Amazon allows fraudulent product page after manual review

Overview

Sellers on Amazon can list products, gather reviews for them, and then modify the listings to sell entirely different items while retaining the reviews from the previously sold products. Additionally, Amazon continues to allow the sale of products that fail to deliver on the promises advertised.

These practices create significant challenges for customers, making it difficult to rely on reviews when making informed purchasing decisions on Amazon's platform.

Removing Reviews (Including Verified Reviews)

When Amazon removed reviews—presumably to eliminate those for unrelated products—they also deleted reviews from customers who had purchased the product currently being sold, including those marked as 'Verified Purchase' by Amazon. The removal of legitimate reviews makes it harder for potential buyers to determine whether a product is fraudulent or not. This is because reviews from verified purchases of the currently listed product, which could have alerted buyers to potential issues, were also removed.

Examples Of Such and Related Incidents

Portable Air Conditioner

Amazon sells a portable air conditioner for which the aforementioned removing of reviews took place. This listing contained reviews for digital picture frames, desks, shower heads and balloons, adding to the number of positive reviews displayed for the portable air conditioner being sold.

The listing in questions has been available on Amazon since at least July of 2024 and is currently still being listed in January 2025.

Electrical Fuses

Electrical fuses are used to break an electrical circuit if too much current is flowing through them. This is essential to prevent circuits from operating and failing in an unsafe manner.

Amazon hosts listings for many such fuses. When purchasing and testing highly rated fuses from three different sellers on Amazon, it was found that the fuses did not perform as specified. Testing revealed that the fuses only failed after being subjected to multiple times their rated current. As a result, they did not break the connection as advertised, which could pose a significant safety risk if used in electrical circuits.

The fuses tested had and still have many reviews with a very high total rating. The fuses mentioned here, have been listed on Amazon since at least December of 2023 and are all still available for purchase. Due to the issues outlined above, a potential buyer relying on Amazon's reviews may have difficulties making an informed purchasing decision.

Amazon on How They Keep Reviews Trustworthy and Useful

Amazon themselves describes what they do to keep their reviews trustworthy and useful as follows:

Our automated and human checks stop millions of suspicious reviews before customers ever see them. We also take legal action against groups that pay customers to post fake reviews. See our anti-manipulation policy.

The CPSC on Hazardous Products Sold by Third-Party Sellers on Amazon.com

In July of 2024, the United States' Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found Amazon responsible for hazardous products sold by third-party sellers on amazon.com. In particular, they stated the following:

Amazon was a “distributor” of products that are defective or fail to meet federal consumer product safety standards, and therefore bears legal responsibility for their recall. More than 400,000 products are subject to this order: specifically, faulty carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, hairdryers without electrocution protection, and children’s sleepwear that violated federal flammability standards.

The Commission determined that these products, listed on Amazon.com and sold by third-party sellers using the Fulfilled by Amazon program, pose a “substantial product hazard” under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA).