Eric Benjamin
Amazon is investigating the most popular reviewers on its UK website after an investigation by the Financial Times found evidence that they were making a profit by posting thousands of five-star ratings.
Justin Fryer, a number one reviewer on Amazon.com, reviewed ના 15,000 worth of products in August alone, from smartphones to electric scooters to gym equipment, and approved an average of five stars every four hours.
Surprisingly, those products belonged to a lesser-known Chinese brand, which always offered to send products to reviewers for free in exchange for positive posts. Mr. Fryer seems to have sold a lot of goods on eBay since then, making about 20,000 by June.
When contacted by the FT, Mr. Fryer refused the post to pay for reviews before deleting his review history from Amazon’s website. Mr Fryer said eBay listings, which described products as “unused” and “without opening”, were for duplicates.
At least two other top 10-ranked Amazon UK reviews after Mr Frere removed his history. Other leading reviewers outside of the top 10 removed his name and reviews and changed his profile picture to display the words “please go away”.
The FT analysis suggests that Amazon’s nine UK top 10 ratings providers are engaged in questionable behavior, with five-star reviews of just a handful of Chinese products from unknown brands and manufacturers. Many of the same items were offered free products or money by FT in exchange for reviews in groups and forums.
The UK’s Competition and Watch Dog, Competition and Markets Authority began manipulating “suspicious” and reviews of its susp online stores in May, estimating that the UK’s online shopping costs have an impact of 23 23 billion per year.
“We will not hesitate to take further action if we find evidence that stores are not doing what is required by law,” a CMA spokesperson said.
Amazon’s long-standing problem with fake or manipulative reviews is that the coronavirus epidemic appears to be getting worse after turbocharging the number of people buying on its site. An estimate from the review online analysis group Faxpot suggests that the problem pe also occurred in May, when 58 percent of products on Amazon.com were mostly with fake reviews.
“The scale of the fraud is staggering,” said Saud Khalifa, chief executive of FaxPot. “And Amazon UK has a much higher percentage of fake reviews than any other platform.”
Amazon said it took this type of fraud seriously and used AI to see bad actors, as well as user monitoring reports. He said he would investigate the FT’s findings.
“We want Amazon customers to shop with confidence that the reviews they read are authentic and relevant,” the company added, adding that it suspends, bans and sues people who violate its policies.
Justin Fryer’s Amazon review, and an eBay list for a similar item the next day from his account.
But Amazon became aware of the activity on Mr. Fryer’s account at least as early as August Gust, when a user of the site emailed Chief Executive Jeff Bezos directly after ignoring his complaints.
“Jeff Bezos got your email,” an Amazon employee later replied, promising to investigate Mr. Fryer and other high-profile accounts. A number of published reviews were later removed – but no comprehensive action appears to have been taken.
Since February, Mr. Fryer’s review of China-based brands has included three gazebos, more than a dozen vacuum cleaners, and everything from the homes of 10 laptops તેમ as well as selfies મશીન to “fat removal” machines.
His contributions typically include video of the product being taken out of its packaging, but with comments about the external features and the quality of the boxes it contains, many of its products were subsequently listed as “unopened” and “unused”. On an eBay account registered under Mr. Freer’s name and address.
On August 1, seven days before Mr. Fryer posted a review of the same product on Amazon, he sold an electric scooter at 555. £ for electric, calling it “the hand under my favorite toy,” which he liked, saying, “We bought a lot of my Another one for the fianc. ”
When contacted this week, Mr Fryer said the items on his eBay list were duplicates, and the allegation that he received free products in exchange for positive reviews was “false.” He said he paid for the “large majority” of goods, but could not say how much he spent “from the top of his head”.
“I have relationships and I know some vendors,” he said. “My partner’s Chinese and I know a lot of business there. . . And I’m just reviewing. “
Unlike bloggers and influencers who can accept and advertise free products with appropriate advertising, Amazon’s Community Guidelines explicitly prohibit the creation, modification, or posting of content in exchange for or in return for any kind (including free or discount products). ”
The exception is the company’s “Vine” review program, an invite-only scheme where free products are sent to top reviewers who are not contingent on a positive review.
Observers at Amazon’s Marketplace say that the site’s algorithms encourage payment for positive reviews, even if it means expelling expensive products.
With price and delivery time, reviews are a crucial factor in advancing a product in Amazon’s rankings and help to gain algorithmically calculated support, such as the impressive “Amazon Choice” badge.
What is a consumer group? Nina Bhati, head of the campaign, said that if there are fake reviews on inf floating quality products then you are more than twice as likely to choose er naline secondary product than vers naline excellent product. “Reviews The organization has launched a massive campaign for a more rigorous investigation into online reviews.
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