Are Online Sellers Faking Positive Reviews and Ratings?

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Written by
2 years ago

March 16.

I was browsing through some electronic products in Shopee and Lazada. The truth is, I was looking for a low-cost 10-11 inch tablet. The first that I always check before buying electronic or digital products is to check the ratings and read the reviews. ,

As I was reading some of the reviews of a particular product in Shopee, there was something nagging me in at least two of the reviews written in Tagalog. At first, I ignored it. However, when I switched to Lazada, I noticed something similar. Then I realized something alarming!

Author's note: I added the Bonus: Lost in Translation part.

Greetings, my amazing friends and online shoppers. What I am about to share with is somewhat alarming, to say the least. However, this will serve as a warning when you are doing online shopping. I may have noticed this in Lazada and Shopee Philippines, but I have seen a video revealing something similar in Amazon.

What I will present here are cases that I have seen in Shopee and Lazada Philippines only.

Are Online Sellers Faking Positive Reviews and Ratings?

I was looking for a 10 to 11-inch tablet at a low price. In my experience before, I bought a 10.1-tablet a few years ago. It costs less than P4,000 only. That's just about $80. It was powered by a quad-core processor. At the time, octa-core tablets were just hitting the market.

Before I bought it though, I read the reviews first, both positive and negative. Fortunately, the product was legit and I can say, I got more than what I paid for.

Earlier today, I was again looking for a tablet with a 10 to 11-inch screen. As much as possible I stay away from items with popular brands like Samsung, Realme, etc...

I'm almost 101% sure that 10-inch tablets priced less than P5000 bearing those brands are fake. I'm inclined to buy unbranded or unknown brands at that price.  

Case 1: Translated via Google Translate

take a look at this first photo and read the reviews in Tagalog.

 

I wanted to translate it back to English, but I find it difficult to do since this looks like a broken Tagalog. But this is what happens when you translate from English, or more likely another language, to Tagalog using a translator like Google Translator.

Case No 2: Duplicate Comments from "Different" users.

What are the odds that two users would say exactly the same thing in the review?

What do you think?

Case No, 3: Duplicate comments on Different Products

Then I saw the two duplicate comments on similar products but from different sellers. If case number 2 is quite unlikely, this case made it obvious that the rating and review is a fake.

Bonus: Lost In Translation!

I just had to add this one. I just saw this now.

Take note of the following:

  1. The tablet is an ARTIFACT! Er... I imagine a dinosaur using a Tablet... LOL

  2. Makinis - is Filipino for smooth surface that does not apply to smooth operation.

  3. Laki - is Filipino for big, but applies for physical size. Loud is supposed to be "malakas"

Why Fake The Reviews?


Obviously, the sellers simply want to have some quick money. They don't care how. They will use the names of popular brands to attract unsuspecting buyers. In Filipino, we call this "budol budol". Simply put... SCAM!

However, there are sellers who are honest enough to sell their products as it is. They don't even try to change the name of the brand.

Read: Product Review: Neuteq Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse From Shoppee

How to avoid scammers.

Here are some tips to avoid these scammers

1. If the offer seems too good to be true... it is too good to be true. Popular brands would never sell their products at less than half their published price.

2. Don't trust positive ratings. I guess the examples I gave above are enough reasons why. Read also the negative ratings no matter how few.

3. Do Your Own Research. Check YouTube or other websites for legitimate reviews. Especially if you are buying electronic and digital products.

In Closing.

Protect your hard-earned money. Be cautious when buying online. There will always be some people who will try to scam others to earn some quick bucks.

I had my share in buying fake products like the  2 Terabyte flashdrive at P150 only. I don't know how they did it, the Windows and Android will show almost 2 Terabytes of storage, but when I copied my large files into it, it won't accept anymore files after it reached more than 20GB.

Be cautious when buying online

Live a productive life.

Thanks for reading                   

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Written by
2 years ago

Comments

yes i do believe there are fake reviews.. they might be someone related to the seller.. they get the product, give a review

what I do is really look for legit comments.. no google translation

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User's avatar Momentswithmatti
2 years ago

Meron namang legit na comments, eh. Yun din ang hinahahanap ko lagi

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User's avatar JLoberiza
2 years ago

kaya nga pag parang off naman ung mga comments, i'd shy away..masakit masaktan pag dating ng product

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User's avatar Momentswithmatti
2 years ago

Sometinea hindi mapagkakatiwala yang good and postive review kaya kailangan talaga yang DYOR.

$ 0.02
User's avatar JustMaryel
2 years ago

Tama. Lalo na pag "branded" at latest model daw ang binebenta sa halagang 30% or lower sa published price ng ganung brand.

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User's avatar JLoberiza
2 years ago

pagganyan hindi naman sobrang baba yung price nila pero pagmababa sure na fake yan hahaha

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User's avatar JustMaryel
2 years ago

If those websites are operating with a dropshiping model, reviews might be imported directly from aliexpress. It's quite a common practice among dropshippers.

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User's avatar MoneyCanWorkForYou
2 years ago

I'm not sure if they are doing the dropshipping model. I think I will try to apply as a seller on those sites and see how the system works.

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User's avatar JLoberiza
2 years ago

I worked as a product reviewer too sometimes back and ours we don't actually duplicate the comments but the ratings of the products were always high because we what people buying more products and it's also a business propaganda and all

$ 0.02
User's avatar Adobe01
2 years ago

I think will create a product review channel on YouTube soon. or something like an online shopping guide. :D There are now countless fraudulent sellers online.

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User's avatar JLoberiza
2 years ago

I can relate to that. I once bought a 2TB flash drive for not more than ₱200. I got so amazed by those kinds of reviews but when I got it, all of the files I copied from it were not recognized or they will not be saved in the flash drive. I lost a lot of files because of it.

$ 0.02
User's avatar Fyangzee24
2 years ago

The situation is same in my country some sellers go to extreme lengths to promote the goodness of their product but in reality it's very bad. While buying in online do lots of research and try to for products which can refunded or returned as when you get the faulty one or fake one, that's the best option you can do.

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User's avatar TheGuy
2 years ago

Yeah, that is true.

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User's avatar JLoberiza
2 years ago

Kaya ako di bumibili online ng gadgets, maganda na un s physical store or kiosk bibili at least matest mo ng maayos. Madami kasi talaga mga ganyan na oinepeke un reviews para makaatttact ng buyer.

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User's avatar Pachuchay
2 years ago

Tama. Pero meron namang legit. Yung nabili kong unbranded tumagal ng mahigit dalawang taon. Tatagal pa sana kung hindi lang nabagsak ng anak ko. Hehe. Pero less than 4 lang yun. At napagperahan ko rin yun.

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User's avatar JLoberiza
2 years ago

When when I was ordering something in shopping apps like shoppe and lazada I always try to read and analyze every reviews on the products as well as I analyze the store and other things that they are selling because I don't want to be scammed and so far I haven't experienced any sort of problems with fake products.

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User's avatar JanPat0204
2 years ago
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