Sellers on Amazon combine reviews of completely unrelated products to grow their list – you get high ratings for products like Bluetooth headphones, with reviews for anything from puzzles and umbrellas to Which One? The investigation has been created. A consumer sample found that nine of Amazon’s top 10 headphones had excellent reviews on unrelated products, from cuddly toys to shower curtains and extras.
Which? It is believed that these allegations were abused using a “black hat” marketing technique – where a seller uses flaws to gain an unfair advantage – known as merger audit abuse. The Competition and Markets Authority says that $23.23 billion in consumer spending affects online reviews.
Which? I searched for bluetooth headphones – a popular category on Amazon UK – and got “average consumer ratings” results, simulating how consumers would shop if they searched for the highest-rated headphones on the site. There was only one brand in the top ten headphones: Bose, which ranked eighth and showed no signs of abuse.
The other nine brands were little known or less known and did not appear to be sold on websites other than Amazon. Which? We’ve found it to be artificially enhanced with thousands of unrelated reviews on completely different products, including umbrellas, custom puzzles, mugs and glass jars, expanded chips, snuggled games, and a tidy desk with keyboard. In some cases, the list does not contain any reviews on bluetooth headphones.
Which two of the nine lists did you improve artificially? The discovery earned the coveted Amazon’s Choice badge, although it was amplified by clearly illicit comments. Combining reviews can be a legitimate way for sellers to manage their catalog when they have a similar look to an existing product to add to the list – for example, the same product is available in different colors. But doing so for unrelated products is against Amazon’s terms. Misleading and makes the product more popular than it is and more attractive to consumers looking to buy quickly.
While sellers can combine reviews of their own products, some unscrupulous sellers find ways to combine reviews from other people’s lists, also known as “sentiments.” For sellers on Amazon’s forum, there are over 50 topics that cite “Review Passion” as a topic in which people complain that reviews of their products have been “stolen” and “stolen” by other sellers.
The top-rated headphones, with five or five stars, were Amazon’s pick and had 40 reviews, but none of them were headphones related. All reviews, including the three in which product photos are clearly visible, were for “plush” toys: the “beautiful” and “beautiful” huggable animal, which is clearly loved by children and adults alike.
The second pair of headphones, called Amazon’s Choice, relied entirely on expansion bullet reviews, with many buyers saying it could pose a fire hazard. Which? No mention of headphones or earphones was made in 207 reviews, while the nine photos in the review showed an extension cord. Most product reviews were five stars and were profitable for the headphone rating, but few reviewers argued that the expansion unit was dangerous.
One listing contains 863 custom puzzle ratings – only three headphone ratings. The other had 1,386 reviews that appeared to be related to parachutes, including 64 photo comments. Which? I couldn’t find a single review for this list that mentions headphones or earbuds.
Which? It focused on one popular product category, but also solved the problem in others, including smartphone chargers with power protector reviews, tweezers with advanced nonstick kitchen foil reviews, and blackheads with striped nose strips with improved wig reviews. .
E-commerce experts asked which one? Whether sellers do this by merging their own unrelated listings or by stealing idle “zombie” listings owned by other sellers and substituting their own product name. They say this is relatively easy, and from their point of view, there are not enough guarantees that this will not happen. While this can sometimes happen accidentally, a combination of intentional and illicit revision was designed to reproduce the system.
Amazon said which one? He gets frustrated when attackers evade his systems and points out that he has proactive measures to “automatically detect and prevent a lot of abuse in our store” and continues to invest in his tools and processes. Did we say before which one? Users should report fake reviews using Message Abuse feature. Which? Check this functionality on the website by manually reporting each of the nine bluetooth speaker pages on the first page of incorrect reviews.
After four weeks, what three lists? The abuse report still had clear signs of review merging and was still available for sale. This included a headset for reviewing the keyboard desktop, a headset that displayed reviews about custom puzzles, and a headset for reviewing improvements that some people thought were safe. These headphones, according to the expansion leader, have been rated as Amazon’s Choice After What? I reported abuse of the review.
It appears that action has been taken on other claims. One listing was completely erased. There are two listings left, but all reviews have been deleted. The other three are marked as ‘inaccessible’, but which reviews are they still showing? mentioned.
Rossio Concha, which one? The director of policy and advocacy said: “Unscrupulous companies take advantage of weaknesses in Amazon’s review system, putting shoppers at risk of purchasing products rich with thousands of fake five-star reviews.
“Once again, this reinforces the importance of the CMA investigating fake reviews, which goes to the heart of the matter and ensures that major trading sites protect people from this unfair practice.
“The government also announced its intention to combat bogus reviews in the context of consumer and competition reforms and to introduce new laws in the upcoming Queen’s Speech in order to eradicate this practice of exploitation as soon as possible.”
An Amazon spokesperson said, “Amazon aggregates customer reviews by product variations such as color and size and we have a transparent guard guard to prevent product misuse due to human error or misuse. Our proactive measures automatically detect and block the vast majority of violations in our store; however, we are frustrated when they avoid Attackers are our systems and continue to innovate and invest in our tools and processes.
“If we find detailed pages with incorrectly aggregated reviews, we will use this knowledge to improve our prevention mechanisms. We have now taken appropriate countermeasures against the product listing and sellers.”
Study subject
Alistair Soames, a 50-year-old investment manager from Surrey, saw evidence of his reviews when he bought the headphones from Amazon in 2019. After some digging, he noted that some products were enhanced with a shower curtain and knives from the kitchen. . .
I have read the reviews [for some of the headphones] Much of it was complete nonsense. Designed for shower curtains and kitchen knives. Here are the pictures – I saw the shower curtain and thought: Wait a second, what does this have to do with headphones?
He sued Amazon and sent several other emails highlighting the problem with other products, he says, but was disappointed with the response.
At some point, who’s in the messages? He was offered 50-50 as a gesture after an Amazon customer service representative admitted that he had tried “over and over again” to report unrelated reviews that appeared on the listing. Refusal.
“I sent a lot of emails with examples, when something goes wrong because that’s what their platform deals with,” he said.
“I feel like they weren’t really interested in setting aside my days to point out the obvious mistake.”
Source: Belfastlive
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
