I agree. I used to do a lot of shopping on amazon. I cancelled prime and don't look there at all now. It seems for a long time they knowingly helped sellers defraud consumers with fake reviews, allowed pay/free product for reviews, hid the reviews pointing it out, and basically all around helped these companies lie to amazon customers.
now they're responding but its been years and years of this.
AmaZons profit partially comes from having a good reputation. If everyone comes to understand that their reviews are all fake then people won’t use the site as much. E.g. you might use a trusted blog as a review and they might link to some other site. So they should care.
Or they will just assume that all reviews are fake on all sites, and still buy at Amazon because of their Prime membership. I don't know that Amazon has a good reputation.
I've just started completely ignoring reviews on Amazon. I can send stuff back if it's not up to quality (UK - I realise the this may not apply globally), so it's not worth my time trying to determine what reviews are/aren't real.
Amazon still ends up getting my custom as many other sites have more awkward returns processes or are not competitive on price.
Amazon has a terrible reputation. They make profit despite this, largely because they have no quibble guarantees and free, fast delivery for prime members.
They barely even take note, or act like they care.
I've written reviews disclosing this, Amazon denies publishing them, or they are removed after.
I cannot belive they care, not when they could open packaging and verify customer claims.
I even sent back an item, with the bribe/review scam which was inside the box, taped to the outside of the box.
Amazon does not care. It would reduce profit to care, and their actions show they do not care.
Always watch what people do, not what they say. Amazon's actions are clear here.