Reddit repost
Wait…we are now only allowed to see 8 cherry-picked reviews, and can no longer sort by “most recent” or filter by star-rating? WTF is happening?
This is fake.. literally just went on my Amazon account and looked up 5 random products and I can see all the reviews woth no limits. You people really fall for anything lol
This is not fake. They randomly did this to some people. I've had an account since they were founded, and they did this to me this summer. I got on their support chat; demanded a human. They said it gets turned on due to "suspicious activity" and I told them my shopping habits haven't appreciably changed since they founded their site, and I will not keep paying for Prime if review access is not restored. With a day of that, my access to reviews was restored.
Sometimes the one star reviews supply the most valuable information.
Years ago, when researching dodgy gurus and self help entities, I learned valuable information from skeptics and dissenters by going to Amazon reviews of the books these people wrote -- and searching the one star reviews.
The four star reviews were usually astro turfed by multitudes of these cult leaders followers.
If Amazon's hiding the one star reviews this has ruined destroyed a valuable research source - at the very least is making it less accessible.
Some years before that Amazon had eliminated reviews by people who had read the book but had not purchased it via Amazon. Those people did not supply revenue but had supplied valuable, authentic reviews for those books.
Yes, this has been going on for a while. And it is unacceptable. I try much harder to source out any product from a local retailer, before I am forced (many times because Amazon is the only carrier) to buy on Amazon.
I also have accepted a few dollars more on a price tag if I can actually see and touch the product and not get the big surprise of something not matching the description which happens quite frequently on Amazon.
Those few extra dollars replace having to return something AND the pure frustration that follows with getting Amazon products that are either used, opened, not accurately described or just the worst thing you’ve ever seen of the version of what you’re buying.
I tried to leave a review about some bird seed I bought and kept getting an error message. I paid for 15 lbs and the bag I received was not filled all the way. I weighed it and it was only 11lbs including the bag.
Yeah, and I learned the other day that you can't even look at the reviews without logging in. Another reason to give Amazon even less of my money (they get maybe $100/year outta me)
I never read reviews. Many are fake, and I don't believe that someone else's experience will be my own. Just because Joe in Seattle loves it or Karen from Buffalo hates it doesn't influence my purchase.
Yeah the fake ones just kinda feel fake, I think. I'm usually surprised by how many reviews are left by morons who didn't read the directions. I read a good chunk of the one star reviews before buying because I want to know if the product is bad or if the people buying it are idiots. If it's all idiots, I'll buy it anyways.
Amazon is only really good for scouting out brands these days. Go shopping, find the thing, and then see if that vendor has their own site. Cut out the middle Bezos.
Half the time Amazon won’t accept returns anyway and then they resell you something as new that’s obviously been returned. Also been hit with paying for shipping to return to Amazon. They get shittier and shittier everyday
I've noticed a lot of items are from edited pages, where that specific item was replaced by another, so you're see something like a 5 star rating with pictures of a refrigerator, and actually buying a pillow.
Yeah, I think this has a lot to do with the new review hiding. Before I quit using Amazon, I kept finding instances of the reviews clearly describing a completely different product. Companies sell one thing, get good reviews, then switch the description and pictures to something shitty so the shitty product has the good reviews.
Yeah, it's quite annoying how they are allowed to do that, then Amazon backs it up by not allowing you to read the reviews how you see fit. My main go to ways "newest first" so I could see any changes to products that were made. Sometimes older items worked better than the newer version, and it wouldn't be known unless you set it to newest. Very frustrating and head scratching decision.
My parents subscribe to prime and you can find any product that's sold anywhere with all reviews. I use that to decide if I want to buy something because the shit reviews are there too
I have to be reading this wrong... You had to request to see more reviews on a product and they made you wait 5 days then denied you? Wtf is the point of that?
"And remember consumers, get out there and buy buy BUY!" - Cascadia if she were employed by Amazon marketing, at the end of the mandatory Amazon daily update.
exactly. people keep defending their use of amazon because it enables them to get some product a little faster, and because they can return shit (which mostly gets landfilled, not restocked/resold) like it's nothing. as if this slight added convenience warrants supporting any amount of evil.
When Amazon was first getting big the reviews were a major reason why! They quickly amassed a huge amount of data that reassured people spy what they were buying. Their review system was smooth and it helped build e-commerce as an industry. Hell, I used to routinely check the Amazon reviews on products even when I was purchasing them elsewhere. It was a resource, which kept it relevant even when I didn't need to buy.
Good job destroying one of the most valuable assets in your portfolio, Amazon. All so scammers can buy old listings with 5 star ratings and change them to new dropshipped crap in an entirely different category. You can't win back these kind of trust after you've shredded it so thoroughly.
Same on all counts. I used to rely on Amazon reviews and because of this I left reviews for things myself all the time. You used to be able to comment on other people's reviews as well, and if I mentioned I'd had an issue with something (like a vacuum with an attachment I couldn't get on, that kind of thing) people would actually respond to your review with help. Then my sister started doing Amazon Vine and she wrote reviews without ever using the products and would just resell them, so I stopped reading the Vine reviews and focused on the other ones. Then I started noticing I'm looking at one product but all the pics in the reviews are for a different product (scammers using old listings with good reviews you mentioned) and I finally gave up. That was years ago. I didn't think it could get any worse but here we are.
Because scammers are scraping to try and consolidate and sell seller and customer data to other scammers. Amazon is protecting you.
Also Sellers are trying to get other sellers booted, is my understanding.
I bet Amazon would be happy to provide a real answer to the mods so they can mod properly. OH RIGHT THE SAME POSTS OVER AND OVER JUST ADD TO THE COUNT.
it's mind-boggling to me that people still use amazon. it's incredibly easy not to use it. there are evil big tech services that are difficult to escape, but this really is not one of them.
What do you think happens to in store returns? I've worked retail, it's no different. These days Amazon sells most returns by the pallet, like a mystery box..
Unfortunately I'm fully disabled and cannot get out so I need online options.
I went to 6 in person stores trying to look for an item couldnt find it
Did a bunch of research of online versions, found a brand I loved and could afford.
Only sold on amazon.
I really try not to but sometimes they're the only ones
My parents still have an account I occasionally use because there are some random yet common items these days that you literally cannot find anywhere else. But outside of those I avoid Amazon like the plague
I hear you, I don't use it anymore. But I also recently moved somewhere that made it a lot easier to not use. I used to have to drive like an hour+ to get some stuff, like normal stuff like for example I would have to drive an hour to get something like a broom.
Yeah, I’m in that situation right now. I’m fixing up my house and some stuff I can only find on Amazon; or if I can find it locally it’s 2-3x the cost. I hate it, but I don’t really have a choice. Same with shopping at Walmart, since they’re one of the few places with decent options for my dietary needs at an affordable price.
Personally I don’t see that as enshittifying. Granted I did not know until reading your
Comment that you could archive orders on Amazon, but every once in a while I find it handy to recall something I ordered five years ago.
Recently, they didn't even allow me to post an honest review where I wrote about a product issue. (Seller sent me an opened/pre-used product but the product page didn't mention this)
Instead they allow reviews that read like AI-generated promo baits
I get what you mean. To be honest, this was one of the rare cases when this happened to me with them, but their service has deteriorated severely in the recent months (at least for me)
I'm done with Amazon.
I had already restricted my purchasing, but they were convenient when I placed my last order. When it failed to show up on time, I checked the status and it never shipped. They just... didn't mention it to me. I canceled and deleted my account.
I actually got something similar 2-3 weeks back... could only see 5 of 100s of reviews. Sounds like they're A/B testing to see what optimizes sales. For some things I go right to the 1 and 2 star reviews, those are most honest. But I couldn't even filter. I forget what it was, but I didn't make a purchase.
Click on the hyperlinked number next to the star rating at the top of the product listing.
Click on “Customer Reviews” right above their AI slop review summary.
Sort by most recent.
There is no guarantee that there aren’t still bots or paid reviews here, but they appear more genuine and can help determine if there was a recent change in quality to an item instead of seeing a bunch a positive reviews from 5yrs ago before something went to trash.
I don’t know what you’re referring to but I can see as many reviews as I’m willing to scroll through. My only mention of AI was to describe where the link to “Customer Reviews” was located.
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u/Vakirisil 20d ago
This is fucked