Brushing (e-commerce)

In e-commerce, brushing, also called "review brushing",^[1] is a deceitful technique sometimes used in e-commerce to boost a seller's ratings by creating fake orders,^[2][3][4][5] which are either shipped to an accomplice or to an unsuspecting member of the public.

Most e-commerce sites rate sellers by multiple criteria and display these seller ratings to customers. Since a good rating can boost sales, these ratings are very important to sellers. The number of items shipped is usually an important factor in that rating, as is the star rating given by the person who placed the order (irrespective of who received the item, or whether the parcel that was sent to them even contained it).