Ever notice Amazon star rating averages way off?

[zanemoseley]

I'm not sure if they weight some reviews differently than others but sometimes I've noticed the star average looks way off. For instance I'm thinking I'd buying an OLED tv and was shopping for a Squaretrade warranty, their 5 year warranty for $1250-$1499 tvs says it only has 3.6 stars average which looked really low compared to the bar graph they show but when I do the math to get a weighted average of 4.25 which is way different. Kind of odd. Usually the average is lower than calculated.

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[dullard]

Yes, the star ratings on Amazon (and many other websites) are usually not simple averages. Users who purchased the item from Amazon may be weighted more (other reviewers might not be honest about having purchased and used it). New reviews may be weighted higher (in case a product changes over time). Etc.

Here is what Amazon pops up if you mouse over the ratings:

Amazon calculates a product’s star ratings using a machine learned model instead of a raw data average. The machine learned model takes into account factors including: the age of a review, helpfulness votes by customers and whether the reviews are from verified purchases.

 

[zanemoseley]

Never noticed that, I suppose it makes sense but just wonder how accurate it ends up being. You gotta wonder when it drops a 4.25 average to 3.6.

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[paperfist]

Never noticed that, I suppose it makes sense but just wonder how accurate it ends up being. You gotta wonder when it drops a 4.25 average to 3.6.

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I've gotten crap buying on stars alone.

 

[dullard]

I've gotten crap buying on stars alone.

Too many people can't separate price from quality in their mind when giving ratings. Thus they often give high ratings to items simply based on price and not quality.

For example, think of a car that drives, but just about everything else is broken (AC, stereo, door locks, cruise control, etc.) The quality of that car is low, but not zero since it does drive. If you ask people to give it a star rating then they usually rate it based on how much it costs. A drivable car for $1 will be great for many people (most cars that drive run at least $300) and they might give it 5 stars. But a barely drivable car for $100,000 would get 1 star from just about any user. The quality of the car is the same, but the star rating varies with price. It shouldn't. They should be two separate criteria so that you can make an informed decision.

 

[paperfist]

Too many people can't separate price from quality in their mind when giving ratings. Thus they often give high ratings to items simply based on price and not quality.

For example, think of a car that drives, but just about everything else is broken (AC, stereo, door locks, cruise control, etc.) The quality of that car is low, but not zero since it does drive. If you ask people to give it a star rating then they usually rate it based on how much it costs. A drivable car for $1 will be great for many people (most cars that drive run at least $300) and they might give it 5 stars. But a barely drivable car for $100,000 would get 1 star from just about any user. The quality of the car is the same, but the star rating varies with price. It shouldn't. They should be two separate criteria so that you can make an informed decision.

I've noticed that too, price seems to rule the ratings. I end up with junk I could have bought at Walmart and at least returned.

 

[FeuerFrei]

The targeted rating of any listed item is 4 to 4.5 stars. Mostly because a straight 5 stars on a multitude of products would be eminently suspicious and non-credible.

 

[zanemoseley]

Well everything comes down to value. Value is driven off price and quality. Most people look for something that lies in the middle, decent quality without breaking the bank, not always easy to find today in the disposable world we live in.

A good example is dehumidifiers, I have a 2000 square/ft basement that I run 2 dehumidifiers non stop to keep pleasant. On Amazon the decent models cost $200 and have over 4 stars, in 10 years at this house I've yet to have one last over 2 years yet they still get good reviews, I just run them hard. I would buy the commercial $1500 units but people say they break too, I'd rather be stuck with $200 broken ones than $1500 broken ones.

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[madoka]

I've brought it up before:

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/paid-fake-reviews-are-taking-over-amazon.2478204/#post-38313333

 

[snoopy7548]

I hate the reviews that only complain about the shipping speed or they received the wrong item, especially on products that have little reviews to begin with.

 

[Six]

I don't even care about those numbers and the Rachel Ray type reviews. I look for technical details in the reviews.

Some places like that auction site denied my bad review on a crap product, because the seller already refunded my money.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I hate the reviews that only complain about the shipping speed or they received the wrong item, especially on products that have little reviews to begin with.

Yep, I'll always sample some of the 1-stars to see why they hated it and there are often idiots posting about not liking the price, or it arriving a day late, or that they just dislike the company because reasons.

FYI, I got the LG C7 55" OLED last spring and it's a great set for streaming and blu-rays. I haven't tried gaming on it (partly from fear of OLED having the burn-in problem like plasma) and I have no 4K sources to try that, but the inky blacks are inkylicious.

 

[zanemoseley]

Funny you mention the LG 55" C7, I picked one up locally last night from Electronics Express, they had some great prices on the 2017 models making room for the 2018 models, I got the C7 for $1400 ($300 less than Amazon) and they got me the LG slim wall mount for $58 to match Amazon.

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[DaveSimmons]

Funny you mention the LG 55" C7, I picked one up locally last night from Electronics Express, they had some great prices on the 2017 models making room for the 2018 models, I got the C7 for $1400 ($300 less than Amazon) and they got me the LG slim wall mount for $58 to match Amazon.

Mine came preset as over-bright and with hyper-realistic image processing, but after I applied a calibration guide from a random website it looked great.

 

[Pink Jazz]

I know that the reviews that claim that the IZOD Advantage Polo runs small are 100% fake, since I own several of these. I'm suspecting that employees of PVH's competitors bought these shirts to write fake reviews to drive down sales, considering that the Advantage Polo is one of the best selling polo shirts on Amazon.

 

[ElFenix]

I'm not sure if they weight some reviews differently than others but sometimes I've noticed the star average looks way off. For instance I'm thinking I'd buying an OLED tv and was shopping for a Squaretrade warranty, their 5 year warranty for $1250-$1499 tvs says it only has 3.6 stars average which looked really low compared to the bar graph they show but when I do the math to get a weighted average of 4.25 which is way different. Kind of odd. Usually the average is lower than calculated.

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Hi zanemoseley,

Please turn off your Tapatalk signature. We consider it to be unpaid advertising (iow, spam) on this board.

Thanks in advance,

AT Moderator ElFenix

 

[madoka]

I know that the reviews that claim that the IZOD Advantage Polo runs small are 100% fake, since I own several of these. I'm suspecting that employees of PVH's competitors bought these shirts to write fake reviews to drive down sales, considering that the Advantage Polo is one of the best selling polo shirts on Amazon.

Can you post pics of you wearing these Polos? I'd like to see how the fit actually runs on a real person.

 

[Pink Jazz]

Also, I hate buyers who post reviews from buying the wrong item. I just noticed someone ordered the IZOD Advantage Polo in a size XLT claiming Amazon doesn't carry a regular XL even though they actually do.

 

[13Gigatons]

I usually look for one or two reviews from a knowledgeable person with helpful tips on how to get the best from the product or a warning about what the product can't do.

 

[Pink Jazz]

Another fake review - Someone posted that the IZOD Newport Oxford Shorts in Fairy Tale is see-through. It isn't.