Online shopping has become a very convenient way for us to buy things that we need. But for all its convenience, the fact that some people could try to scam us from our money means that it is a field that requires a high level of trust.
To help create that trust, many online shops have come up with reviews and star-based systems to help us learn about a product from trusted and verified buyers before buying. Except, these too are being faked and at an alarming degree. Fake reviews are becoming a major problem, especially for big online marketplaces like Amazon. Below then, is how to become much more discerning when looking at product reviews.
Look beyond the star ratings
This might seem obvious, but when looking to buy a product, simply looking at the star ratings should not be the only thing you do. Star ratings are perhaps a lot easier to fake, and thus, simply buying a product off of this can be quite risky. Go through the comment reviews too. But when looking at the comments, also be more discerning.
Lack of specifics
When reviewing a product, you will always say the specifics that you liked and those you didn’t about it. Thus, when going through positive reviews and most are vague in their praise of a product, then you could be dealing with fake positive reviews. Look for details about the product in any review. A burst of positive reviews that say things like ‘Great app!’, ‘Great product!’ or ‘Works great!’ over a very short period should be an instant red flag.
The same is also true for negative reviews. Some sellers might buy negative reviews to harm a competitor, so also look out for vague negative reviews.
Consider wording
Many fake reviews will often use similar wordings since most will often be sourced from the same company, which could sometimes just be a single person. So, if the wordings and even sentence construction sound a little too similar, you are dealing with a fake review.
The world of fake reviews is a very profitable industry, but both Google and Amazon are working hard to eliminate the problem. Still, you want to be careful and not get scammed, so do your research well before buying any product online, no matter how much you trust the site.
