My process for getting usable results on Amazon (.co.uk, presumably the others too):
1. Search for thing
2. Filter by department (necessary for 3)
3. Filter by Seller: only Amazon
4: Filter by reviews: 4 stars+
5: Sort by price, Low > High
6: (Further filters as appropriate)
7: Look at only products with a high number of reviews
8: For every product, "See all reviews" and filter on "Verified purchase only" and "Show only reviews for {the product variant you're actually looking at}". Closely scrutinise 1 and 2 star reviews.
But sometimes even this _still_ doesn't get me quite what I want, because when an item is sold both by Amazon and a 3rd-party it can be sorted based on the non-Amazon price.
It does feel just a little like Amazon's goals might not be perfectly aligned with those of the customer.
1. Search for thing
2. Filter by department (necessary for 3)
3. Filter by Seller: only Amazon
4: Filter by reviews: 4 stars+
5: Sort by price, Low > High
6: (Further filters as appropriate)
7: Look at only products with a high number of reviews
8: For every product, "See all reviews" and filter on "Verified purchase only" and "Show only reviews for {the product variant you're actually looking at}". Closely scrutinise 1 and 2 star reviews.
But sometimes even this _still_ doesn't get me quite what I want, because when an item is sold both by Amazon and a 3rd-party it can be sorted based on the non-Amazon price.
It does feel just a little like Amazon's goals might not be perfectly aligned with those of the customer.