David McManus says fake online shopping site reviews must be dropped

When buying goods and services online, most of us will make a purchase based around reviews and ratings.

But can those endorsements be trusted?

The stratospheric rise in online retail has come about primarily because of convenience. Those busy lives we are all now somehow inadequate if we don’t lead mean that there is reduced time for embarking on our favourite national pastime.

We may all still identify as a nation of shoppers, but that shopping is conducted via the sofa or office chair as opposed to traipsing the crowded high street during rare periods of leisure.

Whatever you may think of its tax arrangements, Amazon is by far the largest online retailer and a massive part of its shopping experience are the customer reviews.

Right next to almost every single product is its prized star rating. It is impossible not to be swayed positively by a slew of blue stars or negatively when those stars are absent or in short supply.

Consumer credibility is very important to us. Before the days of the internet, organisations like Which? became hugely successful companies because they were able to give us valuable information about a potential purchase in a trustworthy manner. Such companies still carry some relevance today but when we are online everything is social and we have a tendency to listen to the voice of the masses even more than a credited consumer watchdog.

And it’s not just about the score. Most sites also provide a space for feedback and written reviews that give us valuable insight from people who have actually used the thing we are looking to buy.

“The (widget) arrived quickly and in perfect condition. It works brilliantly and now all my friends are jealous and want one! How did I ever live without it?”.

Such a glowing testimony, particularly when echoed by a significant number of others, is usually enough to make us aim at that ‘Add to basket’ button. In recent times, Amazon has even introduced the ‘Verified purchase’ label to reviews so we can be confident that it is being endorsed by a real person – someone just like us – as opposed to a paid stooge sitting in the offices of the company selling it.

The write-ups on Trip Advisor carry even more weight. The success of a holiday home or resort can live and die based on that globally viewable guest book.

It is therefore a depressing, if not entirely surprising, indictment on humanity to learn that many such reviews could be fake after all.

Amazon has just sought to close down a number of websites offering bulk positive reviews for payment. Hand over enough money and these dodgy dealers will put to work a team of paid ‘reviewers’ all ready to label your product as the best thing since sliced bread machines. They will guarantee to spread out submission times to avoid suspicion and even, if the price is right, actually purchase your product so as to appear as a trusted ‘Verified purchaser’.

Scumbags.

Sometimes these horde reviews are rather obvious when looked at in detail. Most use the same glowing phrases and tired adjectives and it only requires a small amount of amateur detective work to spot them.

Many of the apps that seem to appear out of nowhere at the top of the iTunes store have clearly been boosted by people who have never even seen them.

This kind of abuse has to be stamped out by Amazon and the like before we consumers start to lose trust.