“There are so many things going on in Amazon,” Noonan says. “There are so many little loopholes that can affect the fluctuations we see.”
He cites One Tap Reviews, which let users rate products from one to five stars without commenting. Before this feature was rolled out, users had to leave a written review describing the product, which included their profile information and a time stamp. Without those two identifying details, Noonan says, it has become more difficult to discern whether the star ratings are real.
He suspects the changes have helped push up the average rating on One Tap reviews to about 4.6 stars, compared with 4.3 stars when reviewers had to comment on, as well as rate, a product. “This has already led to abuse,” he wrote in a blog post from February and updated in July. “We can’t see the dates the ratings were submitted, which users submitted the ratings, what other products those users rated.”
“One Tap review was created to help shoppers get authentic customer ratings on products from a broader set of customers who we know have experienced the product,” the Amazon spokeswoman said. “Customers can help other shoppers even if they aren’t willing to write a detailed review, by simply giving the product a star rating.”
Based on past experience, Khalifah expects the volume of fake reviews to worsen as Amazon heads into the holiday shopping season, which will be busier than usual as shoppers continue to avoid stores amid an uptick in Covid-19 cases. “If it’s too good to be true,” he says, “it probably isn’t.”