In the vast marketplace that is Amazon we have endless options, so how do we decide what to product beat out the rest? – reviews. Research proves that 65% of Americans trust online reviews, and 82% of American adults check product reviews before they make a purchase. This “review process”, however, is not very extensive, the reports show stars sway people over what it says in the comments.

Guided by stars, companies are doing whatever it takes to collect the coveted five-stars from reviewers, developing a simple strategy of offering free samples or refunds in exchange for ratings. Most of these companies are located in Chinese manufacturing hubs where large Amazon shipments are fulfilled, but quantity does not equal quality. Someone on the Reddit group Choosing Beggers shared their experience with one of these Chinese companies on the hunt for ratings and things took a turn when they did not deliver the stars.

Someone shared an honest review on Amazon of this Chinese nail company and things escalated when they asked her to change it

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

Someone on Reddit shared their experience with the fake review scam process on Amazon. According to the screenshots, the company had sent the woman a free sample of their nail product in exchange for a 5-star review. In the first message, they gave her instructions not to use the words “free” or “samples,” write a comment that was not too short and includes images.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

Unfortunately, for them, they did not realize they had come into contact with a very honest reviewer. She gave the company one star because it did not match their claims that it was “easy to remove” and she spent over an hour trying to remove it. After she finally got it off she found it had peeled her natural nails off and ruined her cuticles.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

In response to the brutal review, the company clarified their original request for “five or four stars” and asked she change the comment. Despite their polite attempt, the reviewer stuck to her original review and said that she was not interested in falsifying reviews.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

Under U.S federal law, exchanging free products or payments for a good review – or incentivized reviews – are illegal. Amazon banned the process back in 2016. Mary Engel, Associate Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Division of Advertising Practices, told the Hustle, “If a reviewer has received something of value in exchange for their opinion, they need to clearly disclose that in the review.” But these companies have found loopholes.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

The company responded that the reviewer should have communicated with them before posting the review and that they would not be cooperating with her further. Unphased, she did update her review but not exactly in the way they had requested.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

She added to the end of her review she exposed the company for their review scheme and explained they no longer wished to work with her because she wouldn’t play along. Thus far Amazon has sued more than 1,000 third-party fake review sites.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

A recent analysis by the data company ReviewMeta found that just in March of 2019, Amazon was hit with over 2 million unverified reviews (reviews that couldn’t be confirmed as purchases made through Amazon) — 99.6% of these had 5 stars.

Image credits: Sweet_Tangerine50

Other people shared their similar experiences with other Chinese companies