Sakura Checker: A Helpful Tool for Amazon Scams

Please excuse my low-quality Microsoft Paint job as a cover for this post.

Have you ever bought something from Amazon that was incredibly disappointing, yet somehow had great reviews? Have you ever ordered something with loads of 5-star ratings, only to have it cancelled or forced into a conversation with the seller? Have you ever seen a product listing on Amazon that had hundreds of reviews but your scam senses were tingling?

If any of that sounds like your experience, let me tell you about something that I wish I knew about when I first ordered from Japanese Amazon. I’m trying not to sound like those bot and AI posts that have been springing up recently, but I’d really like more ex-pats know about this website:

Sakura Checker is a website that exists to help buyers figure out if products listed on Amazon are being fluffed with good reviews and ratings.

Why the name “Sakura Checker?” From what I’ve been told, “sakura” does not just refer to cherry blossoms, but it also refers to people who are planted to garner positive views of the products. I have no reliable sources to back it up, but I have been told that this kind of practice goes way back to the Edo Period, when merchants would hire people to act as satisfied customers in front of a crowd.

Origin story aside and despite my personal opinions of the website’s presentation, the website is actually quite easy to use and very convenient. Simply copy the URL of the Amazon product you’re interested in and paste it into the search bar at the very top of the landing page.

You’ll then be brought to an analysis result page that shows how trustworthy the product is. You’ll see the current Amazon rating, and if you scroll down, you’ll see more details such as the product’s price trends, how likely it is the product has fake reviews, and even some more reliable alternatives if the “Sakura Rating” is high.

The great thing about the website is that most of the text is compatible with Google Chrome’s built-in translation. In my experience, Japanese websites often try to be fancy and embed their text in the website such that it can’t be accessed by the browser. Sakura Checker has most of the website in plain text, so most of the page can turn into English if you have a translation extension installed in your browser.

This is my Chrome browser doing all the work.

Happy Amazon shopping!