Just in case you think Lazada reviews are genuine.

[canopy]

9 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

Amazon also has had a lot of fake reviews

Please scroll up two posts from yours and read.

[robsamui]

Not specifically responding to the OP's take on it, there is one thing about Lazada which INFURIATES me and has caught me out several time - the universal practice of photoshopping the items so that they look MUCH bigger than they actually are.

Some are obviously ridiculous - but other are more subtle, with just a few background items suggesting (false) scale. Now I double-check the measurements carefully on everything!

[Thomas J]

On 5/10/2021 at 11:29 PM, Susco said:

So to cut the story short, those who say to look for the positive reviews to know if it is a decent product, keep on dreaming, Lazada is pulling your leg.

Now the question is who is posting those reviews.  Is it Lazada or is it the seller.  Many reviews are done on the internet by the companies selling the product to boost it.   Now the seller "could" put in an order to himself which would show as a verified purchase, then complete the review.  The seller would be paying some fee to Lazada for the sale but the seller may view that as just a small price to get a good recommendation for their product.  That is why it is best to look at a product with lots of reviews and pay particular attention to those that are negative.  They are likely more credible than those that rave about the product. 

[lopburi3]

7 hours ago, simon43 said:

The whole site is just cheap, Chinese fakes and copies!

There are all kinds of sellers on Lazada and Shopee and most are legit sellers of name brand products, including official dealers, just trying to make a living.  Tesco Lotus, CP and many other stores also sell products on these platforms.  And there are good Chinese products also being sold by individuals and official dealers.  That 90% off is likely to be fake of course is true and that Lazada has more than its share of cheap junk is true - but they also offer a good choice for normal shopping for many of us who use a bit of discretion.  The world does not always operate with the protections we may have become accustomed to in our cocoon homelands.  Currently Lazada seems to be suffering from a real lack of direction/leadership since owner in reportedly in hiding and unable to attend to details.

[taotoo]

If it's cheap and coloured gold I won't get as far as reading the reviews.

[Susco]

2 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

There are all kinds of sellers on Lazada and Shopee and most are legit sellers of name brand products, including official dealers, just trying to make a living.

 

I would remove "most" from that sentence. There are legit sellers on those Chinese online platforms, but certainly not most.

 

3 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Currently Lazada seems to be suffering from a real lack of direction/leadership since owner in reportedly in hiding and unable to attend to details.

 

Which owner you have in mind? The period that Jack Ma was less visible publicly, has passed a few months already, and was more a rumour than anything else.

 

Anyway, do you really think he is attending any details on any of those online sales platforms Alibaba owns.

[lopburi3]

35 minutes ago, Susco said:

Anyway, do you really think he is attending any details on any of those online sales platforms Alibaba owns.

I think he set a standard that has dropped.  

36 minutes ago, Susco said:

I would remove "most" from that sentence. There are legit sellers on those Chinese online platforms, but certainly not most.

I will stand on that as much as it may appear otherwise - now if you take the alternative names (perhaps hundreds) that the scammers use and count them as individual sellers you are probably right.  They have a huge issue with same seller using multi names (often selling at 3x going price).

[canopy]

16 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

but they also offer a good choice for normal shopping for many of us who use a bit of discretion

 

If you can't trust the product description, the pictures, or the reviews, then what's left to get this bit of discretion? And is that reasonable to expect the general population to be able to do?

 

[jacko45k]

On 5/11/2021 at 7:49 AM, rcuthbert said:

I bought a Western Digital 2 terabyte hard drive from a Lazada seller that had high ratings. It failed during the first data transfer. In short, it was fake, so I wrote a critical review. The next day, the review had been removed; consequently, I contacted Lazada, but they did not return my email.

 

I have often had reservations about leaving  a negative review, mainly due to the local defamation <deleted> you find here...... What you (and the OP) have posted suggests the whole reviews system there is not worth a damn.

[canopy]

On 5/11/2021 at 7:49 AM, rcuthbert said:

I bought a Western Digital 2 terabyte hard drive...it was fake

 

While I disagree with how Lazada handled it, I am a bit skeptical. Sending a non-working drive maybe, but you believe "fake"??? That implies it was not made by WD but is some counterfeit product. Hard drives would be extremely difficult to counterfeit--nothing like making a fake hand bag. Maybe it was a refurb, a returned product, damaged somewhere in shipping  & handling, possibly even damaged by your own handling? Hard drives are very fragile. If you so much as sit them on their side and they fall over flat that can be the end of them.

 

[Peter Denis]

On 5/11/2021 at 2:49 AM, rcuthbert said:

I bought a Western Digital 2 terabyte hard drive from a Lazada seller that had high ratings. It failed during the first data transfer. In short, it was fake, so I wrote a critical review. The next day, the review had been removed; consequently, I contacted Lazada, but they did not return my email.

 

Did the seller take back the fake hard drive and reimburse what you paid for it?

If not you have been scammed and should inform Lazada about it (they might put some pressure on that seller to reimburse you).

Also note that when you buy from LazMall (the official Lazada store) the regular brand warranty applies and when - like in your case - it turns out to be a fake product Lazada will pay you 5 times what you paid for it.

Different sellers are sometimes offering the same product on the Lazada site, so prices can differ and the products that have that 'LazMall' logo are of course a bit more expensive than the other ones because of that guarantee.

[Saltire]

I use Lazada a lot and I would say it's pot luck as to what you get is what you expect. I've been quite lucky so far, never had to return anything.

 

I fell for the photoshop trick once to make things look bigger on a set of pots and pans. Not as big as expected.

 

Handy Hint: After I do a search and find a possible purchase I do the same search but first translate (Google) my original search to Thai. The subsequent search often gives more listings from sellers who don't use English in the product descriptions.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

On 5/11/2021 at 12:03 AM, Susco said:

On 5/11/2021 at 12:01 AM, VocalNeal said:

Why base a purchasing decision on a "review" by someone unknown with unknown credentials? It is an opinion not a review and we all know what an opinion is and who has one.

 

So what do you base your decision on? The pictures?

Yes, obviously, but trust also.   

 

Why assume all sellers are out to screw you?  If it's not what was ordered you get a refund.

[scubascuba3]

Everything I've bought so far on Lazada based on extensive reviews have been very good, just lucky I guess but i look for the negative reviews, again lucky

[Liverpool Lou]

On 5/13/2021 at 8:23 PM, BritManToo said:

Gotta say I've not had much in the way of problems and I use Lazada extensively.

I've had a couple of broken items, refunded with no problems, and a pink bag when I ordered a black bag also refunded.

Same here, no issues.   

 

Some people just seem to want to create problems such as the OP, he noticed something that hasn't caused him a problem.     And they do add to the clicks here!

[Liverpool Lou]

On 5/14/2021 at 5:33 AM, simon43 said:

Does anyone actually believe that Lazada sells genuine brand name products? 

 

The whole site is just cheap, Chinese fakes and copies!  So long as you are aware of that, then you take your chance and purchase the junk....  

 

Sellers sell through Lazada, Lazada doesn't sell anything.  To claim that the whole site is there for selling fake goods is just nonsense.

[Liverpool Lou]

On 5/15/2021 at 6:10 AM, canopy said:

 

If you can't trust the product description, the pictures, or the reviews, then what's left to get this bit of discretion? And is that reasonable to expect the general population to be able to do?

 

The thing is that if you make these purchases with your eyes open you can trust the most of the pictures and descriptions.   The number of posters who have been buying for years and have commented in these threads that they have experienced few issues far outweigh the  those who claim problems every time. 

 

[from the home of CC]

On 5/11/2021 at 12:01 AM, VocalNeal said:

Why base a purchasing decision on a "review" by someone unknown with unknown credentials? It is an opinion not a review and we all know what an opinion is and who has one.

agreed, this is the last place I would look to see consumer reports..

[techietraveller84]

I know someone up the chain mentioned Amazon's problem with fake reviews, but this article goes into some detail on how the system works and where it may be based. It's likely the same people/companies/systems that operate the Lazada fake review services. The fake reviews ecosystem seems to be a large industry in China.

Quote

A misconfigured database has exposed what appears to be a major coordinated scheme by Amazon vendors to procure fake reviews for their products.

 

A team at AV reviews site SafetyDetectives found the China-based Elasticsearch server exposed online without any password protection or encryption.

The 7GB trove contained over 13 million records including the email addresses and WhatsApp/Telegram phone numbers of vendor contacts, plus email addresses, surnames, PayPal account details and Amazon account profiles of reviewers.

 

According to SafetyDetectives, fake review scams typically begin with vendors sending their reviewer contacts a list of products for which they would like a five-star review. 

 

After leaving the review and sending the vendor a link, the reviewer will be paid via PayPal to compensate them for the product purchase and will be allowed to keep the product itself as payment. The reviews site claimed that the leak implicated around 200,000 individuals in such schemes.

 

“Given the extent of the records and vendors included in the database, it’s possible that the server is not owned by the Amazon vendors running the scam. The server could be owned by a third party that reaches out to potential reviewers on behalf of the vendors,” it explained.

 

“Third parties might post a picture of the product in a Facebook or WeChat group, asking for reviews in return for free products. The server could also be owned by a large company with several subsidiaries, which would explain the presence of multiple vendors."

 

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/database-exposes-200k-fake-amazon/

[kevc]

Lots of  reviews give five stars but when you read them tgeyvare far from satisfied with what they have, also I think there are a lot of sellers have two or three shops. I just bought an android box, only two sellers have them and both reduced the rate to virtually the same price for one day only.

[Thomas J]

If Shopee and Lazada were doing their jobs, they would establish that reviews can only be given to bonified buyers of the product.  Now that still would not stop a seller from having relatives, friends "buy" the product and give it favorable reviews.  

It is not unusual for sellers to have "shill" buyers who give great ratings.  Conversely it is not unusual for sellers to give hugely negative ratings to competitors.  

Bottom line.  The more reviews the more likely you are getting a true rating.  Pay more attention to the negative than the positive ratings. If there are a substantial number of negatives.  Avoid. 

[foreverlomsak]

On 5/11/2021 at 1:12 AM, Susco said:

You must have noticed from my examples in the OP, that I'm not after a 5000 Baht trimmer, but rather something cheap, which will not disappoint when it will be used maybe 3 times a year.

OK I know your looking for a rechargeable, I bought a mains supply trimmer 4 years ago from Big C for 289 Baht I think it was, it's still going strong, cuts my hair no problem so long as you keep the blades coated with machine oil (sewing machine that is).

[Susco]

2 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

OK I know your looking for a rechargeable, I bought a mains supply trimmer 4 years ago from Big C for 289 Baht I think it was, it's still going strong, cuts my hair no problem so long as you keep the blades coated with machine oil (sewing machine that is).

 

I have one like that, but it's inconvenient because need extension lead to get in the shower cubicle.

 

My rechargeable arrived yesterday, and however it looks decent, it doesn't charge ????

[foreverlomsak]

3 minutes ago, Susco said:

 

I have one like that, but it's inconvenient because need extension lead to get in the shower cubicle.

 

My rechargeable arrived yesterday, and however it looks decent, it doesn't charge ????

maybe they forgot to tell you the rechargeable battery was extra.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Lazada chose to ignore obvious fake/copy items, here’s a good example.

Search for “ flash drive 2tb “

First hit of many :

 

 

99% of us know that this is an obvious fake item , it just doesn’t exist !! and if it did it would be upwards of $1000 not $2.20  ????????

10 reviews giving 4.5/5 stars ????????

 

As Peter said click on LazMall to clear a lot of the blatant fakes.But any company that would openly allow stuff like the above to be advertised on their website clearly have no moral scruples.

 

I have bought plenty of cheap Chinese stuff from them as well as Teabags and Branston Pickle etc but trust them as far as I could throw them ………. NOT !!

 

The favourite saying of some on here “ don’t spend more than you can afford to lose “ is very apt in this situation .

 

 

[clivebaxter]

Never knew they sold Branston Pickle, is that real?

[clivebaxter]

Just had a look there's a great shop called food variety, all UK stuff 31 pages, like being in Sainsburys, prices are mostly cheaper than in the shops here as well. Stuck an order in already. Got a load of products not in shops here

[Andrew Dwyer]

37 minutes ago, clivebaxter said:

Never knew they sold Branston Pickle, is that real?

Yes, check out Food Variety on Lazada some good stuff.

 

Beat me to it .

[clivebaxter]

Just now, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes, check out Food Variety on Lazada some good stuff.

 

Just put an order in glad you mentioned it, amazing shop- <deleted> the diet!

[Kerryd]

A lot of people have no idea how things work in the global markets these days.

Surely some of you know that the difference between a "name brand" and a "knock off" is usually nothing more than the factory that makes the "name brand" pumping out more copies of an item, simply without the "name" on it ?
(In other words, both are probably made in the same factory or from a "sister" factory.) I often see the exact same item listed many times, only with different "brand" names. Cheap, gimmicky "keyboard vacuums", uninterruptable power supplies, printer ink cartridges. Literally everything can be found many times, with identical specs, but a different "brand name".

Oh, and of course as most of you know, even the "name brand" retailers get a lot of their stuff made in China. Just like how Adidas (and others) get their super expensive sneakers (running shoes) made in Vietnam for  about a quarter of the price they retail for. For example, an article from May 2019 I just read details the cost of a pair of $70 (US) sneakers. 
The actual cost is about $15. Add a couple dollars for shipping and import fees, the shoes cost just over $17 by the time they get to the (stateside) warehouse. The remaining $53 dollars is mark ups from the brand/wholesaler and the retailer. (Basically the "brand" or wholesaler doubles the landed cost and sells to the retailer, who then doubles the delivered cost. That is how they can offer seemingly huge discounts on items for various promotions and still make a profit on it.)

Another article from 2016 noted prices for different models of Nikes, Adidas and Asics. On average, the cost was a quarter of the retail price. (i.e. Adidas Yeezy Boost 750s, cost $76, retail $350. Nike Air Max, cost $33, retail $190. Asic Gel Quantum 360s, cost $40, retail $170.)

Then the manufacturer can simply run off thousands of extra copies with a different name (or no name even) and sell them on the side (or send the design to another factory to make "knock offs").

I had a Cooey .22 bolt action as a kid. I saw an identical rifle in a catalogue, except it was called a Remington. I found out that if you went to the manufacturer and offered to buy a large lot of something, they'd literally stamp whatever name you want on it. 

Heck, they'll even put "Made in America" labels on it before it leaves the factory in China or Bangladesh or (wherever) if that's what the customer wants. Doesn't matter if it's a "Make America Great" ball cap or a Maytag washing machine (which may look identical to a Zenith or Samsung model, except for the name).

Car manufacturers do it too. While posted to Germany, I bought a Mitsubishi Sapporo. Parked it in the lot on base one day. At the end of the day I went to open the car but my key wasn't working.
A mechanic from the unit walked up and asked me what I was doing trying to open his car. Double check - he had parked right next to me, in his Dodge Colt he'd had brought over from Canada.

We spent half an hour going over the 2 cars and they were identical in every way (trim, colour, seats, lights, instruments). The only difference was the name. (And maybe the muffler as Germany had different pollution regulations than Canada.)

Next. 
When searching for something on Lazada, look at how many hits you get.
Then select "local" and watch the number drop from 10s of thousands to hundreds (or even dozens). 

Why ? Because most of those "sellers" are not even in Thailand. They are in Chinese sweat shop call centers. They manage dozens of shops in the different countries Lazada operates in. 
(No, Lazada is not just in Thailand. They also have Lazada in the Philippines and Malaysia for example.)

Those call centers collect the orders and then place larger orders with the manufacturers (on sites like AliExpress and Alibaba) to maximize the discount (and thus increase their profit).
That is also why when you look at different "stores" on Lazada you will see identical photos and product information, often with only slight variations in price.

Wildly different prices for the same thing ?

That is an old, common tactic designed to catch the unwary and unknowing. A lot of people have no idea how to sort a list, especially when the default sort is "Best Match". They assume the first hits they see are the "best price", which often they are not.
You can be sure that for every buyer that actually sorts a list from "low to high" or "high to low" there are just as many who rarely look past the first page of the default picks and selects an item, totally clueless that they may be paying 10 times as much.

Reviews ? I rarely pay attention to them unless they have photos of the item. I post reviews (in English) of everything I buy, usually in detail so anyone reading it will probably know it's genuine.

However, I'd place as much faith in an anonymous review on the internet as I would on asking a bunch of strangers on ThaiVisa for their advise on whether or not I should buy a lottery ticket because the family cow died and 3 of it's legs stuck straight out while the 4th was bent at the knee, or if you think, because the cow was part of a Sin Sod deal, if I can claim a refund from the girl's parents ? (Yeah, I tell my girlfriends that they have to pay me the Sin Sod, not the other way around.)

Also, trust that if you are buying the cheapest possible option, you're going to get what you pay for. Some things may last years, some may last days. But you can pay more for the same item as well, only to find out it is exactly the same as the cheaper item.

"caveat emptor" (buyer beware). A Latin expression that goes back to the early 1500s (if not before). Selling shady items to unsuspecting customers has been a thing for many centuries !