The Fake Product Reviews: Are you in the know?

The internet is a fun and fascinating place with so much information, so many products, and games.  You name it, if you have interest in it, its out there on the world wide web!  The internet has become a big part of most people’s lives.  No longer do we have to drive all over town to find what we want. We can click and order. What convenience, right?  And for many of us, this has become a way of life.  Let’s face it, the retail stores most of us grew up with are a dying breed, even in major metro areas, and the product choices online are endless (way beyond what we normally would have access to) so virtual shopping is really all the rage!  The problem is we can’t touch or feel the product firsthand. We are often required to rely on internet reviews–reviews from other customers who came before us to know if a product is good or not. But are they trustworthy?

I wrote several years back how I found my negative reviews on Yelp were being hidden, and that there were several lawsuits by companies saying Yelp wasn’t being fair (I still don’t trust them).  That raised my eyebrows high.   About five years ago, I started realizing one in every five purchases I made on ebay involved fraud too.  So I steered clear of those as much as possible.

I tried to buy from big stores instead and like many people I found what I needed was often at Amazon. So I shopped there. I thought all was okay. But there are some serious loopholes!

If you are super internet savvy, you’ve probably become aware of the paid reviews. People are paid to review products to raise a product’s visibly, and no doubt, a product with more positive reviews will sell more product.  But with paid reviewers out there, who aren’t legitimate or honest, the game has changed. Reviews can be worthless!   Yes, paid reviewers are scamming the system acting as legitimate purchasers. Amazon is rife with this today.

If you find a product you like on Amazon, do some quick research before you buy.  Are the reviews suspicious?

Here are two tools for you to use:  FakeSpot.com and ReviewMeta.com. There are probably many more (feel free to post them in the comment section). I run products I’m interested in from Amazon through both of these tools now, and it’s quite illuminating!

Here is an example. I took a product from Amazon, “Pure Biology Anti Aging Night Cream“.  I ran it through FakeSpot, then ReviewMeta. Check out the results.

Wow, right?

Amazon showed over 900 reviews with a five star rating and said it was an Amazon best seller!  The two websites above, however, completely disagreed!  So much for trustworthy reviews.

If I am buying something that is not on Amazon, I search Google for reviews and find as many different reviews as I can from different respectable companies  (for example, if I was buying a camera, I would go to man different retailers to see their reviews — places I can take the product back to, for example). Good products usually are rated good across multiple reputable seller websites (Best Buy, B&H Photo, etc.).  Bad products will not have any reviews but in one location, or they will be good in one location but bad in many others.

If you don’t check the source of a review, however, you can get taken again.  Here is an example: Look at this review here.  Look at the print on the far right of the page.

Do you see it?

It says “Advertising Disclosures”.

If you click it, it reads, “The content that appears on this page are from companies from which this website receives compensation, which may impact how, where and in what order products appear…”

If that doesn’t say run, I don’t know what does!

We are in the most deceptive time in our history on so many levels, if you ask me.  And if you don’t pay attention when shopping online, you may very well get taken again and again and again.

I hope this information helps you get a good value for your dollar during our busy holiday shopping season!


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My Thoughts on DNC Rigging Election for Clinton

When I watched the election process happening, I saw many things that I didn’t want to publicly write because I knew people wouldn’t be able to see what I was seeing  at the time, and it would have caused a huge out lash and uproar. But if you watched the election process closely, and listened to what people were saying and watched the behavior of crowds as they responded to Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, it was clear things were not as they were being represented to us.

All you had to do was watch the way the crowds responded to each candidate. It was notably different.  Their excitement, fervor, and roars were clearly louder with one candidate than all the others. The way crowds reacted to Bernie surpassed by a great distance the way crowds reacted to Clinton or to Trump by a long shot, and it was clear Trump had the smallest crowds every time.

I wasn’t invested in any of the candidates and it stood out like a sore thumb to me. And then to hear all the people predict the election and get it wrong, and for Trump to win–none of it made sense. It smelled rotten to me for a long, long time, but I never expected it to be this bad.

Do I think it was rigged?  Did I think it was rigged before the election? Absolutely. I didn’t believe Hilary was the DNC choice and I didn’t believe Trump was truly elected. Not for a day.

I’m glad Elizabeth Warren is speaking out and standing on what she believes! Bless her–she is supporting the truth!

So not only did we get screwed with Trump in the election and Russia, we all got screwed by Hilary Clinton and the DNC as well.

Our country is in serious trouble and until we can get back to some honesty and fairness, we are risking our democracy as we know it.

Updated and removed Donna B. from my post. 11.4.17

Sheri Papini Case: 911 Call Released

Listen to Keith Papini’s 911 call reporting his wife missing last November.  It’s quite fascinating!

Does he sound like he is scared or worried to you?

He sounds completely excited to me, which doesn’t sound anything like scared or worried.

He even suggests what happened to her.  Interesting. He never entertains she could have simply dropped her phone. Hmmm….I wonder why?!

He is full of hot spots and I do not believe him one inch.  Do you?

Who is truthful: Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson or Trump?

I was flabbergasted when I saw a poll on MSNBC today that asked readers to share who they believed: Donald Trump or Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson?

When I saw 36% of people in a poll response of over 248,770 votes believe Donald Trump, I had to take a minute and post.

I have watched Trump talk and I have watched Johnson talk, and there is no doubt who is being honest in my mind.

I do not believe Donald Trump at all and I absolutely believe Johnson without question.

 

The Farmer’s Market Dupe! Again!

whitesession / Pixabay

Remember last month I wrote about my “tomato deception“?  I was finding tomatoes at farm stands that were suspicious and didn’t appear to be “farm grown”.   When I asked one place if they actually grew the tomatoes, they confessed they didn’t, but didn’t have it marked anywhere.  If you didn’t ask, you’d pay top-dollar for grocery store tomatoes.

Nasty deception!

I eventually bought tomatoes at a farm stand that said they grew them, but I could tell by their flavor after eating and cooking them, they were 100% greenhouse. I was suspicious of the smell immediately but took a risk out of desperation.  I regretted it.

After eating them, I asked my husband who drove by the location, to ask again. On the second inquiry, he was told yes, they grew up them, but they do start out in a greenhouse (cough, cough) so they can get more tomatoes.  To that I say, “Bullshit”.  They are greenhouse tomatoes and this farmer isn’t honest.

Two down out of two. Damn!

And now today, a reader of mine in Canada, who saw my post last month sent me this article about investigations into farmer’s markets in Ontario over this exact scenario!

And guess what?

Yep, exactly as I said:  Deception found in more farmer’s markets!

Many people when I first start uncovering things like this think, “Oh she’s just over-reacting. That can’t be true. I’m sure its just a miscommunication or one-time situation. It’s probably not an issue…”

I know those reactions well.

I can read them on people’s faces when they start glazing over at me.

And yes, it can make me nuts. That’s why I don’t share deceptions when they are really out there, because people think I am the one out there.  Thank you very much!

So there you have it, proof!

Seeing what I saw and reading this is happening in Canada, too,  I suspect this is a wide-spread practice now.  Farmers have learned its a profitable business for them.

Buyer beware!