Quick answer. Amazon removes seller feedback only when it meets published criteria, such as profanity, hate speech, personal information, a comment about another seller’s product, a comment about a product you own the brand for or are an authorized reseller of, or a comment that is entirely a product review. On FBA orders and on orders shipped on time with Buy Shipping, Amazon strikes through feedback that is only about delivery. You request either outcome through Feedback Manager within 90 days of the feedback, and nowhere else. When feedback does not qualify, you fix the buyer’s problem through Buyer-Seller Messaging and post one public reply, and you never ask, pressure or pay the buyer to change it.

Negative seller feedback costs you twice. Shoppers read it on your storefront, and on seller-fulfilled orders it counts toward your Order Defect Rate. The way you respond decides whether the damage stops at one rating or grows into a communication policy violation, a review manipulation flag or a deactivated offer. Amazon gives sellers four legitimate tools for feedback, and each one has rules that are easy to break under pressure.

How Seller Feedback Works on Amazon

Seller feedback is the buyer’s rating of you as a seller, from 1 to 5 stars with an optional comment. Amazon’s About Feedback Manager page says buyers can leave one feedback per order, that the option becomes available to buyers starting 3 days after the order is confirmed, and that buyers have 90 days to leave it. Ratings of 4 or 5 stars count as positive, 3 as neutral, and 1 or 2 as negative.

Your feedback score is your positive ratings divided by all ratings. Amazon calculates it for 30 days, 90 days, 365 days and lifetime. Shoppers see the score next to your offer and on your seller profile, so a run of negative entries in a short window shows up fastest in the 30-day figure, which is the one a buyer comparing offers is most likely to notice.

Feedback versus product reviews

Feedback rates your service, meaning shipping speed, packaging, item condition on arrival, communication and how you handled a problem. Product reviews rate the product itself and sit on the detail page. The two follow different rules and are managed in different places. When a feedback comment is entirely a product review, Amazon removes it from your feedback. When it mixes product comments with service comments, Amazon keeps it. For the review side, see our guide on customer product reviews and suspensions.

The distinction matters because the fix for one is often useless or prohibited for the other. A one-star feedback that says “the blender broke after a week” belongs to the product. A one-star feedback that says “arrived in a torn box and the seller never answered” belongs to you. We sort every negative entry into one of those two groups before deciding anything else.

What Amazon Removes and What It Strikes Through

Amazon’s general rule is that it does not remove feedback that complies with its policies. Its Can Amazon remove buyer feedback page lists the exceptions. The table sets out each situation, the action Amazon takes and the effect on your numbers.

Removal

When Amazon approves a removal, the feedback disappears and its impact comes off both your feedback rating and your ODR. The criteria are narrow and literal. “The carrier was late” is not a ground for removal on a merchant-fulfilled order shipped without Buy Shipping. “We already refunded the buyer” is not a ground. A rude but clean comment about your service is not a ground. A comment that names the buyer’s own phone number is.

The product review criterion is where most legitimate requests sit, and where most weak ones fail. It applies only when the whole comment is about the product. One added clause about slow shipping or an unanswered message turns the comment into service feedback, and Amazon keeps it.

Strike-through

Strike-through is a separate outcome. The feedback stays visible with a line through it and an Amazon statement. On an FBA order whose entire comment is about delivery, the statement says Amazon takes responsibility for the fulfillment experience. On an order you shipped on time with Buy Shipping, where the entire comment is about a delayed or undelivered package, the statement says the fulfillment issue was not the seller’s fault. In both cases the rating stops counting against you. You still ask for it through Feedback Manager.

Related guides. Amazon UPC and Barcode Rules and Selling Dietary Supplements on Amazon.

See also Amazon Supply Chain Standards for Sellers.

How Amazon Reviews a Removal Request

A removal request is not an appeal to fairness. Amazon checks the comment against the criterion you selected. If the text fits, the request is approved. If it does not, the request is denied, however unfair the buyer was. That makes your choice of reason and the comments you add the whole case.

Filing the request

1. Open Feedback Manager in Seller Central.
2. In the Recent feedback table, find the order ID and select Request review under Actions.
3. Choose the reason that matches Amazon’s removal criteria and add comments that show why the feedback meets it.
4. Submit the request and track it in the Manage Review Requests tab, where it moves from Under review to Approved or Denied.

Write the comment field the way an auditor reads it. Name the criterion, quote the part of the buyer’s comment that triggers it, and stop. For a product review request, a line such as “The entire comment describes product performance and contains no reference to shipping, packaging or seller service” does more than a paragraph about how hard you work.

The channel rule

Amazon is explicit on this point. Removal requests go through Feedback Manager, within 90 days of the feedback. Amazon says that asking for removal through Contact Us or any other channel may lead to account deactivation. After 90 days the system does not process requests. If you believe a comment is abusive beyond the listed criteria, Amazon allows a further review through Report a violation.

When a request is denied

A denied request in Feedback Manager shows an Appeal Decision option with a deadline. Amazon says you cannot reopen the case once that deadline passes. Appeal only when you can point to text in the comment that fits a criterion the first reviewer missed. Repeating the original argument with more emphasis wastes the appeal.

What to Do When Feedback Does Not Qualify for Removal

Most negative feedback on a merchant-fulfilled account does not meet any criterion. For those entries you have two tools left, and the order you use them in matters.

Step one, contact the buyer and fix the problem

Amazon encourages sellers to contact a buyer who left negative feedback and resolve the issue. You can start from Contact customer in the Recent feedback table or from the order in Manage Orders. The message goes through Buyer-Seller Messaging and nowhere else. Offer the remedy the problem calls for, such as a replacement, a refund or a return label, and do not mention the feedback as a condition.

Amazon’s own examples draw the line. A message asking “If we have resolved the issue you were facing, can you delete your feedback?” violates policy. A message that thanks the buyer for the feedback and says you hope the issue was resolved to their satisfaction is acceptable. The buyer may then choose to remove the feedback. Amazon’s help pages say buyers can remove their own feedback within 60 calendar days of leaving it, and that once a buyer removes negative feedback it can take up to 48 hours to drop out of your ODR. That removal is the buyer’s decision, made without a request from you.

Step two, post one public reply

A public reply lets future buyers see that you responded. In Feedback Manager, choose Post a public reply from the Actions menu. Amazon’s rules for replies are short and strict.

• No private information. Do not include names, emails, phone numbers, addresses or payment details for you or the buyer.
• No score change. Amazon says a reply has no numerical impact on your feedback rating.
• No edits. A reply can be removed after you submit it but not edited, and if you delete it you cannot post a second one.
• No conversation. Buyers cannot answer a public reply, so do not ask questions in it. Use Buyer-Seller Messaging for anything that needs an answer.
• Suppression follows the feedback. If the feedback is later removed or suppressed, your reply goes with it.

Amazon also notes that where feedback reflects an external disruption, such as a customs delay, you can post a public reply explaining that the delay was outside your control.

Writing the reply

Write for the next shopper, not the buyer who complained. State what happened in one sentence and what you did in one more. “This order left our warehouse on the promised date and was delayed in transit. We sent a replacement by expedited shipping the same day we heard from the buyer.” Two sentences, no adjectives, no blame. A reply that argues with the buyer is permanent, cannot be edited and changes nothing in the score, so the only thing it can do is cost you sales.

What Amazon Prohibits

The Communication program policy and the Customer product reviews policies set the boundary. Amazon states it has zero tolerance for review manipulation and that the same policies apply to seller feedback. These practices are prohibited.

• Offering compensation, refunds, discounts, gift cards or free products in exchange for positive feedback or for removing negative feedback.
• Asking buyers to update, change or delete feedback, including during a return or replacement.
• Asking for feedback only from buyers who had a good experience, or telling unhappy buyers to contact you first instead.
• Asking for feedback more than once per customer per order.
• Contacting buyers outside Buyer-Seller Messaging, by email, phone, mail or social media.
• Discouraging a buyer from filing a claim with Amazon.

You may ask for unbiased feedback once per order, through Amazon’s Request a Review feature on the order details page or through a permitted Buyer-Seller Messaging request. Asking for a particular rating or sentiment is not permitted. Amazon also does not allow proactive thank-you messages, order or shipping confirmations, or messages introducing your customer service team. Proactive messages must be sent within 30 days of order completion and include the full 17-digit order number.

Who is responsible

Amazon states that violations by your employees, business partners and third-party agencies lead to enforcement against your account, even when they happened without your knowledge. A feedback tool that filters buyers by satisfaction before sending a request, or an agency that offers refunds for revised ratings, puts the violation on you. The consequences Amazon lists for review manipulation include permanent withdrawal of selling privileges with funds withheld.

The hidden violations

Few sellers set out to buy feedback. The violations we see come from ordinary habits. A follow-up template asks “Were you happy with your order? If not, reply before leaving feedback.” A support agent offers a partial refund “if you can update your rating.” A package insert asks for five stars. An automation sends a second request after the first one gets no response. Each of these breaks a listed rule, and each leaves a written record in Buyer-Seller Messaging.

How Feedback Feeds Order Defect Rate

Negative feedback is one of three parts of Order Defect Rate, alongside A-to-z Guarantee claims and credit card chargebacks. Amazon defines ODR as the percentage of orders with one or more of those defects in a 60-day period and expects sellers to keep it under 1%. Amazon says ODR above 1% may result in suspension of seller-fulfilled privileges or deactivation of seller-fulfilled offers. Read our guide on how Order Defect Rate is graded.

Three details in Amazon’s definition change how feedback hits the number.

• Seller-fulfilled orders only. Amazon’s ODR page states that ODR applies to seller-fulfilled orders. Feedback on FBA orders still shows to shoppers, but the ODR enforcement targets orders you ship yourself.
• Counted by order date. Amazon says negative feedback is order-correlated. A one-star rating left today on an order from seven weeks ago lands in the window where that order sits, so last month’s problem can move this month’s rate.
• One defect per order. An order with negative feedback and a claim counts as one defective order. Fixing the buyer’s problem early can keep both off the record.

Removed and struck feedback stops counting. That is why a timely, correctly filed request is worth more than any reply. On an account with a few hundred merchant-fulfilled orders in the window, two or three removals can decide whether ODR sits above or below 1%.

Documents and Records That Matter

Feedback work leaves a trail. Keep it organized, because the same records serve a removal request, a claim response and, if it comes to that, a plan of action.

• Feedback report. Download it from Feedback Manager each week and keep dated copies. Patterns by ASIN, carrier or complaint theme show up over weeks, not days.
• Tracking and ship confirmation. For any delivery complaint, keep the carrier, tracking number, ship date and, where used, the Buy Shipping label record. On-time Buy Shipping orders are the ones Amazon strikes through.
• Buyer-Seller Messaging history. Your messages show you contacted the buyer and offered a remedy without mentioning feedback.
• Request log. Record each removal request, the criterion chosen, the date and the outcome from Manage Review Requests.
• Templates and inserts. Keep the current version of every message template and package insert with the date it went live, so you can show what buyers received.

Every document you keep must be genuine. Never create, alter or backdate a message log, tracking record or template. If a record does not exist, say so and show what you do have.

Mistakes That Make Feedback Problems Worse

These are the errors we see most often on accounts that come to us after feedback turned into an account health issue.

• Asking for removal through Seller Support. Amazon says requests outside Feedback Manager may lead to deactivation. A case asking support to “take down this unfair rating” is the wrong channel.
• Linking a refund to the rating. Any message that ties a refund, replacement or discount to changing feedback is an incentive, whatever the wording.
• Filing every negative entry as a product review. Mislabeled requests get denied and show a pattern of misuse.
• Arguing in public replies. The reply cannot be edited and is read by every future shopper.
• Waiting past 90 days. A valid request filed late is not processed.
• Sending a second request. One request per order is the limit, whether through Request a Review or your own message.
• Ignoring the cause. Ten removals do not fix a carrier that loses packages or a warehouse that ships the wrong size.

First-Time Versus Repeat Problems

A single negative feedback with no pattern behind it is an operational event. Check it against the criteria, file if it qualifies, contact the buyer if it does not, and post a reply. Nothing more is needed.

A cluster is different. Several negative entries on one ASIN after a supplier change, a run of delivery complaints after you switched carriers, or a rise in “never answered” comments after a support gap all point to a cause. Download the feedback report, sort by date, ASIN and theme, and name the operational change behind the cluster. Fix that, record the date, and set a check that would catch it again.

If ODR has already crossed 1% and offers were deactivated, Amazon’s ODR page says seller-fulfilled offers are appealed from the Account Health page using Submit appeal. The appeal has to explain the defects by cause, show the corrective actions already taken, and set out the preventive controls with an owner. If a notice cites feedback manipulation or the communication policy, the case is an integrity matter. Audit every template, insert and outside service before you write a word, and describe what happened truthfully. Never apologize for a violation that did not happen, and never deny what the message records show.

Regional Rules in the US, UK and EU

Amazon’s feedback tools work the same way across its marketplaces, and the policy against incentives and pressure applies in each. The law around reviews differs by region, and in each case it points the same direction as Amazon’s rules.

• United States. The FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule took effect on October 21, 2024. The FTC says it prohibits fake reviews, incentives conditioned on a particular sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and review suppression through intimidation, unfounded legal threats or knowingly false accusations. Amazon’s rules are stricter than the FTC rule, because Amazon bars compensation for feedback and reviews altogether.
• United Kingdom. Schedule 20 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists as unfair in all circumstances submitting or commissioning a fake consumer review, or a consumer review that conceals the fact it has been incentivised. The Competition and Markets Authority published guidance on fake reviews in April 2025.
• European Union. Directive (EU) 2019/2161 added to the list of banned commercial practices submitting or commissioning false consumer reviews or endorsements, and misrepresenting consumer reviews to promote products.

This is educational information, not legal advice. If a notice or a regulator raises the law directly, speak with a licensed attorney in that jurisdiction.

A Weekly Routine That Prevents Feedback Damage

Feedback problems build quietly because ODR looks back 60 days and counts by order date. A short routine run by a named person catches them while they are a handful of orders. Our Amazon account health maintenance service monitors feedback and requests removals that meet Amazon’s criteria. If ODR has already caused a suspension, our Amazon suspension and reinstatement team can help.

1. Monday metrics. Record ODR and each of its three parts from Account Health, per fulfillment channel.
2. Feedback triage. Open Feedback Manager, sort every new 1 to 3 star entry by the product, service and delivery test, and file requests for those that qualify while they are inside 90 days.
3. Buyer contact. Message every negative-feedback buyer whose problem is still open, offer the remedy, and leave feedback out of it.
4. Replies. Post a two-sentence public reply on entries that will stay.
5. Messages. Confirm no buyer message sat unanswered past 24 hours, which the Communication program policy expects, including weekends.
6. Compliance check. Before any new template, insert or automation goes live, check it against the Communication program policy and record who approved it and when.
7. Cause log. Write down the cause behind each negative entry so a cluster shows up in the log before it shows up in ODR.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Amazon remove negative seller feedback?

Yes, when it meets Amazon’s criteria, such as inappropriate language, hate speech, personal information, a comment about another seller’s product or a comment that is entirely a product review. Otherwise Amazon keeps it unless the buyer removes it.

How long do I have to request feedback removal?

Ninety days from when the feedback was submitted, and only through Feedback Manager. The system does not process requests after that.

Can I ask a buyer to remove feedback?

No. You can contact the buyer to resolve the problem, but Amazon prohibits asking buyers to remove or change feedback and offering anything in exchange for doing so.

Does a public reply change my feedback rating?

No. Amazon says a reply has no numerical impact on your feedback score. It can be removed but not edited, and if you delete it you cannot post another.

What happens to FBA delivery complaints in feedback?

If the entire comment is about delivery on an FBA order, Amazon strikes it through and states that Amazon takes responsibility for the fulfillment experience. The rating then stops counting against you.

Get Help With Feedback and ODR

Submit your case for a free assessment, or book a consultation.

Our Amazon account health maintenance team can take the case from here. You can also see all our marketplace suspension services.

Sources

• Amazon Seller Central, Can Amazon remove buyer feedback?
• Amazon Seller Central, Request feedback review
• Amazon Seller Central, Post a public reply
• Amazon Seller Central, Which tools are used to manage seller feedback?
• Amazon Seller Central, About Feedback Manager
• Amazon Seller Central, When buyers want to remove feedback
• Amazon Seller Central, Resolve or respond to buyer feedback
• Amazon Seller Central, Communication program policy
• Amazon Seller Central, Customer product reviews policies
• Amazon Seller Central, Order Defect Rate
• Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, questions and answers
• UK legislation, Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20
• GOV.UK, Competition and Markets Authority, Fake reviews guidance
• EUR-Lex, Directive (EU) 2019/2161