Thread: Amazon reviews: how reliable are they

Little off subject but lately Amazon has not been making me happy due to the shipping times. It used to be quick. Now its a couple weeks or more. I have one thing on order a month now and it still hasnt shipped. Although they say it will be here Friday. Sure it will.

But I do read a lot of reviews. What i look for is the reviews that dont look writen by a pro. Maybe not the best in grammer and such. Shows its a real review. And yes. Sometimes those are hard for me to find when others may find them easy.

One has to be careful with their reviews. I have read some where I looked more into it, it was the same brand but different model number. As they say, buyer beware!

Yes, there are many fake reviews, and they have thought of everything to fool the consumer, including deliberately making spelling misteaks.

Reminds me of a podcast I listened to on this subject, it’s an interesting listen:

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2...-review-hunter

There are all kinds of schemes and tricks involving reviews as the entire Amazon Universe is a wild west show. There are folks making big money advising sellers on the system.

My take on reviews is look for many many reviews on a product and you're pretty safe. Just a few reviews and you never know.

That is what I like about amazon: no quibble money back guarantee. That way I do not lose a penny and they pay the price for their own poor review checks and policies.

We spend thousands every year on Amazon (though I feel kind of cruddy doing it as they treat their employees like garbage, and they've gutted small businesses and brick and mortar stores). That said, half the stuff in my house came from Amazon. If something has hundreds or thousands of great reviews and especially an Amazon's Choice, I am sometimes enough of a sucker to buy it. But always read some of the bad reviews too so you know what to expect in the worst case scenario. Their return infrastructure is so easy, you're not taking much risk.

I got a delivery today (hell,who am I kidding-almost every day) from a pleasant young woman in a mask. Between them, Ebay and Etsy, whew-we've been at home too long (which is when we always spend too much money).

Strange how it seems to be fair game to rag on Amazon for a variety of reasons. Just remember most of the products sold on Amazon are small business folks not Amazon itself. Also remember not long ago when folks ragged on Walmart for being responsible for destoying small towns and causing downtowns to turn into ghost towns. Of course everything you buy at Wallyworld, the profits go into the pockets of the owning family.