I'd agree if they're was any oversight of the review process. Instead, they have the same score gaming problem as app stores. There are literally sellers that send competing products and their own products to random people so they (the sellers' themselves) can post fake reviews as verified purchases. Hell, even having to mark reviews as verified should be enough to make people doubt the legitimacy of all reviews on the store.

Unless the product is failing in catastrophic ways that inspire loads of pissed off customers, 3 stars is the new 0 stars and be suspicious of anything with a high number of reviews. High review count means the seller had to stuff the ballot box to make up for lower score real reviews or a fake review battle with a competitor.

My latest way of weeding out the more egregious fakes (in addition to ReviewMeta and FakeSpot) is to look for customer pics that are either just pictures of the box, item not being used, or, to a lesser extent, promo styled (nice lighting and odd angles). Also, a quick scan of early reviews to see if there were more low ratings or mentions of a completely different product. Some sellers will pay for or get legit good reviews on an item, then swap the item number to a new item in the same category. Same goes for having multiple very different items in one listing as purchase options (4 options for a keyboard - red color, blue color, travel mouse, fishing lure set).

Look at the reviews for Amazon's choice for "iphone charge audio". The questions, pictures and reviews are about some totally unrelated product. I'm not sure if Amazon sold this slot, or just randomly chose from a huge assortment of crap listings.

(Though seriously, if anyone has a recommendation of a decent product to charge an iPhone and allow audio out at the same time, please post it)

This is what I see for the search terms "iphone charge audio", it's the exact same thing as you:

Headphone Adapter for iPhone 8 Adapter AUX Audio Jack Adapter for iPhone X Dongle Splitter [Audio+Charge+Volume Control+Call ] Dual Earphone Cable Converter for iPhone XR/XS/7 Plus Support iOS 13 by VNKSUG

https://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Adapter-Splitter-Earphone-C...

Archive links:

http://archive.is/wPamU

https://web.archive.org/web/20190816155627/https://www.amazo...

It's got an Amazon Choice badge, but most of the reviews appear to be for a workout/fitness band and a dice bag.

---------

Here's the archive of my search results page for those terms. It's interesting to note the ARCHIVE IS NOT WHAT I SEE outside of the archive. I see the VNKSUG item first, and I don't see the AmazonBasics cables at all.

http://archive.is/qoW11

https://web.archive.org/web/20190816155946/http://www.amazon...

I see the same problem you describe. I got [0] as the Amazon's Choice And here's my favorite review: The hip resistance circle bands arrived exactly as expected! I love the colors and how heavy duty they are. When I first took them out of the package I compared them to another rubber band set that I already have but are not as heavy duty as these ones. As soon as just testing them, I could feel the resistance and was starting to work up a sweat.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Headphone-Adapter-Splitter-Earphone-C...

this [1] is what i see listed as amazon's choice. it's got 4 stars, and it's in stock. the reviews aren't amazing, but it looks like a competent solution in a category full of terrible options. the same product is the first result of a google search for the same terms. It looks to me like amazon's choice is probably the best option.

[1] https://www.amazon.ca/Belkin-Audio-Charge-Adapter-iPhone/dp/...

Bluetooth or an iPhone SE

Do you want the best product for the price, or an OK product with someone else getting an extra cut?

I want the best product for the price, but i wouldn't trust amazon to make that choice for me.

"Amazon's choice" is always going to be about what's best for amazon. that can either be some opaque criteria that the sellers can try to game, or amazon can just be honest about it and sell that spot instead of giving it to whatever seller cheats the best. I trust that the "amazon's choice" listing for any search is good enough, and not defective or fraudulent. beyond that i'm either going to do my own research if it's something i really care about, or i'm going to buy amazon's choice if i decide that i don't really care and i value not having to think about it.

It's literally right there in the name - Amazon's Choice.

"Someone else" (Amazon) was always getting an extra cut. That's exactly the value proposition of a retailer. I mean, there's some complexity here that you don't see with physical retail due to the affiliate relationship, but the principle doesn't change. The whole point to going to a store for an item is that you know they'll stock it in an easily accessible form and quantity that you would have a hard time sourcing from an original manufacturer. And we've always been willing to pay for that service with a markup.

> The whole point to going to a store for an item is that you know they'll stock it in an easily accessible form and quantity that you would have a hard time sourcing from an original manufacturer. And we've always been willing to pay for that service with a markup.

That's the expected cut. It's not extra at all.

The extra cut here is giving someone else a kickback and you get exactly zero value for those extra dollars.