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Amazon started hiding ratings for some products (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 4 months ago by lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
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Happened to me when I saw a book on the US site, I wasn't able to see all reviews, but there was a button to sort-of "apply" to get approved for seeing all of them.

It took five days, then I got this email.

Interestingly, they're not doing this on the European site, you can still see all reviews there.

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[-] MrNesser@lemmy.world 221 points 4 months ago

EU laws probably prevent them from doing shady shit like this.

Hiding a review just makes me not want to buy it

[-] lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 82 points 4 months ago

I also think they're more cautious about the EU. There are less consumer protection laws in the US, so they get fucked first.

[-] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 43 points 4 months ago

We don’t really have less laws. Just far less enforcement mechanisms. For instance I am supposed to be able to use my own modem, the FCC rules prevent ATT from forcing me to rent a modem. But the FCC hasn’t given a shit about anything since the 80s. So ATT forces me to rent a modem. Laws are only as good as their enforcement.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 27 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

My favorite example is the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act, which requires manufacturers to honor warranty on products that you or a third party have worked on in the past unless the manufacturer can prove that the specific malfunction for which you're seeking warranty service was caused by the previous repair or modification.

Those "warranty void if removed" stickers are illegal.

It also prohibits manufacturers refusing to repair a product due to unrelated damage.

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 months ago

Wish I could go live in the EU

[-] rapchee@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

you can

[-] moakley@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Somehow I doubt it's that easy.

[-] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

It's not. I'm in the UK, and ever since brexit (spits) I've wanted an EU passport. Pre brexit, I spent several years in European countries, had a home, a job, friends, etc. I'd intended to do it again later in life, and now I can't. Different countries have varying levels of strictness in what they require, but it's just not feasible for me.

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 months ago

I would, but family won't go. Can't leave my kids. At least I can get them EU passports through my own, then they can leave if they need to.

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[-] StarvingMartist@sh.itjust.works 110 points 4 months ago

Took some digging but holy shit yeah this is real

[-] lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 49 points 4 months ago

Thanks for confirming! That's the box I saw as well, after clicking on it it said I will get an email in five business days - and it really took the whole five days.

[-] lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 59 points 4 months ago

If you want to try it out yourself: This is the book where it happened. Despite that email I can see all of the reviews again, so maybe it's a feature they're testing out.

It's really shady to have a rating system and hide ratings within that system. Why have it at all then?

[-] DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world 50 points 4 months ago

Remember Amazon is owned by a billionaire or someone who is a part of the sociopathic class. They only want you to buy they don't give a shit about what you care about just pressing that buy now button. The laws are supposed to force them to care about the shit we care about but, everyone on this planet in politics is a corporate shill so tough luck.

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

If you're talking about Bezos, he only owns 9% (or possibly even less now) of Amazon.

[-] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 4 months ago

Huh til, it still is the source of his wealth, and the other 91% probably also goes mostly to rich assholes, however I'm sure the public will be holding the bag if Amazon ever goes down in valuation.

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[-] classic@fedia.io 28 points 4 months ago

Maybe it's lazy on my end, but my first guess is that it would be in order to prioritize and normalize the AI summary. Basically a dystopic move towards trust me bro

[-] sidebro@lemmy.zip 21 points 4 months ago

To manipulate the market, is the only answer I can come up with. Why else would they do this?

[-] HeadfullofSoup@kbin.earth 9 points 4 months ago

I tried from canada on amazon US same as you i have to “apply” to get more review a fast search show they do that since at least since middle of 2025 on “ products in categories with high competitive pressure and potentially manipulable reviews “

Still don’t make much senses

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 11 points 4 months ago

So that's actually interesting though. I'm not necessarily condoning this behavior. But if they have identified that unscrupulous, fraudulent outside parties are potentially manipulating the reviews, and that is what's causing Amazon to block the reviews, then that might actually be a beneficial move on their part. It's Amazon, so I'm inclined to think they are the ones behaving badly, but this is at least a possibility.

[-] almost1337@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 months ago

I'd wager it's to prevent other AI trainer bots from scraping the reviews

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[-] parson0@startrek.website 50 points 4 months ago

Stop buying anything on Amazon

[-] JamesTBagg@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

I haven't bought much from Amazon in years, but them being so prolific meant there were lots of reviews for me to read before buying the product somewhere else.

[-] parson0@startrek.website 4 points 4 months ago

Good idea actually

[-] tonyn@lemmy.ml 41 points 4 months ago

I'd bet this is a move to prevent their reviews from being used to train competing AI systems.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Write product reviews using Amazon reviews, stuff with affiliate link, profit

Cognitive dark foresty

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[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 35 points 4 months ago

I’ve used Amazon for many years. I hadn’t written a lot of reviews. Recently I’ve been getting a lot of shitty products. So I started writing bad reviews. Maybe others are doing the same now too.

[-] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

There's a lot of fakes mixed in with regular inventory because individual sellers can send their products to have Amazon fulfill orders for them and Amazon just mixes inventory all together. This is why I don't buy a lot of name brand stuff from Amazon, especially things like shampoo as you don't know what you're getting.

[-] Archer@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

They did actually stop co-mingling lately

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 5 points 4 months ago

Too late. That should have never been a thing in the first place. It's common sense that it would be a problem.

[-] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Doesn't matter much in relation to reputational damage.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Lots of their electronics options are these really TEMU-tier garbage specs with half a mile of promotional material between the "Buy" button and the details/reviews.

You really need to know what you're trying to buy, how to use the filters to screen out the crap, and even then its a gamble. Amazing to feel the temptation to just go to Best Buy.

[-] moakley@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Best Buy is great. They have this thing called a "store", which I guess is what they use to store all the products? Anyway, you can just drive there and they ship the product directly into your hands! It's crazy. I hope it catches on.

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[-] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 28 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

There has been tons of products with fake reviews for over a decade as well by now.

I remember back when Amazon was a source for trustworthy products in the earlier days. Then they let the shady sellers in. Then they hid the country the product ships from. Then tolerated blatantly fake reviews. And now they're hiding the reviews they don't like? Why would anyone want to purchase anything from that service at that point?

If I want something I have to order online nowadays I'll go out of my way to find an online store that isn't Amazon. And if it's something I can't find anywhere else, I'd go on AliExpress. It's likely going to be a junk product but at least it's priced accordingly. Amazon products nowadays are just AliExpress products with a 5000% markup.

[-] zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 27 points 4 months ago

Interestingly, they're not doing this on the European site, you can still see all reviews there.

I wonder why this might be…

[-] gigachad@piefed.social 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

There is a lot of stuff where it's hard to find alternatives to Amazon, but books aren't really one of those items. Ditch Amazon, support your local book store. Your prime membership pays for Jeff Bezos' next helicopter ride while his employees are pissing in bottles during shift or just lying around dead somewhere

[-] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 11 points 4 months ago

Stores everywhere...it's time to cut out the middleman (again). Getting an ecommerce website is not rocket science anymore.

[-] jeffep@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago

They already only show positive reviews unless you login

[-] chunes@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

Wooooooow. This is some of the biggest bs i've ever seen.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

AI prevention?

[-] Natanael@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 months ago

I saw the same restriction on the Swedish site

[-] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 4 points 4 months ago

Pathetic.

[-] twinnie@feddit.uk 2 points 4 months ago

They’ve been under pressure in the EU to tackle fake reviews. Might be something to do with that.

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this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2026
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