On this week's edition of the Amazon-related weekly news, we've got stories about an increase in bad reviews and also a new Amazon shopper panel that could give you new insights into your potential customers.

How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another edition of the weekly news from Healym10.

I'm Karen Thomas.

And I'm Bark is Patty.

Here's our first story today.

A new article from Bloomberg.com reveals that fake reviews surged to holiday shopping season levels during the pandemic.

According to article sources, about 42% of 720 million reviews from March to September

2020 were unreliable, up 36% from the same period of last year.

When asked for a comment about the unexpected increased number of fake reviews during the pandemic,

an Amazon representative said,

these companies that claim to check reviews cannot accurately determine the authenticity of a review

as they do not have access to Amazon's proprietary data such as reviewer, seller, and product

history. She also added the company's aware of bad actors attempting to abuse the system and

is investing in significant resources to protect the integrity of our reviews.

Now, while fake reviews are an issue with any online platform these days, it's important to understand that Amazon does have that complex method of finding and removing fake reviews and accounts.

And Amazon has the most to gain from having authentic reviews and having the best possible customer experience.

So it's understandable that they take fake review issues very seriously.

Now, the article went on to mention how some sources have said that one-tap reviews or star ratings

that buyers can now leave without having to write a review have possibly contributed to the apparent

increase in fake reviews.

Now, we know many of you sellers out there are super frustrated when you see bad players

...