Fake Online Reviews Lead Shoppers To Overpay, New Study Says

Fake online product reviews cost shoppers 12 cents for every dollar they spend, and increase the likelihood they buy inferior products, according to a new working paper to be presented Friday at the NBER Summer Institute.

The researchers recruited 10,000 online participants in the U.K. to shop on an Amazon-like platform they’d created. “Shoppers” were asked to pick a product to buy from a group of five identically priced items (either a dash-cam, pair of headphones or a cordless vacuum).

Those who saw fake written reviews were 7 percentage points more likely to buy faulty products. Inflated star ratings also decreased the likelihood that a shopper would buy a superior product.

In a separate survey, participants were asked how much money they’d pay for the various items — when fake reviews were in the mix, they were more likely to overpay for products by about 12% on average.