Scams come to us by email, text messaging and phone calls, but other scams are right in front of our eyes that hook us without our being aware. They are fake product reviews that litter the internet everywhere you look. Search engines don’t bother to discern the scammy ones from the real ones. They leave it to us to figure that out.
Search for “best noise-canceling earbuds,” “best carry-on,” or “best air purifier,” and you’ll find hundreds of nearly identical pages — clean layouts, five-star icons, product lists, and buy now buttons everywhere. The truth is these sites aren’t written by experts and nothing was tested. They’re referral machines designed to make money every time you click a link. Total fabrication. Fiction. It wouldn’t take much effort for Google to clean up their search results and identify them as fake, but that would mean less revenue for them.
Product reviews used to be done by skilled engineers or journalists using a product for a week or two, sometimes putting it through their test lab, and then writing a carefully crafted column highlighting the good, the bad, and sometimes comparing it to the competition. Those now are almost a relic of the past.
They’ve been taken over by the world of affiliate marketing, the invisible economy that powers most of today’s product reviews. A site joins an affiliate program — Amazon Associates, Best Buy, Walmart, eBay, Target, Nordstroms, or one of hundreds of others — and every link it posts includes a tracking code. If you buy, the site gets a commission, usually 1–4 percent for physical goods and up to 15 percent for fashion or outdoor gear. For software or credit cards, the payoff can reach $100 or more per signup.
There’s nothing wrong in concept with referral fees. When used transparently, they can support decent reviews. Wirecutter, The Strategist, and Tom’s Guide all disclose their affiliate relationships. They buy and test products, publish their findings, and make it clear that their commissions don’t affect the price you pay. Their incentives mostly align with their readers. If they lose their trust, they lose their audience. That still doesn’t mean their reviews are always good. That depends on the reviewer’s skill, their evaluation methodology and their judgement. And they help fund newspapers and sites that provide lots of good services. But like a huge magnetic focrce, they distort most everything around them.
But many sites, likely the vast majority, don’t test anything now. They don’t even write the reviews. Entire networks of fake review sites now use AI to mass-produce thousands of pages instantly— each filled with stock photos, fake praise and reviews, and a few embedded affiliate links.
All of this distorts the marketplace, making it harder for honest reviewers and legitimate products to stand out. Here are some sites that try to play it straight. They disclose their affiliates, describe how they are testing, snd
Ten Good Sites worth trusting
- RTINGS.com — This is one of my go-to references. They buy the products themselves, run objective tests (e.g. motion blur, latency, viewing angles), and publish raw data.
- Wirecutter — They disclose affiliate links, do hands-on testing, and explain tradeoffs clearly. (Yes, they earn a commission, but transparency is key.)
- Tom’s Guide — Strong reviews in home tech, with clear methodology and comparisons.
- CNET — Longstanding but imperfect; generally better than most, though you should always check for disclosure practices.
- Wired — Solid for consumer electronics. They tend to balance pros and cons.
- Engadget — They combine news and product review, and their reviews are staffed by experienced tech writers. .
- Independent niche experts / YouTubers — If their work is consistent, they publish flaws, answer criticism, and post teardown photos/video.
- Consumer Reports / test labs — Traditional, paywalled, but highly rigorous.
- TheVerge – The preeminent technology news site
- DigitalCameraReview – An amazing source of camera reviews. Owned by Amazon.
Each of these has caveats: they may still use affiliate links, and none are perfect. But they tend to be more consistent, more transparent, and less likely to promote garbage.
Ten Bad Sites to avoid or distrust
- TopTenReviews (spammy network clones) – Many of their pages are rewritten automatically, promoting products that pay the highest affiliate commission rather than actual testing.
- BestProducts.com (unreliable affiliate-driven lists) – Often features vague “best of” lists across hundreds of categories with little testing.
- Reviewopedia / Reviewopedia Network – Known for scraping content from other sites, shallow product commentary, and affiliate-heavy rankings.
- TheTechTop10 / TechTop10 Reviews – A common example of a content farm that auto-generates “Top 10” lists without testing.
- ProductReviewSites.net / ProductReviewLabs – Focused entirely on affiliate revenue; reviews are short, glowing, and copy-pasted across multiple domains.
- BestConsumerReviews.com – Massive network of low-effort “bests” pages; extremely biased toward products that pay higher commissions.
- BuyersChoiceNow.com – Fake or automated reviews dominate; often promotes obscure brands with referral payouts.
- GadgetReviewHub / GadgetBest10 – Primarily keyword-stuffed for SEO; no verification or testing of products.
- ConsumerRanking.org – Affiliate-heavy, repetitive “top 10” lists with fake or copied images.
- TechGearRank.com – Entire site consists of autogenerated “best-of” lists; notorious among SEO/affiliate specialists for low reliability.