Nicole Nguyen: A lot of people put stock in reviews online because they can't touch and see the product that they're buying. Kate Linebaugh: And for these sellers to get noticed in this infinite bazaar, they need customers to post reviews. So on any given item, sunglasses, shoes, beauty products, there are thousands upon thousands of sellers competing in the same category. Amazon doesn't put limits on how many sellers can come to this marketplace. It's a bottomless virtual place where sellers can come sell their goods to all of Amazon's customers. Nicole Nguyen: The Amazon Marketplace is what I like to call an infinite bazaar. Millions of other companies use the site to get in front of customers through what is called the Amazon Marketplace. It's Friday, August 13th.Ĭoming up on the show, the often bogus, sometimes menacing world of Amazon reviews.Īmazon is the largest online retailer in the world, but it's not just Amazon that sells products there.
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business and power. Kate Linebaugh: What Nicole found was a whole world of sellers that are willing to fake and manipulate customer reviews. And I realized that every single one of those reviews was fake, and just became obsessed with figuring out why there were so many fake reviews on Amazon and who was writing them. And they all seemed legitimate and there were like photos of people with earrings that were not the earrings that were sent to me. Nicole Nguyen: This product had like 1000 five-star reviews. But what stood out to Nicole here was that the customer reviews had been glowing. Kate Linebaugh: Nicole writes a personal tech column, so she knows things on the internet aren't always as they seem. They were like plastic, sort of like Barbie, like costume jewelry. And these clip on earrings were from this no-name brand that I had never heard of, and when they arrived, they were absolutely not clip on earrings. Nicole Nguyen: I once bought a pair of clip on earrings. Kate Linebaugh: Our colleague Nicole Nguyen told us about a shopping experience she had on Amazon that drew her attention to the power of online reviews. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated. This transcript was prepared by a transcription service.
0 kommentar(er)
