Amazon... Insidious Menace?

TechGromit · October 2021

volfkhat said:

Is it time i reconsider how i spend my $$$?

Yes but for different reasons. Amazon has way too many counterfeit goods on it for comfort. And it's not just Gucci handbags and Rolex watches. Anything counterfeiters can fake and turn a quick buck on is game. Take cosmetics for example, it's not just a question of interior ingredients, but they will put lead and acid in products just to make them look like the real thing.

Amazon also doesn't help the matter. If you buy say for example Unicorn toothpaste from a Toothpaste Works, reputable company on Amazon and a Counterfeiter Company XYZ also sell a counterfeit Unicorn toothpaste. While sources are listed who your buying from, when you go to buy the product, if you leave a review for the product, hey this stuff is fake, the review goes against the product, NOT who sell it. So people getting the real stuff and write a review great product, they are mixed in with the reviews people we purchased the fake product, Don't But it burned half my face off.

If the reviews were split into who sold the product as well as the product it's self, it would go a long way in identifying what companies are selling fake crap and which ones have the real product. Generally if it's too good to be true, it's fake. I purchased a scar cream product for my Girlfriend for scars she has after surgery, it cost me $105 for each small bottle I get from the Plastic Surgeon's office and it's only $20 on Amazon. Not willing to take the risk buying the cheaper product for fear it's going to harm her, not help.

JDMurray · October 2021

Another factor with misleading on-line product reviews is time. A review last a forever online, but the product reviewed can change over time for a variety of reasons. A newer release of a product may be worse that its previous releases, yet the glowing reviews of the previous product aide in selling the new, substandard product.

This happened to me with a vitamin supplement I use to buy that was very good. The manufacturer re-formulated the supplement--presumably to use more inexpensive ingredients--which ended up reducing the potency by 56%. This change in product quality was reveled and detailed by a new purchaser's review, but the 1000's of older reviews for the previous formulation kept the new, substandard product selling. Always read the newest reviews as part of your due diligence.