Look at this product on Amazon. Look at all those crazy reviews. Seriously, look at them! Can they possibly be real? No way… right?
Product reviews are a key component when you’re shopping, especially on a site like Amazon. Since the popular online retailer has such a wide reach, customer reviews are often a very good tool to use when you’re shopping for something. Of course, retailers know that as well as you do, and less scrupulous vendors can sometimes take advantage of that by creating fake reviews for their products in an effort to make them look better than they actually are.
As it turns out, however, there are tools you can use to figure out when you’re being had.
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Don’t leave things to chance when you’re researching products to purchase. Is this sleek 65-inch 4K Ultra HD TV really as good as the reviews make it out to be? Maybe you’d be better off with this hot 55-inch model, which is on sale right now for under $900. And will this cool-looking little drone really last or are all those positive reviews disingenuous?
First of all, use common sense. If a product has dozens of similar reviews in broken English that were all published around the same time, that’s a reasonably good sign that the reviews are fake. Unfortunately though, fake reviews aren’t always that easy to spot because not all vendors are that stupid. Some do a good job of covering their tracks and that’s where third-party tools come into play.
There are a few different options out there that will help you spot products with fake reviews, but we’ve found Fakespot to be one of the best available. The website couldn’t be easier to use — simply paste an Amazon URL into the search bar and Fakespot will analyze the reviews on the page. After the analysis is complete, the site will return a grade between “F,” which means that the product listing is littered with fake reviews, and an “A,” which means it’s 100% genuine.
Want to see some Amazon products that Fakespot has determined to be littered with fake reviews? Check out these mini inflatable beach balls, these stylish iPhone and iPad charging cables, this decent-looking iPhone 6/6s case or this Qi wireless smartphone charger. Would you have knows those reviews were fake if we hadn’t told you?
