# Amazon's culpability with fake reviews **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-culpability-with-fake-reviews/809752 "2018-02-28T14:52:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-culpability-with-fake-reviews/809752/41 "2018-03-04T20:46:02Z")
> [@razncain](#): > > My OP also said that Amazon pulled my review. Yes, later in the OP you started a sentence with “Since Amazon pulled my review.” So what? Does that negate what you wrote earlier in the OP, which was much more clearly expressed? When I responded to what you wrote earlier in your OP, asking you how it was evident, you didn’t then say “but I also said it was Amazon” (which would have been an odd contradiction), you explained how you knew that it was evident Amazon allows for sponsors to pull reviews. > [@](#): > > Also, well before you were here, just eighteen minutes after my OP, in #6, I stated to Mr. Shine: > > > [@](#): > > > > Either their sponspors or Amazon itself is allowing it. I don’t have the inside track of who is more guilty, but I’m sure others have experienced what I have went through. So? “Allowing it” is what I questioned you about. > [@](#): > > That’s hardly back-pedaling, and saying something completely different now. These statements are completely different (bolding mine): _“Well **evidently Amazon actually allows this** for certain sponspors **to let them pull reviews they don’t like** ”_ vs. _“I don’t know the exact process, but only that it still **surely has to go through Amazon and have the final say on to pull it** , I would think.”_ > [@](#): > > Since Amazon’s reviews are so skewed, I gave the two sites in the OP just so others can have other tools to help spot fake reviews since Amazon is allowing so many fake reviews to stand, that was my main purpose of the thread. Didn’t know I was going to need to give a deposition. You don’t need to do anything. Regardless of your main point, I questioned you on a certain statement in your OP. You said it was evident Amazon lets sponsors pull reviews. I asked how. > [@](#): > > There are subtle and not so subtle ways money can buy influence and favors in business and politics. Yeah, a reminder of what you said (bolding mine): _“I suppose if perhaps **the supplier pays extra** , one can limit the negative reviews by having them pulled themselves, or have it done for them.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-culpability-with-fake-reviews/809752/42 "2018-03-05T03:02:24Z")
Because that’s reading the posts as a whole, not reading in piecemeal being anal about it, but carry on. Pretty sure, binding arbitration keep a lot of things quite for a lot of companies. Perhaps this is more conspiracy talking shit to you though. ---
**Author:** ![Razncain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9d8465/32.png) [@Razncain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Razncain)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-culpability-with-fake-reviews/809752/43 "2018-03-05T03:11:32Z")
For others that are interested, I found plenty of threads on Amazon’s sellers forum that is for them, and it appears quite a few of the legit sellers are not happy either, complaining it is difficult for them to compete when Amazon lets other illegitimate sellers go on for so long. I imagine many scammers can keep putting up shop just as fast as Amazon could knock them down, if they are so inclined to do so, but it doesn’t appear Amazon is any hurry. Amazon keeps pointing out their high ethical standards and how their policies don’t tolerate certain things, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem for scammers. Here are points of view from some sellers on their Amazon forum, but there are plenty worth reading, I picked these because they are not as long to read through: [https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/attention-sellers-amazon-now-allowing-review-manipulation/328265](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/attention-sellers-amazon-now-allowing-review-manipulation/328265) [https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/amazon-resorting-to-cheating-deleted-our-case-after-giving-all-proofs/352520/5](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/t/amazon-resorting-to-cheating-deleted-our-case-after-giving-all-proofs/352520/5) The first one is a seller that goes by is “concerned\_amazon\_sel” (cas from here on out). _cas_ has complained to Amazon that certain sellers are manipulating the reviews through a black hat technique that enables them to remove or move reviews around. _cas_ wasn’t able to communicate directly with Amazon, so went this route instead by posting on the sellers forum. That link will only be up a few more weeks, since according to it, in six months after last reply, the topic gets removed. It’s been almost six months since _cas_ posted it, I figured that was plenty of time to remove the product entirely, or the seller involved. One link that was still working involved a teeth whitener product. It’s still there, and so is the seller. I copied the url into the reviewmeta, and it did as about as bad as a product could do. But Amazon’s rating still has it at 4.6 stars, most rating it a 5. According to _cas_ this product at one time had 3,000 reviews overnight. Quite a few have been removed, but many are still suspect that remain. The seller says that they “are essentially moving reviews around, to keep their products looking 5 out of 5, and enabling them to have cheap Chinese knock-off, unsafe products looking perfect forever.” Another scam others should be aware that take advantage of many not knowing Amazon’s customer service number, so go looking for it with search engines and get fake ones. I found that through a CBS article, which used krebsonsecurity as a source. > **[Money Laundering Via Author Impersonation on Amazon? – Krebs on Security](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/02/money-laundering-via-author-impersonation-on-amazon/)** > > Patrick Reames had no idea why Amazon.com sent him a 1099 form saying he'd made almost $24,000 selling books via Createspace, the company's on-demand publishing arm. That is, until he searched the site for his name and discovered someone has… I doubt I’m going to be spending much time on reviews anymore when I buy, especially from Amazon, the problem with their reviews is too rampant. I think I’ll take the 5-10k or so I was spending on-line, and just start buying mostly locally again, even if it is Walmart, I can at least reach them much faster if there is a problem. I wish I had a Costco instead, but they are not around in my town. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazons-culpability-with-fake-reviews/809752.md?page=2)