Fake reviews.

[#1]

I get the feeling that 70% of the reviews on Sephora.com are fake-- posted by the product distrubutor. I always click on the user and see if they've reviewed other items or not.. I mean, almost every product has at least 4 stars total. That seems a little unlikely. It bothers me.... Luckily they have a great return policy so you can try things out yourself. Thoughts?

[#2]

I don't think the reviews are fake, but may be skewed towards the positive, because people are more likely to report a good experience than a mediocre one. It takes effort to write a review, though it does look like some people spent no effort at all!  I often find myself having to write a reminder to myself to write a review about a so-so product, whereas I will always write a positive one, so I can tell the world how great the product is. And Katie is right, 4 stars to me seems to be about what I would rate a product that is good, but not great. So that could explain why most things have a 4.

I wouldn't let the average of 4 stars sway your feelings towards a product. Just read what the reviews are saying: does the product actually work, does it cause problems for some people, is it overpriced, etc? Then make up your mind if the product is right for you, and if it turns out not to be, just send it back.

[#3]

Hi Melk!  Of course everyone is allowed their opinion and although I find yours a little pessimistic, you are welcome to yours.  Personally I disagree with it.  I use to read the reviews as the came newest to oldest.  Now I read them least stars to most.  I want to read the negative reviews first. Of course as was said  earlier I skip the ones that aren't very valid like "I don't like the color of the jar."  But I read some of the good reviews too.  I pretty much know what I want to try and if I have a real question about it, I come on here, Beauty Talk, and ask my friends.  And I also like what was said earlier that there wouldn't be as many misspellings and grammar mistakes if it was fake. I'm not saying you should look at the world through rose colored glasses but maybe not with not so much of a Touch of Grey.

And whatever you decide to think, have great fun with your makeup!

[#4]

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katimae wrote:

Hi Melk!  Of course everyone is allowed their opinion and although I find yours a little pessimistic, you are welcome to yours.  Personally I disagree with it.  I use to read the reviews as the came newest to oldest.  Now I read them least stars to most.  I want to read the negative reviews first. Of course as was said  earlier I skip the ones that aren't very valid like "I don't like the color of the jar."  But I read some of the good reviews too.  I pretty much know what I want to try and if I have a real question about it, I come on here, Beauty Talk, and ask my friends.  And I also like what was said earlier that there wouldn't be as many misspellings and grammar mistakes if it was fake. I'm not saying you should look at the world through rose colored glasses but maybe not with not so much of a Touch of Grey.

And whatever you decide to think, have great fun with your makeup!

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I also resort reviews to read the most negative. I also sort by "most helpful." Always be mindful of the date when reading reviews. BT is also a great way to solicit additional opinions.

[#5]

I would be interested to hear how you come up with the 70% calculation.  Any review I have submitted, positive negative or neutral has shown up on the review section.  I am very confident that the reviews are accurate and not posted by the manufacturer or distributor and quite frankly am offended at the suggestion.  Why bother to post an honest opinion?  I would suggest you post something and see what happens, don't make accusations without basis.  Thoughts?  I am surprised that Sephora's policy is that you can return any product you buy without  a valid reason, even if you've used it, and I think the return policy is pretty liberal.  Click on my name and let me know if you think the review is "fake".

[#6]

Hm, I just went and checked a recent negative feedback, and it's not there, though other positive reviews posted after mine are. 

[#7]

That's going to happen on plenty of sites.  I've found a lot of the reviews here to be fairly decent and accurate for the most part. Could not say the same for some other sites.

The reviews have saved me from trying a lot of items when I found other reviews that had similar concerns/issue said it doesn't work or caused problems.  Also found a few products that I have looked into further and loved because of them too. 

Be picky reading through the reviews.  Have a critical eye about what you read. For example, I always skip to the next review if someone praises a skin care product only by the fragrance.  In that situation, effectiveness > smell.  What concerns do you have about a product?  Which reviews address these concerns?

Put it this way, everyone has a different method for reviewing a product.  And I do agree that some reviews seem overrated (some people love them and feel strongly enough for the 5 star rating) or that they were not using the product correctly.  Again, I've seen people who've complained about professors all semester and then give them higher ratings in evaluations.  That one always baffled me. 

Then again, I tend not to blindly buy a product unless I've tried it for myself first. The return policy is great.  I really don't like to return things but I'm glad it is an option when needed.

[#8]

I've never gotten the impression that any reviews on this site are fake.  Some reviews you have to take with a grain of salt of course (and others you have to dismiss completely.)  I'm much more likely to believe the product feedback on here versus the recommendations in beauty magazines though.

[#9]

@melk9- Sephora does encourage staff members to review products they legitimately use and love on Sephora.com and have flagged the nicknames as "Sephora Staff." The company definitely does not condone writing fake reviews and will remove any that appear to be.

[#10]

I actually don't think they're fake -- if they were written by the product company or Sephora, they would (likely) contain proper spelling, punctuation and a better use of grammar than the majority of reviews have. Seriously, though -- I think four stars is pretty average on this site -- it's a "good" rating. While I try to be discerning in my reviews, I find myself giving four star reviews to things I don't absolutely love, but "liked" well enough. I will give lower-star reviews to products only if I did not like them. As is the case most of the time, I will like a product without being in love with it -- meaning I would rate it higher than average, but less than excellent -- i.e., four stars.

Also -- people often complain that their negative reviews are deleted, but it is my understanding that Sephora only deletes reviews (both positive and negative) that have nothing to do with the product itself. For instance, a one-star review that reads "I didn't even want to try this because it's too expensive for me" might be deleted, whereas a substantive one-star "poor" review that acutally cites negative points will remain.

: )

[#11]

oh phew im glad Sephora tries to delete those totally irrelevant reviews. I once read a 1-star review that said something like "hate the product because it feels icky" UMMMM...DOES THE PRODUCT WORK OR NOT? lol. I feel like Sephora should hire me to delete those type of comments, i would have so much fun!

[#12]

Just out of curiosity, I decided to check out my own reviews. I have written more than three hundred product reviews for Sephora -- and I keep track of what I have reviewed in a MS Word document (nerdy, I know). Of the 300+ reviews, every single one of my low-star reviews remains posted. I'm assuming this is because I took the time to address what I did not like about the product, and why it did not work for me personally. If you had a review deleted (or not posted in the first place), I would be curious as to what the content was.

During the initial Naked Palette craze, there were many, many people who submitted one star reviews that said -- almost verbatim: "I am so sick of this being unavailable!! And why are you deleting my reviews?!" -- those are the types of reviews that were posted -- and why wouldn't Sephora delete those? Whether or not a product is available has absolutely nothing to do with the actual product itself -- which is the point of consumer reviews. To anyone whose review was deleted, I would think about the content and how much it had to do with the product. If, by any stretch of the imagination, it did not have to do with the product, OR you mentioned a product NOT available through Sephora (anything from Chanel to Neutrogena), your review would not have been posted in the first place -- or it might have been removed, per Sephora's guidelines.

(Moving on from the original post) This is not the first time I have read about people doubting the authenticity of Sephora's reviews -- which, quite frankly, I fail to understand. I wrote my 300+ reviews for products that I tried and loved, tried and liked -- and tried and thought, "Meh." I wrote a ton of reviews over a short period of time simply because I was having a slow period at work. While I wish that I were, I am unfortunately not a Sephora employee -- just someone with a passion for beauty products and time on her hands. Lastly, as for claims that "no one" can try that many beauty products, I'm sure that Citizens Bank would be glad to verify my spending habits.

: )

[#13]

I recently posted a 1 star review ( 2-3 days ago) on the Sephora Brand Face Brush and it didnt get posted. I just wrote that it was too rough on my skin and that I wish I did love it, because the price is awesome and it would have saved me tons of money on things like makeup wipes and toner. And this isnt the first time my negative reviews were not posted, so I dont understand why Sephora doesnt post my reviews, but keeps things like "too expensive" or "sick of this not being available" and "cant wait to try this!". So I dont think that the reviews are fake, but someone at Sephora is filtering out reviews to keep at least a 4 star average on most products. I know that on here reviews on the Clarisonic are 5 star, but on other places like QVC its much much lower ( well the overall score isnt lower, but there are a LOT more negative reviews there than Sephora has) and they give much better deals too. ( For $225 you get all 3 skin care brushes, the body brush, the pro machine and a bunch of full size skincare products from companies like Philosophy, Clarisonic and the like.)

[#14]

Reviews may be removed if they do not meet our guidelines.

@Sephoramusthave and Tamelee - It looks like your reviews were rejected in error.  I've approved them and they should be up later today. 

[#15]

Thank you SO much keelybt!!

[#16]

At any given point for any product, you can click on the reviewers name and the reviews of all the products they have reviewed will come up.  So if you feel like a review is fishy, check a person out and you can determine how legitamate they are.

[#17]

Could you be more specific to what you posted the negative review on so that a moderator could respond for all of us to see?