The other day while viewing Amazon for a scam product I noticed I couldn't see any of the 1 star reviews.

[jargoggles@kolektiva.social]

@xssfox
Makes sense to me. As a sketchy drug dealer, I don't let my customers bring test kits because if they knew what was in my drugs, they wouldn't buy them. That's just good business.

[nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social]

@xssfox What do you mean nearly fraud? It straight up 100% is fraud...

[nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social]

@xssfox Weird thing, but for some reason I'm allowed to see the 1-star reviews? Or at least it shows two reviews and I don't see any sort of "request all reviews" option.

They both say what you'd expect they say.

[mstr_milktea@blorbo.social]

@xssfox

Had the same experience for a different shopping platform where they literally *take reviews from other shops selling similar products* for shops that havent sold much of that item to pass it off as their own with a tiny grey disclaimer.

How sick is that. False advertising to the extremities, and I've been watching the downpour of scummy practices from this same company over the years.

[rowyn@mastodon.art]

@scottcain those reviews were posted June 21, so probably after @xssfox "requested access" to reviews.

[oldfartrant@mstdn.ca]

@xssfox wayfail won't accept a 1 star review.

[theguy09@mastodon.social]

@xssfox @uep I'm able to see two one star reviews but man the fact this was allowed to be put up is disgusting. Genuine slop and it's full of incorrect information too

[me_valentijn@m.ai6yr.org]

@xssfox
Here, just read this AI summary of reviews which slightly rephrases the seller's product description 🤪

[azurekingfisher@mastodon.art]

@xssfox I had to login to see any negative reviews.

[digitaltaoist@ieji.de]

@xssfox
Misrepresentation by omission?

[canleaf@mastodon.social]

@xssfox do not shop with Amazon

[me_valentijn@m.ai6yr.org]

@xssfox @uep
Lolz, it even shows two different versions of the same AI generated pages in one image. Looks like there's a whole heap of "100,000 Whys" slop on Amazon with various fake authors. One of the authors -might- be real?

[funkdoctor@mastodon.social]

@beeeff @xssfox check out bookshop.org

[beeeff@mastodon.social]

@funkdoctor @xssfox America U.K. & Ireland only Im afraid.
best practices and prices hands down, though.

[jdebp@mastodonapp.uk]

@scottcain

When @cstross and @lcamtuf first mentioned that, I went and looked at that and several others.

The listing for the one found by @draNgNon was (and still is for me, as I checked it again just now) exactly as @xssfox described. Only a few reviews that clue people in that this is money for old rope, and a hyperlink to beg permission to see anything more than a handful of reviews out of a couple of hundred.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116788436560592117

There have been reports for years of the #Amazon reviews system being gamed, with things like tricks to get things listed as verified purchases.

#astronomy

[randomhost@tech.lgbt]

@xssfox Amazon is a dropshipping marketplace and scammer paradise, not a reputable company.

The sooner everybody understands that, the earlier we can boycott that awful anti-human company out of existence.

I wish I hadn't bought - woops I mean "licensed" - a whole bunch of movies from their platform.

My media library being held hostage by them is probably the only thing keeping me tethered to this awful corporation.

[corb_the_lesser@mastodon.social]

@xssfox

1. Best to ignore reviews on retail sites. They're there to sell, not inform.

2. I quit Amazon after the local distribution center's gig-work Amazon Logistics drivers began deliberately failing to deliver about 25% of my orders. They'd drop several packages at one doorway, then send the same "verification" photo to every one of those several customers. Amazon customer service eventually refused my calls claiming I'd asked for too many refunds. I'd actually never asked for any.

[wooshell@chaosfurs.social]

@xssfox if I look for that ASIN on German Amazon, I can buy the book, but it shows Zero reviews, and the usual link to "reviews in other languages" seems missing.. as if nobody had ever bought that book.

[wooshell@chaosfurs.social]

@Corb_The_Lesser @xssfox Amzn delivery quality is abysmal. My drop-off instructions state "parcel box at front entrance" (which is set back about 10 meters from the street), and the lazy fucks repeatedly drop the parcels just over the garden fence, where they're exposed to the elements and widely visible for theft.

[humanadverb@dice.camp]

@xssfox I'm able to click through and see the one-start review. Which I think means they're hiding it from you specifically for some reason.

You might be pulling a thread at something even more interesting than Amazon helping scammers.