We all know that Amazon is the leading online retailer in the United States. Not only does it sell pretty much everything, but you can also receive the item within 24 hours. We know that Amazon is partly responsible for most of the bad and evil things in this world, but if we put that aside for a moment, we have to admit that it is an extremely convenient avenue for shopping.

That being said, it is very easy for anyone to purchase a product after thoroughly reading reviews and still be disappointed by the fact that the product does not match the description or the review. This is where the talk of “fake reviews” comes in. Yes, it’s definitely a thing and I’ve definitely fallen victim.

Apparently, many Amazon reviews are, in fact, fake. Sellers who are looking to evade competition will pay for glowing reviews, even if products don’t match up when it comes to quality.

Reviews can help sellers raise sales, which is obviously something they want. The reviewers hope to receive payment or complimentary goods. Because of this, the industry for fake reviews is booming. There are even some companies that sell blocks of fake positive reviews. In order to persuade customers to delete or modify bad reviews, sellers may also offer refunds or other incentives.

Clearly, you don’t want to be the victim of this if you’re looking for a product. So, here’s how to avoid fake reviews.

How to avoid fake reviews

The first thing to keep in mind is that most fake reviews target items that are affordable or on the cheaper side, and mainly from unknown brands.

You want to start by confirming that the review you are reading is for the specific product. Some listings have several products and come with reviews for the entire listing, rather than the object itself.

The second thing you want to do is switch from “Top reviews” to “Most recent,” that way you can find out what the most recent buyers are saying.

You are more likely to locate genuine reviews in the middle. The vast majority of fake positive reviews are five stars, and the vast majority of false negative reviews are one stars. Nobody pays for two- or three-star ratings, since smart fake reviewers know that overselling is a problem and may provide four instead of the full five stars.

The most common red flags to look out for are:

• All the reviews being 5 stars
• The reviews being very vague and lacking in specificity
• Generic reviews
• Spelling mistakes and bad sentence structure/grammar
• When the “Customers also bought” section contains products that are completely different than the one you want

In other news, here’s how to spot fake news on TikTok.