Fake Amazon Reviews

I am huge Amazon shopper, despite some of the negative press Amazon has received over the years, and its dominance over smaller retailers. The convenience and product reviews are the big draw for me. On the rare occasion I go to a store to make a purchase, I usually look for the product on Amazon first or read the many product reviews on Amazon. In a store I am completely unable to make a decision without the power of product reviews. After all, how do I know if it's any good?!

Recently, I've noticed more and more products on Amazon seem untrustworthy. Weird company names, unprofessional product descriptions (with symbols, incorrect grammar, and/or weird phrasing as if the writer is foreign), and the words "sponsored" draw me away. Yet these products get tons of positive reviews. How?!

For example, today I was looking for a musical toy set for my 18 month old. There are SO MANY to choose from. The other day I was looking for a felt Christmas tree for a toddler and had the same experience. How do you sort out the good products when you don't recognize the brands and so many reviews are positive?

Today, I googled my problem and found a website called FakeSpot that has an algorithm that reviews all of the Amazon product reviews per product to tell you if they are "unreliable" (they also do this for Yelp and TripAdvisor). BAM. Just what I needed! So I started searching a lot of my recent purchases to find, to my relief, that many were trustworthy expect one - a face serum that received an F grade for its 1000+ reviews. I immediately started my return on it! I feel so duped - I bought the product based on these positive reviews.

To conclude about my musical toy and felt tree search I mentioned earlier:

This toddler musical toy set has all 5 star reviews, but receives an "F". I plan to add this one to my son's wish list instead. The others sets have good and reliable reviews according to FakeSpot, but the small parts on these toys seem untrustworthy.

The felt Christmas tree I bought has an "A" grade for review quality, even though the description was unprofessional. Phew! I bought it 2 weeks ago because the description and reviewers noted the thicker fabric, even though it was more expensive than other products listed. Fingers crossed it works out when we hang it this weekend...