Are these Amazon reviews dodgy?

[TriangularRatbag]

I need a gym bag. I always sort the search results by customer reviews. Reliable feedback is the main reason I've used Amazon in the past. But increasingly I don't trust it! Forty straight five-star reviews all left within the the past few weeks. And they just sound fake!

www.<a class="break-all" href="https://amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07Z8ZV1XQ/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?psc=1&ie=UTF8&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-am-i-being-unreasonable-3749780-Are-these-Amazon-reviews-dodgy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07Z8ZV1XQ/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I don't know how they would get around the 'verified purchase' thing if they haven't actually bought it.

They are paid to buy it and leave review

Oh they purchase it. But there are 'incentives' attached to a five star review I believe, that negate the cost? Can't remember details, sorry. OP, they look fake as.

Sellers give customers voucher codes for free to get around the verified purchase.

Usually reviews with a lot of photos attached are a tell take sign the reviewer got the product for free. This bag certainly has a lot of photos in the reviews!

Look at this.

Not used it but I believe it filters out potentially fake reviews to leave a more honest view

reviewmeta.com

They look fake to me too. It's odd that so many of them have included photos, you don't usually get many photos in the reviews.

interesting, @cheeserolls - that gives 5 reviews which are 'true'.

Those reviews look really fake. Every single one mentioning the bloodey shoe compartment and durable material, clearly been instructed to do so and include photos

I have literally NEVER seen photos on reviews so so many photos on one bag is DEFINITELY fake!

One of the fuckers has left a video! The stupid thing is it looks pretty good, I'd probably buy it otherwise, but I'm not going to buy stuff from transparently dishonest crooks. And Amazon is suddenly a whole lot less appealing if there's no reliable way to navigate through the deluge of gym bags (or whatever) to find a good one.