How to spot fake reviews on Amazon & Flipkart: A guide for smarter shopping

Check the dates of the reviews

If you see a bunch of glowing reviews posted on the same day, they might be fake. Some sellers may hire people to write positive reviews for their products, and they usually post them in batches. Keep an eye out for irregularities in terms of timings in reviews.

Sort the reviews by recency

This will help you see the most up-to-date feedback from real buyers. You can also compare the recent reviews with the older ones to see if there are any changes in the product quality or performance.

Look for specific details in the reviews

An example of a genuine Amazon review. Note how it’s structured and the number of people that have marked it as ‘helpful.’ (Express image)

Genuine reviewers will often mention how they used the product, what they liked or disliked about it, and how it met their expectations. Fake reviewers may use vague or generic praise, such as “Great product!” or “Love it!” without giving any reasons.

Watch out for repeated phrases in different reviews

This could be a sign that the reviews are copied from a template or a script. For example, if you see several reviews that say “Wow, this product changed my life!” they may not be authentic.

Search for other sources of reviews for the product

You can look for reputable review websites or YouTube videos that provide more information and insights about the product. These sources may also show you how the product looks and works in real life, which can be more helpful than just looking at pictures.

Click on the reviewer’s profile to see their history

This will let you see other products that they have reviewed and how they rated them. If you notice that a reviewer always gives five stars and uses similar language for different products, they may not be trustworthy.

Look for the Verified Purchase badge on Amazon

This means that Amazon has verified that the reviewer actually bought the product from Amazon. You can also filter the reviews to show only those with this badge. This will help you avoid reviews from people who may have received free products or incentives in exchange for their reviews.

Use tools to analyse the reviews for the product

Fakespot can be installed as a browser extension. (Image: Fakespot)

If manual analysis of reviews is turning out to be a pain, there are a few tools that can help evaluate their quality and reliability. You can copy and paste the product URL into the tools offered by Fakespot, TheReviewIndex, and ReviewMeta to know the likelihood of the reviews being genuine.