Caveat Emptor: 7 Secrets to Try From Master Amazon Shoppers

What did we do before Amazon? I realize that the retail behemoth might be responsible for the death of the independent bookstore, but I’m still oh so grateful for/dependent upon the services it provides (and that’s even before Marvelous Mrs. Maisel hits Prime Video). Though, with so many sellers from all over the world offering products, you run the risk of getting items that are either no good, or flat-out not what was promised. A recent Reddit thread explored this concern and discussed ideas for how to have a positive Amazon shopping experience to get the most bang for your buck, so we culled through to pull out the very best tips. Read on!

If something is actually sold by Amazon, there’s a much better chance that the item is actually what it’s supposed to be. In addition to weeding out counterfeits, buying directly from Amazon can make returns easier. According to Amazon, “While most sellers offer a returns policy equivalent to Amazon, some seller returns policies may vary.” Doing returns on Amazon-sold items has been a free and easy delight, whereas the two times I needed to return something from a third-party seller, I ended up keeping the item because of the prohibitive return shipping charges (ex: $7 shipping to return a $10 book). Refining your search by clicking Prime in the lefthand column is the easiest way to filter by seller.

If you order something via Prime and it doesn’t arrive on time, Reddit users point out that you’re entitled to a free month of Prime! Here’s the official policy: “If you received free shipping with a guaranteed delivery date through Amazon Prime, you may be eligible for a free one-month extension if the delivery date isn’t met. Prime extensions are limited to one per free trial, one per month for monthly members, and 12 for an annual membership.”

A few commenters called out an unsavory practice: “The new trick people are doing…is they make a really good product, they sell out of the first run of that product, then they remake it in China and sell the China knockoff as the actual 5 star product.” If a product has a high rating overall, but all of the most recent reviews are negative, this sort of scam might be in effect. Beware!

Fakespot was recommended by a ton of Reddit users; it is “a data analytics company specializing in providing an online service for smarter shopping which analyzes product reviews and provides potential buyers with a grade based on the review’s authenticity.” Basically, Fakespot can’t tell you with absolute certainty whether a review is real or fake, but it uses algorithms to come to the most educated conclusion possible. It is $1.99/mo for the Chrome app and free to use via the website.

“ReviewMeta is a free web tool that analyzes millions of reviews and helps you decide which ones to trust…We leverage algorithms and data science and have the ability to scan thousands of reviews and identify unnatural patterns in just seconds.” Download the free Chrome extension or copy and paste reviews into the website.

According to TechCrunch, “Amazon bans incentivized reviews tied to free or discounted products,” as of October 2016. However, incentivized reviews from before that time remain on Amazon, so do a quick on-page search (Control/Command+F) for, “in exchange for,” “complimentary,” or “review.” If an item’s rating is primarily based on customers who received the item for free in exchange for a review, you’ll get a ton of hits for those terms.

Quite a few Reddit commenters strongly advised against buying any cosmetics via Amazon, and one even theorized, “I would wager that over 10% of all beauty products on Amazon are fakes.” Do your research and thoroughly read through the reviews to better understand what you are about to spend your hard-earned money on! Don’t assume that reviews stating that the item is a counterfeit are wrong.