One big determining factor when shopping online is how good or bad the reviews are?
But what if the reviews are fake?
It happens, sadly more often than many retailers would like to admit.
So how do you know which reviews are reliable and which were written by people paid to hype up a product?
Check out Fakespot.com. It analyzes reviews on Amazon, Yelp, Tripadvisor and the Apple app store by using algorithms and judging things like language and profiles.
Here's how it works: Paste the review link to Fakespot and within seconds you'll get a report card, plus an analysis review showing the percentage of reviews to trust and the most used words by reviewers.
We searched several links, some seem legit and others very skeptical. I was surprised that all of the Amazon reviews we checked received the grade of A or B, but the majority from the Apple app store were D’s and F’s.
Obviously Fakespot isn’t foolproof, but it’s a good start. So the next time a review sounds too good to be true...do a little research. On sites like Amazon, filter your search by “verified purchases only”. For travel sites, check at least two different sites and compare the reviews.