The Surprise Way Your Account Could Be Suspended
Positive customer feedback can make the final decision for Amazon customers when deciding between sellers. A customer is often willing to pay a little extra for the same product if they can be reassured that this is a product that they are able to rely on. Sellers know their positive reviews make a difference and naturally want the best reviews on their page.
However, some sellers have turned to different methods of obtaining these reviews. Sellers are hiring outside companies who in exchange for payment, write positive reviews on their Amazon page. Other sellers are offering items at a discounted rate in exchange for an honest review, positive or negative. However, both of these are against Amazon’s policies. If Amazon becomes aware of the violation, it is likely that your account will be suspended.
Review or feedback manipulation is when a customer is offered an incentive in exchange for writing a review. Amazon has strict policies against manipulating reviews because it skews the authenticity of product reviews. Even if the review itself is genuine, if it was produced in exchange for something, that review is tainted in Amazon’s eyes. Amazon cares deeply about their customers. They will not tolerate any form of feedback other than a purely genuine, uninfluenced review.
Amazon’s Guidelines in regards to feedback is as follows:
Promotions and Commercial Solicitations
In order to preserve the integrity of Community content, content and activities consisting of advertising, promotion, or solicitation (whether direct or indirect) is not allowed, including:
- Creating, modifying, or posting content regarding your (or your relative’s, close friend’s, business associate’s, or employer’s) products or services.
- Creating, modifying, or posting content regarding your competitors’ products or services.
- Creating, modifying, or posting content in exchange for compensation of any kind (including free or discounted products, refunds, or reimbursements) or on behalf of anyone else.
- Offering compensation or requesting compensation (including free or discounted products) in exchange for creating, modifying, or posting content.
- Posting advertisements or solicitations, including URLs with referrer tags or affiliate codes.”
Amazon has advanced methods and technology that will help them detect the authentic reviews from the fake. Amazon can look to see if there were multiple reviews made at once in order to detect if there was a violation of their policy. Typically, a rush of reviews all within a limited time frame indicate that some of those reviews are manipulated. Additionally, Amazon is able to detect when reviews have been made in exchange for a discount. Having your friends and family write reviews is also against policy and may result in suspension. It is not worth the risk.
When selling on Amazon, these alternative methods of obtaining reviews may be temping, but it is not worth potentially losing your business. If you are going to offer discounts in exchange for reviews or manipulate reviews in any way, it must be done on a separate platform. Unfortunately, we have seen customers confuse the offers and will purchase a product from one website and write their inauthentic review on Amazon. When offering discounts for reviews on other platforms, you must make it very clear to customers that this is not something that is offered on the Amazon platform.
If you are suspended due to feedback manipulation, you will need to evaluate your business practice. Your plan of action should demonstrate that you have detected the cause of your issue; perhaps you were unaware of the policy. You will then need to show all of the corrective actions you have taken to resolve the issue. Finally, you will need to show how this issue will never happen again. At Amazon Sellers Lawyer, we have been successful in reinstating accounts that have been suspended due to feedback manipulation. However, we believe that education is the best form of prevention. As a business owner, it is important to learn about feedback manipulation and to understand that any form of a review that is not 100% authentic and uninfluenced is against Amazon’s policies.
Nicole Kulaga, Law Student, Paralegal, Future Lawyer and Co-Author of Your Guide to Selling Fashion on Amazon.
