Best Amazon Review Checker You Must Try

Amazon’s fake review problem goes back years and is notoriously difficult for sellers. Till 2016, Amazon allowed sellers to give away their products to customers for free in return for unbiased reviews. This giveaway was used frequently by sellers to gain traction on their products and garner positive reviews.

Sales numbers went up quickly. Customers purchased from sellers who had great reviews. But not everyone came out a winner in that deal, at least not the buyers.

Review manipulation forced Amazon to prohibit paid reviews. However, instead of solving the fake review problem, all it did was push the entire illegal activity underground. Sellers resorted to manipulating search rankings on Amazon, buying fake reviews, manipulating other seller’s reviews with fake reviews, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

But fake reviews are, to date, a danger to Amazon’s whole operating system as it affects buyer trust. Sellers who operate legally suffer because of their competitors, who manipulate reviews. Buyers have already started losing faith in Amazon reviews.

This is why Amazon review checkers are great tools that can help sellers and buyers alike in distinguishing fake reviews.

What is an Amazon Review Checker? 

Amazon has 4.5 billion customers widely and is responsible for 70% of online shopping only in the United States. With that many transactions happening on a daily basis, there are bound to be millions of new reviews popping up each day.

Amazon review checkers are designed to help buyers and sellers distinguish fake reviews from real ones and give them a better shopping experience. The task is monumental and cannot be handled manually. So, Amazon review checkers generate reports based on reviews that have been published.

With the advancement in fake review buying, even verified purchases are not a trustworthy source of a product’s qualities. The review checkers analyze all aspects of a review to understand whether it is from a legitimate buyer or were put up by a suspicious source. The aim is to gather as much data as possible and present a hypothesis about the review accuracy.

Although review checkers are not 100% accurate, they help users to understand the overall validation of the reviews.

How does Amazon Review Checker Work? 

Review checkers Amazon rely on a similar algorithm used by Amazon to detect suspicious activity surrounding product ratings. Some accounts of these suspicious activities are: posting a lot of reviews in a very short time, posting reviews from the same account, posting very short reviews in 5 star or 1-star ratings, not having verified purchases, etc.

These factors are picked up by the review checkers that analyze the real content of those reviews to come up with reports that tell the user whether they are genuine or fake.

Amazon review checkers also can alert sellers in case they get reviews based on something other than their products.

For example, very frequently sellers get negative reviews because the buyer had a bad experience with the delivery or shipment of the product, which is Amazon’s service and not an issue with the product.

Sellers can then dispute these reviews and get them removed. Review checkers also do the task of removing these reviews. All in all, by suspending fraudulent activity, amazon review checkers help protect the reputation of your business.

What are the Best Amazon Review Checkers?

Fake review spotters are amazing for many reasons. They save the buyers’ time and money by showing them an adjusted rating of the product. This helps protect the reputation of seller’s brands from malicious interruption.

With the right review checker, amazon’s fake review pandemic can be tackled with. And we have the best fake review finders compiled in this list which will guide you on how to protect your business.

AMZ Review Tracker 

AMZ Reviews Tracker is one of the first review checkers that served as a lifesaving invention for sellers. The tool was highly popular in 2016.

Post-2016, when Amazon published its new guidelines that banned reviews based on product giveaways, AMZ Tracker lost popularity because its whole algorithm was based on spotting reviews based on an incentive.

The feature name was Review Club, and it went obsolete almost overnight. However, AMZ Reviews Tracker had many other tools beyond just Review Club that make it a noteworthy tool in our opinion.

Negative Alerts Review

A great feature, which can help sellers retain a 4-star or above ranking on amazon to ensure a steady flow of sales coming in. This tool works by notifying the seller any time there is a review of less than 5-stars.

This enables sellers to quickly contact the buyer and find out in detail what issue they are facing and see if anything can be done to resolve that.

Positive engagement can help maintain a good reputation among buyers, who are very likely to remove the negative review if they can get a solution to their problem.

Reviewer Hunter

This feature is still in beta and requires sellers to connect their account with AMZ to be able to use it. The Reviewer Hunter gathers the email addresses of reviewers to maintain a mailing list for effective communication on whatever product they have purchased. This also allows sellers to build a reputation with customers and can drive the reviews up if utilized correctly.

Fakespot

Fakespot has a history of completing over 3 billion review analyses and is one of the best fake review spotters in the market. Not only are businesses on Amazon susceptible to fake reviews, but they also fall prey to manipulative actions from competitors.

To be able to build a brand reputation on a marketplace like an Amazon, it is imperative to stay above such manipulation and take precautions. Fakespot is a boon to both buyers and sellers. It has a pretty great algorithm when it comes to searching for the genuineness of reviews. Also, it is absolutely free.

How do I use Fakespot?

To understand how many reviews received on a page, you simply have to copy the Amazon URL, go to Fakespot and paste the URL, and then click analysis. The Fakespot algorithm will take care of the rest.

There is a browser extension available for all the browsers, and even on mobile platforms on iOS and android. This makes searching Fakespot even easier.

Does Fakespot work on other websites?

The original algorithm of Fakespot was targeted to review the content only on Amazon. But now it has also added support for Yelp and TripAdvisor which is a nice bonus for buyers.

In a recent search engine optimization for Walmart, Sephora and Best Buy, Fakespot has discovered that over 50% of reviews on the Walmart website were fake.

The algorithm of Fakespot not only analyzes the content of the review but also the reviewer too. It takes in every aspect of that account starting from search history, writing comprehension, grammatical mistakes, posted reviews and dates the reviews were posted, all of which can point to suspicious activity.

For example, a 7-day old Amazon account that has reviewed a lot of products and repeatedly used the same language, like ‘amazing’, ‘superb’ is obviously touted as unreliable.

What’s a Fakespot score?

When Fakespot finishes analysis of the reviews for a product, it the ratings based on the reliability of the reviews and posts a grade. And any product which has over 50% unreliable reviews would suddenly seem a lot less appealing to buyers, leading to better shopping experiences and getting better products.

For sellers, if you are selling genuine, good quality products with limited reviews, Fakespot will indeed help boost your business by weeding out competitors who generate reviews by dishonest means.

ProductReviewMonitoring 

The Review Monitoring was designed with big data analytics in mind. Although it is not a free product like Fakespot, there are various feature offerings that make it worth the price. The product is appropriately designed to spot fake or spiked reviews.

Before proceeding to buy, you can schedule a free trial demo with them to understand how each of its features works. You can access all the app features from the dashboard.

The application is still improving, and they are extremely receptive to user feedback, so feel free to utilize their services.

The review scraping feature is like no other. It works for all major retail giants like Walmart, Amazon, and the like.

What features do we dislike?

The review scraping software often gives errors in terms of review count and other data. But as we have said previously, the review monitoring team is extremely receptive to feedback. Contact them in case you encounter a bug and you will receive a quick resolution to the issue.

What do we recommend to people who want to use the product?

Understand the limitations of review scraping platforms from the team when you are in the demo phase to fully utilize the app to its potential.

What problems can this product solve?

The review monitoring feature can track a single product and scout various websites to gather all the reviews and create a collected report. This way, the authenticity of a product is validated based on genuine reviews. This also allows sellers to see any reviews that need replies to be posted.

The Review Index

The Review Index is available as a Firefox and Chrome extension. This online tool mainly aggregates product reviews for technical products from Amazon. But it can also give a pretty accurate reading on whether the score of a product has been boosted by fake reviews.

You can copy the URL of the Amazon product page you want to verify and paste it in the Review Index. In turn, the app parses individual words from the reviews and does a breakdown of the product based on keywords. The review app also runs a spam checker on the page to decide if the reviews that are available on the page are genuine or fake. In the end, it assigns a pass or fails grade based on the results.

If you analyze a lawnmower on amazon, the app breaks down the reviews on reliability, functionality, and price of the mower. The app categorizes the aspects of the lawnmower from negative to positive.

If many users have complained about the reliability of the product, the review Index will rate the reliability of the product as an issue. This makes the review Index algorithm extremely sophisticated. The only drawback of the application is that there is no mobile support, so a user either has to use the desktop application or the extension available with various browsers.

ReviewMeta

ReviewMeta has been the constant source of limelight and controversy after questioning Amazon’s review practices. They boast of having a very sophisticated algorithm that does a stellar job of spotting fake reviews. The algorithm is designed to scan thousands of reviews at a time and spot anything unusual.

The app works by gathering publicly available review data from sites like Amazon. Then, they drill down into the accounts of reviewers. As most bots and fake accounts have a telltale sign of paid review, the algorithm can detect and generate a report based on that.

This data is then run through an analyzer, judging every product the same way. There is no algorithm bias, as the site claims. The statistical modeling is able to find out if there is any pattern related to the review that strikes as out of the ordinary.

The application, then, generates an easy to understand spreadsheet that is easier to understand and interpret. They also assign a simple pass /fail grade associated with the reviews of the products based on how authentic they are.

What are ReviewMeta adjusted ratings?

The adjusted rating system aims to remove the clutter of biased reviews and lets users see what genuine buyers think of a product. The average rating is calculated by the algorithm based on the reviews which are deemed as most trustworthy, which are more likely to have originated from genuine sources. This allows a user to see the product rating without the noise of unnatural reviews.

What is the Most/Least Trusted Reviews feature on ReviewMeta?

As a seller or buyer, if you are trying to find reviews that can be trusted or reviews that can be reported for being fake, ReviewMeta lists out the top ten of both these lists so the users do not have to spend hours trying to track reliable/report worthy reviews.

CamelCamelCamel

The free app from the Camelizer only works on Amazon and businesses that are affiliated with Amazon. There are several other useful features of this app like keyboard searching and price tracking that a seller can leverage to benefit their business.

The AMZ Finder 

This fake review spotter has many features that are designed to spot and tackle fake or negative reviews. It pairs the reviews with the purchase orders automatically, making it much easier for sellers to track and take action on these reviews.

Depending on user interaction, sellers can decide whether the reviews are from genuine buyers and something can be done to resolve the issue or dispute them based on their authenticity.

The interface is intelligent and shows critical information in a streamlined and clear way. The application also generates a daily report of all the negative reviews received for a seller, making it an easier job to handle the reviews.

 Final Thoughts

The eCommerce industry has brutal competition and more often than not, sellers will encounter reviews that are negative, or with a low rating. There is nothing to be disappointed about when expectations about a product review are not met.

There are tools that are great in tackling these very issues. They provide you with an opportunity to ensure your brand reputation is protected. This will, in turn, allow you to be able to engage with your real customers and address their issues, creating brand value and a loyal customer base.

Similarly, as a buyer, it is imperative to find out the genuine value of a product by weeding out fake reviews, which these online tools can help with. This will ensure you receive products that are authentic and match the expected quality.

FAQs

How do I know if an Amazon review is legit?

As a seller or buyer, this question often pops up. And there is no straight answer. Fake reviews are the new normal. Any site will allow you to drill down on the person who has put up a review, see their name and see some of the other reviews that they have left for products.

To understand which reviews are genuine, it is important to understand which accounts are genuine. A genuine user would have written a fair amount of reviews. A user who has too few or too many reviews in a time span is a suspect.

One should also look into the actual review content. Reliability is determined by many criteria. If a product has only a few reviews and all of them are 4 or 5 stars rated, it is highly likely that they were paid ones.

A moderate number of reviews with a good bell curve from 1 to 5 is what a well-balanced, genuine product review looks like. Too many good reviews are an indication that the seller is trying to prop up business by buying fake reviews.

Reviews that have no real content but come with a 5 star are just as suspicious as the ones with 1 star. The first one signals to a paid review by the owner, and the second points to a paid review by a competitor.

Reviews that have verified purchase tag attached to them are from people who have purchased the product; therefore, they tend to be more honest.

Are Amazon reviews reliable?

As we have explained in this article, there is a discernible difference when it comes to Amazon reviews and the real performance of a product. Most times the reviews are unreliable. This is why we recommend running a simple scan through Fakespot or another similar tool to spot product reviews that are fake.

This will provide you with an adjusted score that reflects the product’s worth and will help you make a wise decision on whether a product is worth buying.

Why can’t Amazon do something about fake reviews?

In 2016, the rampant misuse of paid reviews led Amazon to straighten up their policies on reviews, which led to banning of fake product reviews. But since then, the fake review issue has spiraled out of control and retailers have worked out hundreds of ways to generate reviews that do not fall under Amazon guidelines.

There is no real way of solving this as the techniques keep changing and keep getting more sophisticated. The managers are simply not equipped to handle an issue this big without crippling the entire business.

We might see some improvements regarding review monitoring in the future, but for now, review checking tools are the best weapon against fake reviews.