Fake reviews on e-commerce sites under Government radar; meeting with Flipkart,Amazon,Tata Cliq and Reliance on Today
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The consumer affairs ministry along with Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) will hold a virtual meeting on Friday with stakeholders including e-commerce entities to discuss the magnitude of fake reviews on their platforms, which mislead consumers into buying online products and services. The purpose of the meeting is to prepare a road map ahead. The discussions will be broadly based on the impact of fake and misleading reviews on consumers and possible measures to prevent such anomaly, the ministry said in a statement.Consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh has written to all stakeholders: E-commerce entities like Flipkart, Amazon, Tata Sons, Reliance Retail and others, besides consumer forums, law universities, lawyers, FICCI, CII, consumer rights activists, etc. to participate in the meeting
The screening results underlines that at least 55 per cent of the websites violate the unfair commercial practices directive of the EU, which requires truthful information to be presented to consumers to make an informed choice.
Consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh has written to all stakeholders: E-commerce entities like Flipkart, Amazon, Tata Sons, Reliance Retail and others, besides consumer forums, law universities, lawyers, FICCI, CII, consumer rights activist.The secretary has flagged with stakeholders results of a EU-wide screening on online consumer reviews across 223 major websites.
Further, in 144 out of the 223 websites checked, the authorities could not confirm that traders were doing enough to ensure that reviews were authentic, i.e., if they were posted by consumers who had actually used the product or service that was reviewed, the statement said.
The secretary said in the letter that consumers are increasingly shopping online for purchase of goods and services with growing internet and smartphone use.
“Given that e-commerce involves a virtual shopping experience without any opportunity to physically view or examine the product, consumers heavily rely on reviews posted on e-commerce platforms to see the opinion and experience of users who have already purchased the goods or service,” he said.
As a result, due to fake and misleading reviews, the right to be informed, which is a consumer right under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, is violated, he added.
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easy return policy has been abundantly abused by shoppers …
and no one is willing to buy returned / tried products .
Its a slippery slope .
lagta h phir nakli viagra bech di to some powerfool😀
tabhi sahab ka jaldi “fall” ho gaya tha Cambridge me 😜😜😜
and he seen completely clueless and lost!!!
LOL they won’t do anything about fake news but will do timepass here
i take your experience. My experience exactly opposite. Should i suffer for someone else mistake. I just take an example. The govt. Schemes are reaching to only 50% needed rest is eaten by middleman since 1947. Is govt. stopping schemes? Everything has two sides and balancing is business.
why do reputed make two different products for online and offline? Example sony 55×80j and 80aj tv. Subtle difference that makes cost effective and shown as big discounts. Amazon still dont mention manufacturing date of groceries. They sometimes mention expiry date and send you near expiry products. Clothing put new mfg. tags on 2014 products and sell in 2022.
so everything has two sides only thing we are debating is because we have taken opposite. Thats all.
Flipkart is biased in posting reviews… To support seller… It does not post negative reviews or they release relatively low negative reviews
You are not familiar with Tatacliq then. They won’t allow you to post critical review even if reason is genuine. Also once they reject it, you can’t edit and post again.
what if the company is deleting the negetive reviews instantly.
Opensecret the site which is dealing in dryfruits and snacks is deleting negetive comments on insta and there own website. I have lost 4886₹ because they are not delivering the package and neither giving the refunds.
Beware of opensecret.
That’s the open secret
Govt of fake IT CELL calling meeting on fake reviews are they going to give their paid pro tips to do it more cleverly?, They can also provide their services, false and fake propaganda service at some undersandable amount 
There are many fake reviews online nowadays but it is even harder to differentiate between genuine ones and fake ones.
How they’re going to differentiate the reviews from Fake vs Real? Based on “Verified purchase” tag? What if, the seller/brand pays a bunch to people to get the products and make them post 5 star reviews online? This obviously provides the initial boost to the product/seller (sales*) but eventually there will be negative reviews once the product starts getting attention from real users
Also, some brands/e-commerce portals consider these manipulations as marketing ( Publishing critic reviews first as soon as a product gets listed, Highlighting very positive reviews ). And there’s competition trying to intentionally post fake reviews to bring down a product/company which made the ecommerce portals to be extremely critical about user reviews. Many reviews don’t get published if they don’t appear genuine which is acceptable but there’s a need for some kinda redressal portal where users can complain about these unpublished reviews (negative*)
There is a big business going on for fake reviews. The seller will send you the same item and give a refund for the same to get 5* reviews. sometimes they send another item and gave you a full refund to get 5* reviews. even empty box also.
Many sellers sent their card with the product and offer some cashback if you send them SS of 5* rating and good reviews.
People are doing it. bcoz it’s a business.
so on any website, you are buying amazon fk meesho BB snapdeal mostly reviews are fake.
very simple every product bought on e-commerce platform should have 15 days no questions asked return policy. There will be fraud returns but with the volume they can overcome.