Can you tell if a product's Amazon reviews are legitimate just by looking at the rating chart?

This analysis aims to answer that question by examining a universe of 500 products that are largely devoid of suspicious or unhelpful reviews. It's a small dataset, yet it's a highly curated one.

Where the Source Data Comes From

I publish a product review website called Good, Cheap and Fast. The site screens for products by using a blend of data analysis, psychology and investigative journalism.

Products with an average rating of less than 3.9 out of 5 are excluded; and paid, sponsored, unverified and otherwise suspicious reviews are filtered out. Additionally, unhelpful review behaviors (from verified customers) are discounted. Here is a list of those behaviors:

Off-Label Usage Self Validation Customer Service Uprating Misunderstanding Ideology or Spite Wrong Model Wrong Product Shipping Issues Joke Reviews Empathy or Pity

The products that survive these filters (around 15% of them) constitute the dataset analyzed below.

The Analysis Takes a Surprising Turn

To answer the question I initially posed, no, it is not possible to tell if a product's Amazon reviews are legitimate by looking at a single chart. Because too many charts look the same!