It may sound like a lot of money to dole out, but the gaming of Amazon reviews can be big business: According to an analysis by the e-commerce consultant Pattern, a one-star increase on an Amazon listing can pump up sales by as much as 26 percent, which is why so many sellers are juking the stats. According to the fraudulent-review-detection service Fakespot, around 42 percent of 720 million Amazon reviews assessed in 2020 were bogus. The review fraud is not distributed equally - with more scams in the $15 to $40 range of products, where brand names aren't a necessity. Think home goods and cheap-ish tech products that consumers don't expect to last forever. "When we look at categories where you can start drop-shipping a product and slapping on a logo and competing with other people, those have a lot of fraud," says Saoud Khalifah, founder of Fakespot. The most fraud-proof sector? "Books. You cannot fake a really detailed review talking about a book." Amazon has a problem: People like free stuff. For years, third-party sellers have been gaming the megaretailer's all-important reviews section by sending complementary goods to real people in exchange for glowing write-ups - even if the thing sucks. Buying off consumers looking for free headphones, body pillows, or indoor-gardening kits, these manufacturers shoot to the front page of a given search, boosting sales and frustrating the competition dumb enough to play fair.
get paid in amazon gift cards