If you have noticed that your product reviews are getting deleted on Amazon, then there are some things you want to consider. Recently, Amazon has been struggling with some sellers ‘buying’ fake reviews. These fake reviews end up putting them on the top of search results for each category, grabbing the ‘best seller’ and ‘Amazon’s Choice’ badge. It has been rumored that sellers are going to Facebook to create groups and exchanging products or gift cards for reviews.
With that being said, some new sellers will have 60+ reviews in less than 48 hours and that is very unrealistic. There are sellers who have put in years of hard work to gain positive reviews, but with the scammers, they gain hundreds or even thousands of reviews in weeks. This inconvenience has caused Amazon to look through many reviews and has resulted in removing hundreds, even thousands of reviews. They have removed many scammers, but sadly some sellers have been dragged into this as well.
If you are selling a product and it is doing very well and selling quickly, organically, or from advertising, the bot that Amazon uses to check reviews might pick it up as a scam even though you know that it is not. You may freak out when you check your account and your reviews for one of your products went from 300 reviews to 10, but you should contact Amazon directly to talk things out.
What To Do If Your Reviews Get Deleted on Amazon
If your reviews get deleted on Amazon, you can do the following:
1. Contact Amazon and explain yourself
If you think it has been a mistake, the best thing to do is contact Amazon and try to get it reversed. It has been said on Amazon Seller Central Forums, that sellers have contacted them to explain to them that they follow all of the rules and there has been a mistake. Amazon eventually responds and reviews pop back up. People who are registered under the Brand registry have a smaller chance of this happening to their products
2. Slow down on automatic review requests
Instead of having it turned on after each sale, cut back to avoid reviews being deleted. It is not your fault, but the scammers have left Amazon no choice but to delete reviews that are ‘suspiciously’ popping up fast, regardless of how well the item is doing. This is a precaution you could take to prevent it from happening to you.
3. Play by the rules
If you are offering products in exchange, discounts, etc. this is one of the main reasons your reviews are getting deleted on Amazon. It is best to play by Amazon’s rules to avoid losing your business. For a refresher on their policy, click here.
In the end, Amazon is trying to do what everyone wants: to crack down on hijackers and scammers. The downside is that innocent sellers are being dragged down too by having their reviews deleted on Amazon. Amazon isn’t intentionally trying to hurt sellers. They are particularly going after ‘suspicious’ activity and it may be hard to determine what is real and what isn’t because the hijackers and scammers know how to make their listing look exactly like someone else’s. My biggest suggestion would be to make sure you are listed under Amazon’s Brand Registry. Not only are you protecting your brand from these hijackers and scammers, you are also protecting your reviews. If your brand is under Brand Registry, they can’t copy your listing and get away with it. This means Amazon doesn’t have to determine which listing is real, if the hijacker’s listing is non-existent. For more information on Amazon Brand Registry, you can click here. Good luck!
Check out our Strategies for Improving your Amazon Reviews here.