Amazon’s goal has always been to be a user generated and supplied marketplace and user reviews have always played a role in making Amazon more democratic. They allow people to get a second-hand opinion of a product. While in a perfect world all opinions should be unbiased, there are some cases when Amazon reviews have to be taken with a grain a salt and it can be difficult to tell the difference between the real and the fake. Let us take a closer look at Amazon product reviews along with a few pointers on how to identify the truly valuable ones.
A Word on Incentivized Reviews
When incentivized reviews were banned by Amazon, people could still offer free products for honest reviews, but have they would have to limit the number of free products they offer. Offering hundreds of products has been banned and filtered out by verified reviews.
To balance real and non-purchase reviews, Amazon have added factors such as reviewer age, helpfulness votes, and verified purchase as part of their algorithm.
Verified Purchase Review
In an attempt to counteract fake reviews, Amazon introduced its “Amazon verified purchase” badge to differentiate reviews made by actual buyers. If the badge appears next to a review, this means that the person reviewing the product actually bought it. Amazon also limits the total number of reviews someone who is not verified can leave to five per week and has added verified reviews as part of their algorithm.
What is a Verified Purchase Actually?
For the badge to appear when making a review, the buyer must have spent at least $50 on the marketplace and to have bought the product for at least 80% of its original value.
2016 was when Amazon started to systematically remove reviews on purchases that were heavily discounted. It also made it impossible to leave verified purchase reviews even if the discount was part of a widespread promotion.
What About Independent Review Sites
When people shop on Amazon, they usually want to check the reviews before they make a decision. Independent review sites operate outside of the Amazon ecosystem and can come from various sources. Some sites will have one type of review on Amazon products while others will provide reviews on a variety of products.
While some of these sites can be dodgy, sites like ReviewInstitute provide honest reviews for people who want to shop online on Amazon. These sites will usually go much more in depth than the usual Amazon review and will also look at the pros and cons of each product as well as other recommendations. They are a great way for you to get a sense of a product before you buy online. You will also get to know other products in the same product line and see how they stack against each other. Or you might find out that there is a better model being sold by another manufacturer. Getting information from a varied selection of sources will ensure that you make a better purchase.
Amazon reviews play a major part in the marketplace and knowing how to identify genuine ones is a great tool if you are intending on making a purchase. Make sure that you do your due diligence before you buy anything and get your information from as many sources as you can before you make a decision.
