.50, w/ 30% $2270.60!)
200 Reviews (Reg: $4887.50, w/ 30% $3421.60)
 
Quite a lot of those reviews are coming up as verified purchases which is weird as I thought you had to purchase one of these to get that status?

Maybe they're being bought, reviewed and then being sent back to Amazon?

I'm currently sitting around top 1400 in the Amazon reviewers list and to be honest it's weird - some really in-depth reviews I've done saying why something has issues all get negative voted yet when you look at the pages there are people upvoting one liners.

Synoptic from here hangs around a lot of the Amazon dashcam reviews and likes saying he's the US authorities and is investigating people, always makes me laugh that one. Maybe we should point him at these guys?

Some of my most popular reviews are how to open tricky kids toys - I figure if it takes me a while to figure it out it's not just me :) One video from Christmas of how to open a popular kids toy currently has over 1500 views!!!!
 
That guy posts some very questionable stuff himself, stumbled across some of his work recently and the claims made were way off
 
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I guess at that level he's made an entire career out of it?

Amazon have the Vine programme as well where things are sent free and they then give feedback on what they though - entry to that seems totally random.
 
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