How To Spot Fake Customer Reviews When Buying Tech Gadgets Online

There's no denying that product reviews play a big role when most of us purchase tech gadgets online. Whether we're shopping for a new Bluetooth speaker or a virtual reality headset, given the sheer number of products available, it's no wonder most of us turn to customer reviews to help us narrow the field before deciding what to buy. On the surface, these reviews have a lot to offer; they tell us how well a particular gadget works and if it's worth our hard-earned money.

What you may not know is online customer reviews are also big business. Because they are so influential and many people decide what to buy based on reading them, companies often manipulate or create fake reviews to boost sales. Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Google, and Trustpilot are just a few of the websites overrun with fake reviews.

Although most sites ban this practice, and the FTC has proposed a ban on fake online reviews, the problem still persists. So, it's up to you as a consumer to evaluate the customer reviews you see online and determine their credibility. While spotting fake reviews can be tricky, there are a few things you can do to uncover the truth and make informed decisions about which ones to trust.

While websites like Yelp have mechanisms in place to help consumers spot fake reviews, when dealing with reviews of tech gadgets, you'll often have to put on your detective cap to get to the bottom of whether a review you're reading is fake or legit. One of the most effective ways to do this is by paying attention to how a review sounds. Fake reviews are often over the top when it comes to praising or criticizing the product in question.

As you read them, you may notice they lack the nuance or balance you'd expect from genuine feedback. That's not to say that a review where a person expresses strong feelings about a product is always false. But if the review you're reading lacks specific details about the product's features, performance, or user experience, that's a red flag.

Fake reviews often go to an extreme, employing a one-size-fits-all narrative to describe a product. However, they usually lack details that could show the reviewer has firsthand experience with it. Contrast that with an authentic review, where the reviewer gives a personalized account of their experience using the product, highlighting both its positives and negatives.

Most websites require users to create a profile before reviewing a product. These profiles are very useful when it comes to evaluating whether a review you're reading is real or fake. Start by taking a close look at the user's name. Does it seem like something a real person would use, or does it appear generic or suspicious? Most people want to protect their identity online, so if a review doesn't include a person's first and last name, that's not inherently suspicious. However, if you see a meaningless or random name like User12345 or XYZ987, you may be dealing with a fake review.

The number of reviews a user has under their profile can also help you spot fake reviews. If they've only reviewed one product, you should be skeptical and take what they say with a grain of salt. Genuine reviewers typically have a diverse history and have reviewed various products over time. Fake reviewers often have a limited history and often focus on a specific type of tech product or brand, which could indicate potential bias or paid promotion.

Some e-commerce platforms like Amazon have verified purchase badges to let you know if the reviewer has bought the product, which is another way to assess a review's authenticity. Keep in mind that this isn't a foolproof method because fake reviewers can make purchases to lend credibility to their reviews. However, combined with other methods, it adds an extra layer of verification to assess the reliability of a review.

If, after examining a review, you're still not confident in whether it's real or fake, you can put technology to work to help you figure it out. These tools are designed to sift through reviews to separate sham opinions from the real ones. Fakespot is one of the most popular tools for sniffing out fake reviews. It uses advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence to evaluate the language patterns, reviewer history, and other details to determine if a review is legit.

Follow these steps to use Fakespot to evaluate the authenticity of a review:

1. Go to Fakespot.

2. Copy the URL of the product page or the review that you want to analyze.

3. Paste the URL into Fakespot's search bar on the homepage.

4. Click on the Analyze button.

5. Review the results of the analysis.

Fakespot's analysis of whether a review is fake or not includes an overall grade from A to F based on its assessment of the review's reliability and authenticity. If you want more in-depth information, you can look at the report's detailed analysis, which includes consistency of review patterns, reviewer's activity, and other data points that can help you judge whether a review is trustworthy.