The Reality Behind Product Reviews

Discussion in Product Reviews started by Decentlady • Oct 26, 2016.

  1. Decentlady

    DecentladyActive Member

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    I was an innocent buyer relying largely on product reviews until I realised that people actually get paid to write reviews which can be biased.

    Now I rely less on reviews to judge a product. Were you aware of this tactic?
     
  2. remnant

    remnantActive Member

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    Yes, actually some people search the internet looking for such reviews. Relatively few reviews are candid and they tend to give an overly flowery opinion of the product in question and tend to gloss over the flaws. The best place to find original reviews is in forums where people freely express their opinions without self censorship.
     
  3. thisnthat

    thisnthatActive Member

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    Yes, I was aware of this. I'd actually love to get paid to write reviews, if I could give honest reviews. I won't let them pay me to lie.

    I still rely on this resource quite a bit though. In some cases, a site will label "verified buyers," which may be helpful. Also, you can probably tell the difference between a real review and a bogus one most of the time.

    Besides that, I read lots of reviews before forming an opinion. If most are bad, but then suddenly one is a glowing review, you will probably realize that they were paid to write it. Even if they were not, one good review doesn't erase all the bad, and vice versa.

    I try to get a sense of things by averaging out the reviews. I think it still helps to read them before making a purchasing decision, especially for higher priced items.
     
  4. Working Buck

    Working BuckActive Member

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    I have heard of people getting paid to make reviews, I would love that job too as long as they let me do a REAL review and not a "give me a good review and I would pay you this much" kind of review. We already have a lot of existing people who lie for a buck. I don't want to count myself in.
     
  5. Belovedad

    BelovedadActive Member

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    It's been like this for ages. I never depend too much on reviews unless they are a lot of them. I only ever buy something if I can get a legit vouch for the product by someone I know or personally. I've also been a victim of fake reviews so I have learned my lesson.
     
  6. thisnthat

    thisnthatActive Member

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    A real review won't hesitate to state the bad along with the good. Even if someone is pleased with the product or service and issues a good review, their language is usually different than that of someone is who paid for fake good ones. They tend to talk about why they like the item instead of using way too many excited adjectives and exclamation points.

    "This is the best, greatest, most fantastic, product ever!!!!!" in a sea of so-so reviews, should stand out like a sore thumb. If someone actually liked the product despite others being not too keen on it, theirs would probably be a bit more low key. They might say something like, "For the price, it suited my purpose, Overall it was a good buy for me." There's a huge and noticeable difference between the two.
     
  7. TheKnight

    TheKnightActive Member

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    It's best to search on forums that you know are going to tell the truth such as sites that aren't specifically for product reviews. YouTube is a great place because they're full of people that will tell the truth about a product and especially if they're angry about it.
     
  8. larryl332

    larryl332Active Member

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    Product reviews just like anything can be either a great thing or if put into the wrong hands, or done incorrectly, pretty devastating to an undeserving company or product. Hopefully that latter does not happen too often, but it is definitely something that you need to look out for.
     
  9. moneymania

    moneymaniaActive Member

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    Yes, I have been aware of that tactic when I became a member of Fiverr. I noticed that a lot of people had gigs that offer being asked to write a product or book review, so that made me a lot more skeptical regarding the reviews of various products out there. So I tend to lean towards negative reviews the most, because for sure that is the one that is genuine.
     
  10. thisnthat

    thisnthatActive Member

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    I had just read an article about this before I saw this post, so I shared some of those ideas. I think it's good to read up on this kind of stuff. It's good to learn how to weed out the bad ones and even how to write good ones ourselves. We don't want someone thinking ours is a fake /paid review either.

    I know some sites have been cracking down on this. There was some talk of Amazon getting strict about it as well. I think that is good for their reputation, since the whole idea is for reviews to actually be useful when you're considering a purchase. I'm trying to remember to vote on them more often too (to let others know what someone else thought of the review).
     
  11. pwarbi

    pwarbiActive Member

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    As others have already said, the paid reviews have been around for a long time now, and they're pretty common across a large range of sites. If you use the internet a lot and are aware that some reviews are fake, then I do think that they are quite easy to spot but if you're unaware that they existed I can see people being taken in by them.

    If a review of a product is too god or too bad, not balanced then I find that's a sign that a review as been paid for as most of the genuine reviews will give a overall rating and not just tend to concentrate on promoting or complaining about specific parts of it.
     
  12. Jamille

    JamilleActive Member

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    I read product reviews to learn more about a product's special features but I don't believe much of what the writer/reviewer says. In most cases, you can easily tell that the article is a paid review or a blog/article that was only written to entice people to click on the affiliate link. I do check out reviews at amazon but only for products that were reviewed by many buyers and have high ratings. I'm not easily impressed by products with 4 or 5 star rating but only has 5 or even 10 reviews specially if the reviews are all positive and glowing.
     
  13. Jessika

    JessikaActive Member

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    I was well aware of this tactic. There have also been cases where magazine reviews have been biased, for example a games company that threatened to pull advertising from sites and magazines that didn't give its new game a good review.

    I tend to go straight for the 1-star reviews now. No one will pay to get a one-star, but it is easy to tell if the person has a valid complaint or if they're being silly, and you never know the reason they hate it might be the reason I would love it!
     
  14. janemariesayed

    janemariesayedActive Member

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    Yes, I was aware of this tactic. Although it isn't always on my mind when I am looking for a product to purchase. I do tend to read all the reviews and still make up my own mind. There have been products that I've found to be brilliant after I had read a bad review about it. Not every review has been paid for, some are genuine.

    The best thing for paid reviewers to do is to write an unbiased true account of the product. The good and the bad. Just because they may get paid for a review, it doesn't mean that they should still lie.
     
  15. Ray1

    Ray1Well-Known Member

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    I always knew about sponsored/forced reviews by almost every shopping site which ENCOURAGES to write a review as soon as you get a product delivered at your door. Certain sites offer to pay you for reviews indirectly through micro work sites so yes, paid reviews are also there but that is mostly in personal category. I go by the product's value and never check its review section because I don't think these reviews are trust worthy.
     
  16. Shine_Spirit

    Shine_SpiritActive Member

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    I used to believe they all were real too. :p They were like a thermometer (indicating positivity or negativity) about some product... But after all I've read about those fake reviews, I hardly believe in any.

    It's really easy to fill up a fake reviews website, you just need to get a lot of people who want to get some money to write them.