Watchdog: Reviewers bribed

Best-selling products on Amazon Marketplace feature reviews from buyers who say they have been offered vouchers, freebies and money in exchange for posting five-star reviews and removing negative ones.

An investigation by consumer champion Which? found the tech giant was failing to adequately protect shoppers from fake and incentivised review practices on its site.

The watchdog looked at dozens of popular products and brands on Amazon Marketplace and, by using search terms such as “bribe” and “incentive”, found repeated evidence of customers reporting that sellers had approached them with a view to manipulating the rating they left for the product.

Five of the nine Amazon best-seller product categories analysed showed repeated evidence of incentivisation – including smartwatches, dash cams, Bluetooth speakers, in-ear headphones and surveillance video equipment.

A quarter of products across the top-10 best sellers in those five categories had reviews from customers stating they were being asked to post five-star reviews or alter or remove their negative feedback.

Amazon has a specific anti-manipulation policy for customer reviews stating that any attempts to manipulate reviews, including by directly or indirectly contributing false, misleading or inauthentic content, is “strictly prohibited”.

Which? believes stronger action is needed. Rocio Concha, its director of policy and advocacy, said: “The Competition and Markets Authority needs to urgently get to the bottom of the problem of misleading and fake reviews and be prepared to take strong action to ensure consumers can trust the reviews that influence billions of pounds of spending every year.”