I agree. I am using amazon less now than before because I can't trust amazon the way I used to. Part of that is fake reviews. It may not hurt amazon now, as they're still acquiring a lot of new prime users (baby boomers) but they too will sour and then it will be too late for amazon to earn trust back.
It's an easy problem to solve too... only allow reviews from people who have purchased the product on amazon. Nearly every other major e-commerce site does that. The fact that amazon hasn't required this is a good sign that they don't think that is the most beneficial thing to them. Their system already has this feature, but most sellers don't enable it.
Many reviewers are ordering through amazon, and are paid outside of amazon... Amazon needs to invest in heuristics for reviewers.
If someone literally reviews over 90% of what they order on Amazon, they're probably paid for it. If someone only buys things via external links, they're probably paid for it.
There's lots that Amazon can do. Hell, putting seller stickers on co-inventory to track the counterfeiters would be a nice start.
It's an easy problem to solve too... only allow reviews from people who have purchased the product on amazon. Nearly every other major e-commerce site does that. The fact that amazon hasn't required this is a good sign that they don't think that is the most beneficial thing to them. Their system already has this feature, but most sellers don't enable it.