These days, most of us have turned to online shopping in lieu of brick-and-mortar establishments to get our favorite items shipped directly to our front door. With many retailers still closed, and many more of us understandably wary of exposing ourselves to the risk of COVID-19, it’s easier to just click “buy” and then spend the next two days with our noses pressed to our windows in anticipation of the arrival of our new toy or garment. But are we at risk of being tricked by fake reviews?
If you’re like most people, you probably depend on product reviews to make a purchasing decision. Honestly, it’s perfectly reasonable to see what others thought of the item before you buy it. These online reviews are almost like your neighbor, who whipped out his lawnmower and bragged how it goes from 0 to 4 mph in less than thirty seconds. Obviously — obviously — you had to run out to your nearest garden center to pick up one of your own after his glowing review of it, right?
That’s kinda like online reviews, too. You can’t just knock on the purchaser’s door and ask them what they thought of it, which is why you carefully peruse those reviews and weigh those pros and cons. Okay, this shirt fits loose. Fine, these kitchen shears broke after three uses. Whoa, this brand of potato chips puts hair on your chest…? Sweet! And you also probably looked at those 3-star reviews, too, to see what was merely “meh” about the product. With this assortment of mixed reviews, you can be confident that you’re making a rock-solid choice.
Uh, sadly, nope.
Unfortunately, Amazon (as well as other major retailers, such as Walmart) are often fraught with a glut of fake reviews. In fact, there are numerous Facebook pages dedicated to the purchase of these reviews, and many of the reviewers are compensated with a monetary reward (usually the cost of the item, plus a few extra dollars for their work) for posting the glowing 5-star rave.
So what can you do to help protect yourself for falling for these seemingly harmless lies?
Well, first and foremost — a fake review isn’t necessarily harmless. If a defective or dangerous product is boosted by a false review, it can seriously harm you. Sure, there’s a good chance the fake reviews are benign, and the worst you’ll be in for it is losing a few bucks on a crap item. But if something is using counterfeit or unsafe ingredients (such as minoxidil in potato chips because, real talk, chips aren’t supposed to put hair on your chest), then yes, you need to be informed of it so you can make an educated decision about whether or not that item is coming home with you.
So, the question remains: How can you, intrepid shopper extraordinaire, avoid purchasing a lemon? (Unless, of course, your goal was to buy an actual lemon in the first place. Margaritas, anyone?) The good news is that there are a couple things you can do. For starters, common sense goes a long way. Do the reviews offer any context, or is it just line after line of, “Loved it!” without any actual feedback on the item? That’s why those 3-star reviews are so priceless. Usually the reviewer actually used the item and had a valid reason for their tepid review, allowing you to make an educated decision about it.
Finally, there are a couple of websites you can use to help you out. First, there’s Fakespot. This web extension will cull out all the fake reviews, allowing you to see at-a-glance the remaining genuine reviews. It then reviews the item for its credibility, letting you know if the seller was trying to pull a fast one on you. Then there’s ReviewMeta. Unlike Fakespot, this website goes through the views and instead of grading the seller, it actually grades the item based on the average score of the remaining real reviews. And by using both of these websites together to check those reviews? You’ve now got yourself a pretty decent idea if the product is actually worth your hard-earned dollars.
It’s far too easy to get scammed these days. However, by staying alert and remaining mindful about your online purchases (and avoiding the temptation to give into those stress-motivated impulse buys), you can avoid being bilked, too. And hey, instead of looking at online reviews, maybe you should go back to the old-fashioned way of doing it: By asking your neighbor for their opinions of items. Just, y’know, do it from at least six feet away, while wearing a face mask.
Linda Bernstein
January 2, 2014 at 2:22 pm
So many terrific people here! I love this list.
Christopher S. Penn
January 2, 2014 at 2:40 pm
Thanks for including me! Much appreciated.
Ted Rubin
January 2, 2014 at 3:50 pm
Honored to be included 🙂
Miriam Slozberg
January 2, 2014 at 4:05 pm
Very honored to be included! Thank you.
Amber Osborne
January 2, 2014 at 4:27 pm
Honored to be included among those who inspired me to get into this industry. Thank you!
annhandley
January 2, 2014 at 4:45 pm
This list is stuffed full of people I’m lucky enough to call friends, as well as many who have influenced *me*. Thanks for adding my name to the roundup.
Charles E Gaudet II
January 2, 2014 at 5:51 pm
Thank you for the honor! I’m both humbled and grateful to be included among this least of extraordinary people.
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
AmyVernon
January 2, 2014 at 7:09 pm
Thanks so much for the honor folks. I’m fortunate to have met many of these folks, and now have a whole list of others I want to make sure I catch up with!
Liz Strauss
January 2, 2014 at 7:31 pm
Thank you, AGBeat, for the thought and work that went into writing about all of us. You captured the people who have influence not just their resumes, making this fun to read. I’m honored that you included me.
Michelle Poccia
January 2, 2014 at 8:34 pm
This list is chock full of GENIUS! Congrats to all who are on it! And thanks AGBeat for my 2014 Stalker List!
Danny Brown
January 2, 2014 at 8:56 pm
Nice to see such a diverse group, and appreciate the fact you took the time to share reasons why people might want to connect, versus a generic “OMG, these guys are just awesome, y’all!!”
Cheers for the kind inclusion, and Happy New Year!
J Philip Faranda
January 2, 2014 at 9:33 pm
I hope to meet Michael McClure in person someday! He is remarkable.
Belinda Summers
January 2, 2014 at 11:00 pm
Gee! A bunch of people I look up to. 🙂 How I wish to be one of them someday.
Matt Hixson
January 2, 2014 at 11:38 pm
This was a great way to start the year. Thanks for including me.
Belinda Summers
January 3, 2014 at 1:00 am
Gee! A bunch of people I look up to. 🙂 How I wish to be one of them someday.
Lucretia M Pruitt
January 3, 2014 at 3:02 am
Some of my favorite people on here… Glad to see AGBeat and I agree on so many awesome people as influences!! Congrats for a solid list and kudos to some awesome folks.
Lucretia M Pruitt
January 3, 2014 at 3:02 am
Some of my favorite people on here… Glad to see AGBeat and I agree on so many awesome people as influences!! Congrats for a solid list and kudos to some awesome folks.
Michael Q Todd
January 3, 2014 at 6:37 am
Great list and especially great endorsements well done for taking the time and effort have subscribed to you
S. Anthony Iannarino
January 3, 2014 at 10:39 am
Thanks so much for including me on this all-star list! I am honored!
Heather MacLean
January 3, 2014 at 11:34 am
Great list. Nice to see some really familiar faces as well as some new ones.
agbenn
January 3, 2014 at 1:36 pm
As the Founder and Publisher of The American Genius, I certainly do not want to sound callous, and text can be so impersonal. We hear your feedback, and have noted it for future reference. When we see people, we see human beings, whatever their race or gender.
In saying that, our pick if we were considering race or gender ie. a particular Hispanic Influencer, it would have undoubtedly been His Holiness, Pope Francis. However, because we’ve covered His Holiness, several times in the past month, it gave way to another open spot out of hundreds of thousands of potential people we considered one by one. To be quite honest, I actually had to go back and look and read every entry to see if anyone was or wasn’t Hispanic.
For the record, I am Hispanic, and I am honored to have our team present this list as it is, and with innocent hearts. We do know several of the persons you’ve mentioned and do hold them in very high regard.
So thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback and encouragement, and we look forward to meeting and getting to know a few on your list. 🙂
Brian Hansford
January 3, 2014 at 1:47 pm
So nice to see some new faces in a list. It gets old seeing lists with the same names over and over just to get SEO juice.
agbenn
January 3, 2014 at 2:01 pm
Maya, bless your heart for sharing your kind thoughts and ideas with us. We agree with your sentiments profoundly, and thank you for recoginizing the complexity of what we’re presenting through our lists. We’ll take your idea and have the team bounce it around and see if we can’t do something as meaningful more often. As you know, things become passe when over done, even when done well. For the record, you influence me in thought provoking ways, and that’s not easy to do with a guy like me.
Happy New Year, and kick 2014’s ass!
tracysestili
January 3, 2014 at 5:19 pm
I love listening to Brian Carter speak. He’s not only funny, but real. Plus he presents data in a way that you didn’t think of. Glad to see he made the list and a few of my other faves. 🙂
Eve Mayer
January 4, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Whoa, I’m so lucky to be on this list! Thank you very much for thinking I’m somewhat as cool as all those respected peeps!
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