I usually buy a few e-books on offer, but I still like to check the reviews because it is digital and you don't have the thrill of turning the page or having it in your hands. The issue I have is that so many of the ratings you need to figure out how genuine they are. I click on the reviewer to find they have reviewed either nothing or a blanket or a toy. I always check the low ones first as the high ones are always suspicious, or that maybe me! I 'm also suspicious as I have seen sites paying people for reviews and also ones to counteract negative reviews, so the whole system is so much work when all you want is a real review. How can they crack down on bogus reviews?
You can look at reviews for the same book on other websites and make comparisons that way. You are right to not trust all Amazon reviews for books because I've heard that some of them at written by friends of the authors or people that they hire. I guess that Amazon is such a huge business that they can't vet every single review for honesty, so you have to look outside of Amazon for reviews.
Fake and paid for reviews happen everywhere. You can often see past them to get an idea. If nearly every review is negative and then one is, "OH WOW IT IS SO PERFECT, BEST THING EVER!" it's pretty clear that you can safely ignore that review. I don't think every review on Amazon is paid though, and I tend to look for the ones that say, "verified buyer." If someone actually bought the product, I'm more likely to read their review. I think adding that is one good step they are taking to improve the review system.
I buy ebooks all the time on Amazon. Like you, I always read both the positive and negative reviews. I then go one further and read the sample, as rave reviews are not always reflective what I'll like. You also have to consider that different people like different things. I've heard of authors getting family and friends to spew out rave reviews for them, so I also check other reviews on Goodreads and Scribd. Sometimes even that doesn't work as I'll still get a rubbish book, but at least I'm confident I've taken steps to find out as much as I possibly can beforehand. You can never really know for sure until you read the book yourself
I take advantage of free samples when I can. The first 20 pages can tell a buyer about what to expect in terms of information and writing style. If still in doubt, see if the book is at your local library. Many local and county libraries have e-books to borrow.
I have a friend who is an author and I checked her Amazon reviews and nearly all of them are from her friends and neighbors. I never said anything and people did buy the book to support her as well so it looked like a genuine review. I just happen to know the names of most of her friends! Don't forget some sites pay people to buy the book too so they come up as verified buyer as well as the free downloads the author can give. So now even a verified buyer isn't always genuine.
Amazon kindle is about the only way I go these days for reading, and I read a lot. Mostly, I find the free books. There are tons of them to be had. As for the reviews, I pay them little attention and make my decisions based on the genre and the descriptions of the books. I know what I like to read. I don't always stick to the genres I know I like, though. Sometimes I get out of my box and try something different if a certain book catches my attention. The thing about the reviews with me is, like I said, I pay them little attention; but if I read a book and I find I enjoy it especially much, I'll give it a review. If I read one and I don't particularly like the story but I think the book is well written and well worth someone else's time to read, I'll review it, stating that it's not my type, but...blah, blah, blah. If I read one and I really don't like it at all and don't think it's well written I won't give it a review period. That's just me. The thing is, if you don't trust the reviews (and I know there are some good buddies and paid reviewers out there) then balance the system out by reviewing a few books for yourself.
Unfortunately, false reviews or vouches are just a fact of life. As a whole, I don't really take much notice of reviews to begin with. I've always had unique tastes my entire life, and few people seem to be able to relate to me, and I don't have a lot in common with many people. What they like, I often don't. So as far as what reviewers have to say in that regard, I don't pay much attention. When it comes to the quality of a product, that is where I pay attention. But I do question whether or not a reviewer is a false one if the review is just praise from start to finish. I like the reviews that point out the pros and the cons.
While it's true that we can judge for ourselves and some reviews are silly when people complain the book arrived late (!) it does lead to a rating system, where I know on Goodreads you have to have so many Amazon reviews before you can promote items or put your book up for a giveaway. Also people use it as a marketing tool, 'Rated 4.5 stars on Amazon' so even if we don't believe the reviews they are still buying an image of a product which is not genuine and this comes up in internet searches and helps their SEO, even though it maybe paid for and false. That's why anything with only 5 stars I rarely believe, I just wish people would have the integrity not to give false reviews for money.
A gigantic proportion of reviews on Amazon are fake or paid for. Amazon has tried to curb the problem by utilizing the verified purchase feature so that you know a given person has actually bought the item in question through Amazon. There are a lot of incentives for consumers to post fake or ingenuine reviews, such as when they receive the product for free or get paid to lambast a competitor's product. This happens everywhere, though, and it's just something you have to deal with.
I read the reviews on Amazon when I am buying a product, like a pair of headphones, to see what other people did or didn't like about the headphones. As far as buying a book goes, I am just like Hayrake; I look at thie information, and if I want to read it , I get the book. Who knows whether I would like a book or not, just because someone else likes it. Also, I often read reviews of the book, or information about the author if I need to knowmore about the book before buying it. Mostly, I get the books when they are free, or I borrow them from the Kindle Lending Library.
Coming from an avid Amazon shopper, I try to post accurate reviews of everything I buy, short of small insignificant things like pens. I know my perspective can help a fellow shopper as I rely heavily on reviews during decision making time as well. However, everyone's words can't be trusted. I've purchased things reviewers hated and had great results at times. A review is only an opinion, after all. As someone else suggested, when possible, I think it helps to search reviews elsewhere and compare. I love You Tube for reviews. I don't know if ebook reviews are a thing on YouTube but for me, I mostly buy dolls (toys) and tangible goods so I am able to see the product handled by a person on a video. Still, it never hurts to do outside research for a book. But honestly, the summary is enough to sell me on a book as I usually just make my mind up based on that, even when buying physical books. Good luck.
A couple years back there was a huge scandal on Amazon. Some sellers it was discovered had been paying for positive reviews. And I'm sure they still a way to cheat the system. Someone can be given money to buy a book, write a great review because it's these reviews that will get the book sold. Like ACSAPA, I'd recommend trying to find reviews of the book elsewhere but even there the guarantee that what you'll get a genuine review is quite remote. Marketers can flood the net with fake reviews. It would be better to hunt for any negative reviews as these would give you good reasons why you shouldn't buy the book. If you go ahead, buy it and find out that it wasn't good, you would have no one but yourself to blame for throwing away your money.
People pay for reviews all the time. There are even ads for people willing to pay for reviews all over Craigslist. I think the ratio between real and fake reviews are about 10 to 1. Sometimes, people would will send the reviewer the product so that they can give an accurate review of the product. For the most part though, I think we can safely assume that a good portion of the reviews on Amazon are fake/paid.
I think once you give a product as a bribe to get a review, you expect the recipient to focus solely on the positive. You don't get a free product and write a negative review if you want something from the same person in future. The only genuine reviews would be those you get from review sites. They are business to write objective reviews. They buy products, test them and tell others what they think about them. It's only such reviews which I'd trust are accurate.
Oh yes, that's the other thing I do; looking at negative or average reviews. By doing this, I m able to see if they highlight some of my bug bears. I find this very useful. I only realised recently that some authors will also buy rave reviews. I'm shocked that it's even allowed. I don't actually see the logic behind it, except of course the monetary value and instant gratification. Never mind that the author may be terrible. If I were an author, I'd want honest reviews regardless of whether they were negative or positive. What's the point of buying glowing reviews when you know in your heart of hearts you paid for them? These authors can't be very passionate about their craft. I mean, how would they know how to improve and fine tune their skills?
I agree as I am a writer and have seen people with reviews that have to be fake. I would rather have no reviews than fake ones. However some of these books, tend to be self-help marketing books and they don't care. It makes them look successful, where most people haven't even read the book or paid for it with their own money. I guess they only care about how many stars they get and can say they have. Some ask you to download the book and then to write a review by the end of the day! Usually that would also put up red flags as people rarely buy a book, read it and review it in a few hours. So some of these authors aren't very bright either especially when you get a bulk load of reviews coming in on the same day at the same time!
I can see how it would be unfair to rate a product such as a book down, or give it a slightly worse off review just because it arrived late. Because essentially that has nothing to do with the actual content or quality of the book. But on the other hand I have given slightly worse off reviews on Amazon before, when the product that I ordered arrived late. It took three weeks to reach me, and the the seller was in Hong Kong, which I wasn't aware of at the time that I placed the order unfortunately. So I was rating the seller/Amazon service down, as opposed to the product, and I tried to make that very clear in the review.
I never trust Amazon reviews, they always seem really shady to me, specially for gadgets and technological stuff. As for ebook reviews, I rarely see those on Amazon, but there is a website called Goodreads that I love where you can check book reviews. It's a very honest website geared only towards reading!
Yeah, I made the mistake of purchasing an Android Tablet from Amazon a few months ago. It was one of the biggest wastes of money ever, and I really couldn't afford o waste the money in the first place. The reviews were very good, and although i was wary that the product was so cheap, I allowed myself to be won over by the reviews. However, when I received the item, and was able to handle it, I stumbled across multiple problems with the tablet, and it was only after I had received my item, that I began to see people reviewing it honestly. It was strange.
