My favourite is someone who rates it 1 star because they got it late.

You're reviewing the item you wet wipe, not Katie who works for Evri/Hermes...

There is also the question section.

"How big is the item itself"

Some idiot: I don't know. Bought it as a gift

Of course they are a problem? The real issue is the star ratings in aggregate of course, but the value in individual reviews is detecting patterns - "didn't like the lock thing" "latch was loose" "maybe it's just me, but the latch didn't feel solid" "the lock broke off within a week". You start to see trouble spots if you know how to skim actual reviews.

So to get that value, you don't restrict input, you leave it open, the "pretty box" people aren't ideal, but it's fine because it allows for the breadcrumbs that tell the larger truth. It's ridiculous to expect normal, busy people to do "consumer reports" style reviews for every small kitchen sponge and packet of stickers sold online?

With Amazon there's also the problem of them combining reviews of entirely different products into a single product's page. I have no idea why they do this. There are also sellers who switch the product on the page while keeping the positive reviews for an earlier product.

Are fake reviews even a problem worth bothering with?

For me, the answer is mostly "no" because I just assume everything (except certain name-brand items that I did my homework on elsewhere) on Amazon/Ebay/Aliexpress/etc. is marginally-functional crap and adjust my expectations accordingly.

If anything, the only signals I go by on those sites are the number of ratings and reviews (not their content) as indications of popularity, following the "wisdom of crowds."

Stiftung Warentest is such a thing in Germany.

Are fake reviews even a problem worth bothering with?

I feel like this is the case. Whenever I have a new hobby and need to make a purchase, I rely a lot on reviews of others because it's impossible to guarantee the quality of anything. Look at Doc Marten's today, they fucking suck, and this is a "known" brand. Now how about buying all sorts of weird shit from other countries or small companies that aren't well known enough.

Yes for consumers this is a problem.

The whole online shopping landscape is a complete mess and fake reviews are really just the tiny tip of the iceberg. To really improve the situation you’d need some “Consumer Reports”-type effort that objectively evaluates a products performance and compares it to the competition. Depending on random people on the Internet to do the reviewing is kind of a lost cause to begin with.

This would be a welcome solution.

The far bigger problem is that most reviews are just devoid of useful information. "Thing arrived and box looked pretty" is what most of them boil down to. If they are fake or not doesn't make a difference.

But-But how are we supposed to know how handsome/beautiful the delivery rider who delivered the parcel is???

Photos from people who received the product are useful, you never know with the marketting bs. And I would argue that random people review are important, but they are so bad right now that you got used not to look at them. Of course some will be stupid (1/5, came late), you just have to read them. Which is impossible with the 50.000 fake on every product.

I love the reviews that say "I haven't gotten it yet but I'm sure it is good" or they review UPS instead "Package arrived damaged". They are as useful as those idiotic unpacking videos.

If I use reviews I look for ones with specific information and what the general range of negative ones are. If there are a mess of negatives ones and they are recent with details included then I pay attention.

Yeah I think it's pretty easy to work around fake reviews. Seems like a skill issue tbh.