Quick Tip: How to Identify Fake Reviews on Amazon, TripAdvisor & Yelp
My work and travel schedule means most of my Christmas shopping is done online. And if you haven’t jumped on the cancel-Amazon-Prime-bandwagon, then like me, you’re probably sorting through your options on Amazon right now trying to figure out which of those high ranked products are actually legit.
I discovered Fakespot last year and it’s helped immensely. You just copy and paste your Amazon URL and search. They analyze the reviews and give the product a grade school rating — A through F — based on how many of the reviews they think were fake.
Amazon product:
Fakespot’s take:
They look for suspicious patterns, incentivized reviews, etc. It’s not foolproof, but when an unknown brand with a 4* review from over 3,000 customers gets an F, you know something is up. I will also note that when it comes to electronics, buying unknown brands is a big risk anyway. For me, this is particularly useful when tracking down products I’ve come across on my travels.
Fakespot also analyzes Walmart, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. I think it’s a little easier to spot fabricated reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor, but handy to have.
Hope this helps! Feel free to share your own tips below.
Hey Keri, is there any reporting mechanism beyond this? There’s a “resort” in Scottsdale I’ve long suspected of utilizing fake reviews on Tripadvisor and Fakespot just graded it a D. Is there a means of spreading the word?
Hi Keri – Found this looking for people talking about Fakespot. In the same vein as free tools to help understand Amazon reviews, I’ve just completed a free tool myself.
It’s here: nathandax.com/amazon-sentiment-tool
It’s a natural language processes tool, which translated to normal English means it helps you find out what people actually think about an aspect of the products in question. 🙂
If you’re interested, here’s a 2 minute video explaining how it works on the tool’s main page.
I’m trying to generate some awareness of it, and if you think it’s interesting/helpful, would you be open to adding a mention to it in your post?