Wait, what? Really? Okay. With your host, Loren Weisman. This is a fully licensed theme song for the show about stuff that makes you say wait, what? Really? Okay. This is Loren Wiseman. This is the Wait, what Really? Okay. Podcast. Today’s topic is around the fake Amazon reviews. And this is less about the Somebody claims to have a best seller, which way too many do and they genuinely don’t. They have a best. In many cases, they have a best free robot download to appear as if it’s a bestseller. And in that, taking it a step further to how people get their reviews, are they buying them or at the same time, are they pushing for people to push other people down? We seem to be in a time of you have any kind of dissonance, you have any kind of debate, it goes to insult. I noticed there was a guy the other day online and we had a little back and forth. It was nice. And here’s my thought, here’s why. I’m not crazy about it, but do as you wish. And between him and I, it was wonderful. Somebody else pops in and because I disagreed, immediately insulted me and then immediately insulted what I do. Now, this guy, I’ve never heard of him, I don’t know that he’s never worked with me. And I don’t know where he comes off as the expert now trying to just bash me because I disagreed with him. Now on that same note, we have that happening online. Certain products are moving up and they’re genuinely doing good. People are buying negative campaign runs to get people to make sometimes they’re fake profiles, sometimes they’re limited profiles on Amazon to bash them down. And the same thing goes for many of these robots that will sit there and just positively review. This is just the most wonderful thing. Well, how do you know? So here’s a couple steps to consider taking when you’re looking at something. If you’re seeing something where it looks like there’s some really good reviews, click the reviewer. See if that reviewer has a number of reviews. Many of the fake bot type reviews, especially the negative ones, and even some of the positive ones too, they’ll have a very limited amount and oftentimes they’ll have the same voicing. They’ll be saying pretty much the same thing, how either they really love something and they’ll use the exact same words, or how they really hate something and how it’s just absolutely terrible. So by taking that extra moment to say, okay, I’m thinking about this product, I’d like to, you know, hear about it from friends, I’d like to hear about it from other people, but I’m gonna look at Amazon reviews, see what the validity of those reviews are. I oftentimes also have an issue when I see something where it says, you know, over a hundred thousand Amazon reviews to me, I get that’s not. To everybody. It has me wondering like, okay, did you buy up those reviews or did you put in some kind of I’ll give you five dollar Amazon card or you’ll get a discount. At this almost this quid pro quo review thing, I’m not really crazy about those. And oftentimes in seeing them show up in the exact same way or the exact same words, it may be a red flag for the validity, the authority and the authenticity of what that actual product is. So in a sense, just consider digging a little bit deeper. The same thing when you go onto a website. You know, John S said that this is the greatest thing John S could be made up. There’s no backlink to that. And so to some of the businesses, if you’re putting links or reviews, and I get that you might not necessarily want to break the privacy of, you know, of a review and pointing it toward a given person like an email or something like that, but garnering emails that are coming genuinely through Google Business, coming through Yelp, coming through Amazon, coming through trustpilot elsewhere to be able to not only share that, but share the link to show you didn’t make this up. We get lost a lot of times, many of us, when it comes, when it’s in between the intention and the perception of reviews. While you might have the most beautiful, engaged, caring audience that wants to genuinely promote you, I understand that. However, a high level of majority are people out there either hyping or bashing or trying to create a false presence to make up for what they don’t have. So in a level of humility, in a level of backing off the ego, as opposed to saying, look at how all these people say how great I am. Well, I can tell you how some really awful, terrible products have some of the best reviews you’ve ever seen. I mean, it really is amazing the crap that can be put out and that it’s, you know, much of it isn’t caught until later on or there’s some really high echelon product and then it’s immediately followed up with your, you know, sort of temu like shortcut. I loved last and I didn’t love it for him, but last week there was a guy who didn’t read the the details correctly. He Got sent a drill. He thought he ordered a drill. He got sent a picture of a drill. And that was why it was of that price. And he was, you know, pretty pissed off and all. Still fascinating that, you know, the stuff that can go out there, the sub quality that can be out there and in it, there’s a sub quality when it comes to, you know, reviews. And in this particular review thing, it was like, oh, this, this guy’s real. Because, you know, he has all these different reviews. Okay. But it was still a scam. So add that extra sense of the due diligence. Double check it especially looking to see. So if you’re seeing a whole bunch of more recent reviews, and I mean, I’m always a fan sometimes of the four star I want to read, you know, maybe, maybe it’s not something perfect or I’m also, I tend to be a fan of someone that’s spending a little bit more time in a review. I like the people that speak a little bit more subjectively in a review that as opposed to someone saying this is the best. Okay, well, so you think so? Or were they paid to say that? Or is this also, you know, if you check some of these people are these influencers that don’t care about you at all. I believe they don’t. I believe they’re carrying on making as much in their impressions and in their referrals and through their stores so that you, you’ll buy. I, I wonder if we came to a place, and I don’t know if this is even remotely realistic, where Amazon associates would have to be held liable for their statements, what would that look like? I mean, beyond businesses, beyond products being held liable. And it’s, it’s sad because of how stuff can just twist and turn, but at the same time that lack of validity, that lack of accountability allows, or a level of insanity when it comes to the optics and the messaging of many of these products. So dig. A summary of this is. Dig a little bit deeper. Have a look at where the reviews are. If you’re putting up reviews or looking for reviews, consider backlinking them to Amazon, to Yelp, to trustpilot, to Google Business. Show that these people are genuinely people. Show and, or, you know, even ask someone, you know, you posted this review in Facebook and can I point that to your, to that Facebook review. There’s something a little bit more, you know, that has a greater strength to that and a series of them coming from a series of different places than either just this excessive hype of this is all just the greatest or, you know, this is all just the worst. The other thing, the last thing to mention, to look at when it comes to reviews. Have a look at the tempo, at the timing. Are they bunched in together all at the same time? I’m a big anti advocate when it comes to these LinkedIn posting parties. I think that’s completely immoral. I think it’s unethical. I think it’s just wrong. So you’re gonna get a whole bunch of people that are gonna get on at the same time and you’re all gonna go and review the other people’s stuff and you’re gonna put all these great reviews during this one particular hour. Well, LinkedIn is even starting to notice that with their algorithm. So it’s busting some people. It’s putting them in the position of going, okay, wait a minute. All of a sudden it’s all quiet on the front for two weeks. And then in just, just under two hours, there’s 40 reviews. That looks off. That is off. And I’m glad that LinkedIn is identifying that as being off. You know, one of the things I wish we could see from Amazon, you know, not just the verified buyers, but the amount of time that went from when the product was received to when the product was reviewed. These people that are opening their boxes and before they get to the inside has a little thing, give us a five star and we’ll send you this, or we’ll sen. Send you this coupon, or we’ll send you this discount or we’ll send you this extra thing. And these people here stating the most wonderful thing and not realizing it. I would love it. You know, I, I bought a beard oil a couple weeks ago, three weeks ago, and it has this couple different oils and rosemary and a joba and avocado oil in it. And it’s just, it’s, it’s very softening. Now when I first put it in that first morning, you know, I, I really, where was I to review? It was a beard oil. I didn’t know the experience, I didn’t know how long it was going to last. I didn’t know if it was going to, you know, maintain. But three weeks later, 21 days later, is when I chose to do the review, to say, I feel like my beard is softer, I feel like it’s cleaner. I feel like it’s even in parts a little bit darker. And that, you know, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have that or this advanced thing on a, a different section of Amazon where it’s this advanced level of this person, you know, they received their product on this date and you know, plus 21 days, plus 30 days, plus, you know, two months, that to me could bring a level of validity. I wonder if Amazon would even consider that. I mean, you know, it might bring up authority for those that are, that have authoritative products. Either way, in the end, look at the optics as a whole. Don’t be fooled by the fools that are just trying to present popularity and five stars and hype right out of the gate. They’re not being held liable, they’re not being held accountable. So they really can say anything they want. And then if you go and buy, well, all these people said, you know, this was great, well, that ends up being on you. Because if you didn’t check to see if all those people that said it was great were real people or were not part of some kind of marketing PR or just AI campaign, then it’s your fault that you didn’t go and have a look at that. So have a look, dig deeper. And if you’re putting up reviews, look for a level of versatility in backlinking to genuine places. Because even though you know in your heart this person is true and you sent that product right to that person and you’ve got your intention to be right there northward. Consider the perception of so many out there that are dealing with so many fakes. And the more you can take down those walls, the negative connotations, the assumptions, the more you be, you may be able to move their perceptions to understand your intentions. My name is Loren Weisman. This is. Wait, what? Really? Okay, have a good one.
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