Is it just me or does it seem like reviews and product ratings are becoming much harder to rely on lately on Amazon? Before I buy ANYTHING, I read product reviews/ratings and whatnot......In the past, if something had several hundred reviews with an average rating of 4+ out of 5, you could pretty much assume it was a decent product, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Now, you see a bunch of stuff with 5/5 ratings and several hundred reviews, but when you start reading the reviews, they ALL sound the same (like some canned marketing "review") and it's obvious they're written/generated by a person or software that doesn't speak English as their native language.

You'd think Amazon themselves would want to curb the fake reviews/ratings, out of self preservation, just because it hurts their customers' confidence in their service.

Yeah I agree with that. It’s frustrating.

See my post on my account getting hacked!!

My BIL get tons of stuff for free for doing fake reviews for amazon products. He turns around and sells the stuff on craigslist. He probably does 50 or so reviews a month.

Sort by verified purchases only. It’ll weed out people who didn’t buy the product.

Nope............even a lot of the "Verified Purchase" reviews read like something that a non-English-speaking person tried to write, without even truly knowing anything about the product. Lots of generic wording/phrases...

"This wonderful item has work very well my intend uses".

Come on, nobody talks like that...

You cannot leave a verified purchase review without buying the product. Could just be a boiler plate response they put in everything they buy.

Surely you're not surprised about fake reviews on Amazon or other sites.

I'm not surprised, it just seems like it's gotten significantly worse all of a sudden. Like I said, if I was Amazon, I think combating the fake reviews would be a high priority. Folks put a lot of stock in those reviews/ratings and it seems like if it keeps getting out of hand, it could hurt them if people start losing faith in them.

I've noticed more and more fake reviews, too. As Clem said, not surprised by them.

I have also noticed Amazon seems to be sucking it up more and more lately. 4 out 5 of my last orders have had parts missing, something broken, or sent the completely wrong thing. Maybe the distribution center that sends stuff to Birmingham area just sucks....

Amazon is making billions. They're unconcerned with fake reviews as long as the money is rolling in.

I agree with Jono, too. A couple of my last orders have been completely wrong, something missing, one thing arrives but the other not until a day later, etc. They're getting or have gotten so big that they cannot keep up. But they're still making billions so it's all good for them.

I usually only read the lower marked reviews, find out what complaints people have about something, first. Some people will leave a 1 star review because the package got torn in shipping, or whatever...I look for recurring issues/complaints about the product itself. Batteries overheating, a certain part breaking, etc.

Same here

As a vendor, you just buy a review package and then get what you pay for.

It's all fake.

Not all...I leave reviews all the time, and I only wish they were paying me for a review package!

I don't buy anything from Amazon. I've tried, but I can always find it cheaper on ebay. Every single time, 100% of the time, always cheaper on eBay. And I always leave feedback for the seller every time. I don't do product reviews at all. Ain't got time for that nonsense. But I always give the seller feedback.

Not sure if it's just chance/cycle, or intentional, but I've noticed in the last 12 to 18 months that the selection of "good" outdoors products have diminished big time, especially fishing stuff. Similarly, I've noticed you're basically paying the normal retail price, I can't find anything really cheap like I used to. eBay has become the same way.

Well heck, you want 100K web page visits, 50K likes, 2500 reviews or even 15K donors to a political campaign? It's all for sale.

I agree that the number of fake reviews is increasing, and it's really bad on certain products. I needed an air mattress a while back and I noticed that nearly every review for the Chinese made ones was fake. I bought one that at least came from a US seller and I thought it might be USA made. It wasn't, and it wouldn't even hold air, so I sent it back to Amazon and got a refund through them, then left a review that told my experience. I didn't bash them; just said that the one I got didn't work.

I immediately got an email from the seller offering me a replacement, and I emailed back and told them I had already got e refund and bought another brand. They said that didn't matter, they would send me a free mattress if I would only take down the negative review. Gave me a story of how they were a small family owned company and struggling to survive.

So I caved and took the free mattress.

So don't believe the reviews.

Was the free one any better?