Amazon has two separate rating systems that sellers often confuse: seller feedback and product reviews. Both matter for your business, but they work differently, appear in different places, and require different strategies to manage. Understanding the distinction is essential for protecting your account health and building long-term customer trust.
What Is Amazon Seller Feedback?
Seller feedback is a rating that a buyer leaves about their experience with you as a seller. It reflects the transaction itself, not the product. Amazon asks buyers to rate sellers on a scale of 1 to 5 stars and leave a written comment about shipping speed, packaging, communication, and overall service.
Seller feedback appears on your seller profile page, visible to anyone who clicks through to check your store. It directly affects your account health metrics in Seller Central and plays a significant role in your Buy Box eligibility. Amazon calculates your feedback score as the percentage of your feedback that is positive (4 or 5 stars) over the last 12 months.
What Is an Amazon Product Review?
A product review is a rating and written evaluation of the product itself, left on the product detail page (PDP). Product reviews are associated with the ASIN, not with you as a seller. If you sell a product that other sellers also list, all reviews for that ASIN are shared across every seller’s listing.
Product reviews influence conversion rates, organic search rankings, and buyer confidence. A product with 4.5 stars and 500 reviews will consistently outsell a competitor with 3.8 stars and 50 reviews, even at a higher price. Reviews are the social proof layer of your listing.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | Seller Feedback | Product Review |
|---|---|---|
| What it rates | The seller and transaction | The product itself |
| Where it appears | Seller profile page | Product detail page |
| Who it is tied to | Your seller account | The ASIN |
| Affects account health | Yes, directly | No direct impact |
| Affects Buy Box | Yes | Indirectly (conversion rate) |
| Affects search ranking | Indirectly | Yes, significantly |
| Can be removed by Amazon | Yes, if it contains product feedback | Yes, if it violates policies |
How Seller Feedback Affects Your Amazon Business
Your seller feedback score is one of the key inputs Amazon uses when calculating Buy Box eligibility. Sellers with scores above 95% are considered excellent. Scores between 90% and 95% are acceptable. Below 90% will hurt your Buy Box performance and trigger warnings in Seller Central.
Your Order Defect Rate (ODR) is closely linked to feedback. Negative feedback (1 or 2 stars) counts as a defect. Amazon requires all sellers to keep their ODR below 1%. Failing to do so can result in selling privileges being suspended.
If a buyer leaves seller feedback that is actually about the product (for example, “the product quality is poor” rather than “the seller shipped late”), you can request that Amazon remove it. Amazon will strike through or remove feedback that is about the product, contains personal information, or consists only of promotional content. This is one of the most underused tools available to sellers.
How Product Reviews Affect Your Amazon Business
Product reviews drive conversion. Amazon’s A9 algorithm uses review count and average star rating as ranking signals. A new product with zero reviews converts at a significantly lower rate than an established product with 100 reviews, all else equal. Getting to 15 to 20 reviews as quickly as possible after launch is critical for new products.
Reviews also affect your advertising efficiency. A product with strong reviews will have a higher click-to-purchase conversion rate on Sponsored Products ads, which lowers your effective cost per conversion. Advertising a product with poor reviews is expensive and usually unprofitable.
How to Get More Amazon Seller Feedback
Amazon’s “Request a Review” feature (available in Seller Central under Orders) sends a standardized, Amazon-branded email asking buyers to leave both a seller feedback rating and a product review. This is the only automated review request method that is fully compliant with Amazon’s policies. You can send this request between 5 and 30 days after the order delivery date.
- Use the “Request a Review” button in Seller Central for every order
- Automate the requests at scale with tools like Jungle Scout, Helium 10, or Seller Labs
- Respond to all negative feedback promptly and professionally
- Request removal of any feedback that is actually a product review
How to Get More Amazon Product Reviews
The same “Request a Review” flow above will also request a product review from buyers. Beyond that automated touchpoint, the main legitimate methods for generating product reviews are:
- Amazon Vine: Amazon invites top reviewers to receive free products in exchange for honest reviews. Available to Brand Registry sellers with fewer than 30 reviews and fewer than 30 units enrolled at a time. Vine reviews are typically high quality and detailed.
- Product inserts: Physical cards in your packaging that direct buyers to leave a review. You cannot offer incentives or direct buyers only to positive review flows, but a neutral “How did we do? Leave a review” card is allowed.
- Follow-up emails: If you use a third-party email tool, you can send follow-up messages post-purchase, as long as they comply with Amazon’s communication policies (no discounts in exchange for reviews, no directing buyers only to leave positive reviews).
When Amazon Will Remove Feedback or Reviews
Amazon will remove seller feedback if it contains product-specific information (not about the transaction), includes personal information about the seller, is obscene or offensive, or is entirely promotional. Submit a removal request through Seller Central under Performance > Feedback Manager.
Amazon removes product reviews that violate its policies, including reviews left in exchange for compensation, reviews from family members of the seller, reviews that include profanity, or reviews unrelated to the product. You can report these reviews directly from the product page using the “Report” button next to each review.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Amazon seller feedback and product reviews?
Seller feedback rates the transaction and seller experience. It appears on your seller profile and affects your account health and Buy Box eligibility. Product reviews rate the product itself, appear on the product listing, and affect conversion rates and organic search rankings. Both matter for your business but are managed separately.
Does seller feedback affect my product rankings?
Seller feedback does not directly affect organic search rankings for your products. However, it affects your Buy Box eligibility, which indirectly affects how many page views your listing receives. Product reviews have a more direct relationship with search ranking than seller feedback does.
Can I ask buyers to leave a review on Amazon?
Yes. Amazon’s “Request a Review” button in Seller Central is the approved method for requesting reviews and seller feedback. You can also use third-party tools to automate this. You cannot offer incentives in exchange for reviews, direct buyers to leave only positive reviews, or contact buyers outside of Amazon’s messaging system for review requests.
What happens if I get too much negative seller feedback?
Excessive negative feedback raises your Order Defect Rate. Amazon requires ODR to stay below 1%. If your ODR exceeds this threshold, Amazon will warn you and may suspend your selling privileges if the situation is not resolved. Maintain strong shipping performance and respond quickly to customer issues to keep feedback positive.
How many reviews do I need to rank on Amazon?
There is no fixed number required to rank, but early review accumulation accelerates ranking momentum. Most sellers see meaningful conversion improvement after reaching 15 to 20 reviews. In competitive categories, 50 or more reviews with a rating above 4.3 stars is typically needed to compete effectively against established products.
Managing seller feedback and product reviews well is part of a broader Amazon account management strategy. Our full-service account management team monitors both systems and handles review requests, feedback removal, and account health for our clients. For help improving your listing’s conversion and star rating, explore our Amazon listing optimization service.
