Quick answer. Amazon judges your reputation through signals buyers create. Seller feedback, A-to-z Guarantee claims, credit card chargebacks, buyer messages and how fast you answer them, product reviews, returns and complaints about item condition. Three of those feed Order Defect Rate directly. Amazon defines ODR as the percentage of orders in a 60-day period with negative feedback (1 and 2 stars), an A-to-z Guarantee claim or a credit card chargeback, and requires sellers to keep it under 1%. The other signals feed the Voice of the Customer dashboard and policy enforcement. You protect your reputation by fixing the cause behind each complaint and using Amazon’s own tools (Feedback Manager, the Request a Review feature, Buyer-Seller Messaging) inside its rules. Never buy, gate or pressure reviews.

Most sellers think of reputation as a star rating on a storefront. Amazon treats it as risk. Every unhappy buyer leaves a trace, whether a one-star seller rating, a claim, a card dispute, an angry message or a return marked “not as described”. One at a time these look like noise. Together they become numbers on your Account Health page, and when the numbers cross a line the result is deactivated offers, a suspended fulfillment method or a full account deactivation.

Below is how each signal reaches a metric, what you may and may not do about it, how to verify where you stand, and a weekly check that catches trouble early. If you already have a notice, skip to the section on actions already triggered.

What Amazon means by your seller reputation

Amazon does not publish a single “reputation score”. Several separate systems each listen to a different part of the buyer experience. Start by knowing which system hears which signal, because the fix for each is different.

The signals buyers create

Track seven signals. Seller feedback (the 1 to 5 star rating of you as a seller), A-to-z Guarantee claims, credit card chargebacks, buyer messages and your response time, product reviews, returns with their stated reasons, and item condition complaints.

Where each signal ends up

How Order Defect Rate turns bad experiences into a number

Order Defect Rate is where reputation becomes enforceable. Amazon describes ODR as a measure of customer service quality, the percentage of orders with one or more indicators of poor service during a given 60-day period. The indicators are negative feedback (1 and 2 star seller ratings), A-to-z Guarantee claims and credit card chargebacks. Amazon requires sellers to keep ODR under 1% and says that ODR above 1% may result in suspension of Fulfilled by Merchant selling privileges or deactivation of seller-fulfilled offers.

Three details in Amazon’s definition change how you should read your own number. The full grading mechanics are in how you are graded for Order Defect Rate. These are the ones that matter for reputation.

ODR applies to seller-fulfilled orders

Amazon’s ODR page states that ODR only applies to seller-fulfilled orders. If you sell only through Fulfillment by Amazon, your feedback still matters to buyers and to the Voice of the Customer dashboard, but ODR enforcement is aimed at orders you ship yourself. A bad month on merchant-fulfilled orders can threaten that side of the account while FBA looks healthy.

Feedback and chargebacks are counted by order date

Amazon says negative feedback and chargebacks are “order-correlated”. It counts them by the date of the order, not the date the feedback or chargeback arrived. A one-star rating left today on an order from seven weeks ago lands in the window where that order sits. So the negative feedback counted in ODR may not match what buyers see on your storefront, and a problem from last month can still move this month’s number.

Not every claim or chargeback counts

Amazon lists which A-to-z claims affect ODR. Claims granted to the buyer where Amazon decides you were at fault, claims you refunded after the claim was filed, claims for orders that you or Amazon canceled, and claims pending a decision on appeal. Claims do not count when Amazon decides you were not at fault, when the claim is denied, when the buyer withdraws it, or when it falls under the property damage and personal injury process. If a decision is reversed on appeal in your favor, Amazon removes the claim from your ODR. Amazon does not count fraud chargebacks (the buyer says they never made the purchase). Service chargebacks (the buyer acknowledges the purchase but reports a problem) count when the card issuer decides for the buyer.

Refunding a buyer after they have filed a claim still leaves a defect on the order. The cheapest defect is the one you prevent by resolving the problem before the buyer reaches for a claim. Our guide to A-to-z Guarantee claims covers how to respond once one is open.

A worked example

Take a hypothetical seller with 500 seller-fulfilled orders in the 60-day window. They have three orders with one-star feedback, two orders with A-to-z claims granted against them, and one service chargeback. One of the feedback orders is also one of the claim orders. That is five distinct defective orders, so ODR is 5 divided by 500, or 1.0%, and the seller is not under the target. Had the seller answered the buyer who later filed the overlapping claim and fixed the problem within a day, two defects would have disappeared from that one order, and ODR would be 0.8%.

Related guides. Selling in Multiple Amazon Marketplaces From One Seller Account and Amazon Policy Warnings.

See also Amazon Featured Offer (Buy Box) Eligibility.

Buyer messages and response time

Messages are the earliest warning you get. A buyer who writes “where is my order” or “this is not what I ordered” is giving you a chance to fix the problem before it becomes feedback, a claim or a chargeback. The Communication program policy expects a response within 24 hours of receipt, and after 48 hours the buyer may be eligible to file an A-to-z claim for seller-fulfilled orders.

What the Account Health page shows about service

Your Account Health page has a Customer service performance section, where Amazon places ODR. Some accounts also see measures tied to buyer contacts and response times in Seller Central. Amazon changes which service measures it displays, so there is no fixed dissatisfaction target to quote. Open the Customer service performance section and the buyer messages area of your own account and record the measures and targets shown there today. The rule above does not change. Answer within 24 hours, every day, including weekends.

Messaging rules that protect your reputation

Amazon’s Communication program policy requires all buyer communication to go through Buyer-Seller Messaging. Direct contact through email, phone, mail or social media is prohibited. Proactive messages (ones you start) must be sent within 30 days of order completion, include the full 17-digit order number, be in the buyer’s preferred language, and serve a listed purpose, such as resolving a fulfillment issue, asking for information needed to complete the order, providing an invoice, or requesting an unbiased review or feedback. Amazon does not allow proactive “thank you” messages, order or shipping confirmations, or messages introducing your customer service team. A seller who sends those to “build goodwill” is breaking the policy, and Amazon says violations can lead to blocked messages, restricted messaging or suspension.

Product reviews, Voice of the Customer and item condition

Product reviews do not feed ODR, but Amazon still listens to them. The Voice of the Customer dashboard shows what buyers say about your products and listings, and it is your best early warning of a product problem headed for your seller metrics.

How CX Health and the NCX rate work

Amazon describes CX Health as a measure of how an offer performs relative to similar offers, based on recent orders and customer feedback. It is graded excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor, and Amazon recommends reviewing every offer rated poor or very poor. CX Health compares your offer’s negative customer experience (NCX) rate against similar offers. The NCX rate is the number of orders where a customer reported a product or listing issue, divided by total orders. Amazon listens across returns, refunds, customer service contacts, Buyer-Seller Messaging, seller feedback, A-to-z claims and product reviews. The dashboard also shows an NCX Return Rate and an NCX Review Rate (1 and 2 star reviews where the buyer reported a product or listing issue). Depending on order volume, Amazon notes it can take several weeks for your fixes to show up in these metrics.

Item condition complaints

Condition complaints hit used, renewed and collectible sellers, and anyone whose new items arrive looking used. Amazon’s condition guidelines define each grade. New means a brand-new item with original packaging present for most items. Used, Very Good means a well-cared-for item with limited use that may show limited wear. Amazon also lists items that are unacceptable in any condition, such as items that are not clean, are damaged in a way that makes them difficult to use, are missing necessary parts, need repair, or have passed their expiration date.

When condition complaints appear, decide first whether you caused them. If the complaint follows a change you made (a new supplier, a regraded lot, a rushed listing), you own the fix. If another party changed the detail page so it no longer matches what you sell, that is a listing integrity problem. Collect before and after screenshots and report it.

What Amazon lets you do about negative feedback

Amazon gives you four legitimate tools for negative seller feedback. Use the right one, in the right order, so a bad rating does not turn into a policy violation.

Contact the buyer and fix the problem

Amazon encourages you to contact a buyer who left negative feedback and resolve the issue, either from Feedback Manager (Contact customer in the Recent feedback table) or from the order in Manage Orders. The line is just as clear. Amazon says that pressuring or incentivizing a buyer to remove or change negative feedback violates its policies. Its example of a violating message asks the buyer to delete the feedback once the issue is resolved. The acceptable version thanks the buyer for the feedback and hopes the issue was resolved to their satisfaction. Fix the problem, say so, and stop. Buyers can remove their own feedback within 60 calendar days of leaving it, and once a buyer removes negative feedback it can take up to 48 hours to drop out of your ODR.

Request removal when the feedback meets Amazon’s criteria

Amazon does not remove feedback that complies with its policies. It removes feedback in these cases.

• It contains profanity, obscenities or language commonly understood to be inappropriate in public forums.
• It contains hate speech.
• It contains personally identifiable information, such as email addresses, full names or phone numbers.
• It refers to a product sold by a different seller.
• It relates to a product for which you are the brand owner or authorized reseller.
• It is, in its entirety, a product review rather than a comment on your service.

If a comment mixes a product review with a complaint about your service, Amazon will not remove it. Request removal only through Feedback Manager. In the Recent feedback table, choose the request option next to the order, pick the reason that matches Amazon’s criteria and add comments that show why. Amazon warns that asking for feedback removal through Contact Us or any channel other than Feedback Manager may lead to account deactivation, and that removal requests must be made within 90 days of the feedback. When a removal is granted, the feedback’s impact is removed from both your feedback rating and your ODR.

Strike-through for FBA and Buy Shipping orders

Amazon may strike through feedback instead of removing it in two cases. If the order was fulfilled by Amazon and the entire comment is about the delivery experience, the feedback is struck through with a note that Amazon takes responsibility for that fulfillment. If you shipped on time using Buy Shipping and the entire comment is about a delayed or undelivered order, it is struck through with a note that the fulfillment issues were not due to the seller. Both still go through Feedback Manager.

Post one public reply

If the buyer does not remove the feedback, you can post a public response explaining how you worked to correct the problem. Amazon says the reply does not change your rating and cannot be edited after you submit it, and if you delete it you cannot post a second one. Keep it short and professional. Our article on public replies to Amazon feedback goes deeper on wording.

How to ask for reviews and feedback the right way

Amazon allows you to ask for reviews and feedback within strict limits. The Communication program policy permits a proactive request for an unbiased product review and unbiased seller feedback, as long as the buyer has not already left one. Amazon tells sellers to use its Request a Review feature on the order details page, and feedback can be requested once per customer per order. Asking for a particular sentiment or rating is not permitted.

If you write your own request through Buyer-Seller Messaging, the same rules apply, plus the proactive message rules. Send it within 30 days of order completion, include the full order number, and use no external links, marketing or coupons. The safest program is one neutral request per order, sent the same way to every buyer, and nothing else.

What you must never do with reviews or feedback

Amazon’s Customer product reviews policies state that it has zero tolerance for review manipulation, and the same policies apply to seller feedback. Amazon lists these violations.

• Reviewing your own or a competitor’s product, or having a family member or employee do it.
• Offering money, discounts, free products, refunds or reimbursements in exchange for a review, including through review clubs, websites or social media groups.
• Asking a reviewer to change or remove a review, with or without a refund.
• Sending negative experiences to yourself while sending positive ones to Amazon.
• Building variation relationships to pool reviews and lift a star rating.
• Putting a request for a positive review, or an incentive, in the package or shipping box.

The messaging policy closes the “happy buyers only” route. You may not ask for feedback only if the buyer had a positive experience, and you may not suggest that unhappy buyers contact you first. You also may not send more than one review or feedback request per order, or discourage a buyer from filing a claim with Amazon.

Violations by your employees, business partners and third-party agencies lead to enforcement against you, even if they happened without your knowledge. The consequences Amazon lists include permanent withdrawal of selling privileges with funds withheld, removal of all a product’s reviews, permanent delisting, legal action and referral to authorities, and public disclosure of the seller’s name. How these cases are investigated is covered in faking reviews.

The law points the same way

The Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule took effect on October 21, 2024. According to the FTC, it prohibits fake reviews, incentives conditioned on a positive or negative review, undisclosed insider reviews, and review suppression through intimidation or false accusations, and courts can impose civil penalties for knowing violations. Amazon is stricter than the rule. The FTC allows some sentiment-neutral incentives, while Amazon prohibits compensation for reviews altogether. On Amazon, follow Amazon’s rule. This is educational information, not legal advice.

Where to verify your reputation signals

Do not rely on memory or your storefront rating. Use the numbers Amazon calculates.

When reputation has already triggered an action

If offers were deactivated or the account was actioned, the notice names the cause, usually ODR, a review or feedback policy, or the communication policy. Read it twice. Then work the case the way Amazon expects a plan of action to read. What caused it, what you have already fixed, and what control keeps it from coming back. Deactivated seller-fulfilled offers are appealed from the Account Health page using Submit appeal.

For an ODR action, break the number apart

An ODR figure blends three different problems. Decompose it before you write anything. Download the ODR report and sort the defective orders by type (feedback, claim, chargeback), by ASIN and by date. Look for concentration. Claims for non-delivery clustered after a carrier change point to fulfillment. “Not as described” complaints on a few ASINs from one batch point to product or listing accuracy. Chargebacks and angry feedback in the two weeks after a support gap point to unanswered messages. The cause is the dated, operational thing that, once fixed, stops the defects. The last complaint is never the cause.

For a review or feedback manipulation action, establish the truth first

Manipulation cases are integrity cases. Either the account solicited or manipulated reviews itself, a third party (an agency, a review service, an employee) did it, or a legitimate practice was misread, such as a follow-up message whose wording crossed a line. Audit every message template, insert card and outside service before writing. Never apologize for something that did not happen, and never deny what the records show.

Common mistakes that sink these appeals

Failed appeals repeat the same errors. Arguing that a 1.1% rate is “only slightly over”, blaming buyers, naming the last complaint instead of the pattern, promising vigilance without an owner or date, ignoring an obvious cluster on two or three ASINs, or attaching documents that do not prove what the plan claims. If a careful appeal is declined, go back to the decomposition. Usually the cause was named too shallowly. If the account also carries other flags, such as authenticity or code of conduct issues, it is no longer a simple metric case and needs a broader response through our Amazon suspension service.

A weekly reputation check routine

Reputation problems build slowly and appear all at once, because ODR looks back 60 days and feedback is counted by order date. A weekly routine run by a named person catches them while they are a handful of orders. Our Amazon account health maintenance team runs this review for sellers who want it handled.

1. Monday, metrics. Record ODR and each of its three parts, per fulfillment channel, from Account Health.
2. Feedback. Open Feedback Manager, contact every new 1 to 3 star buyer, and file removal requests for entries that meet Amazon’s criteria while they are still inside 90 days.
3. Claims and chargebacks. Respond to every open claim and chargeback before its deadline.
4. Messages. Confirm nothing sat unanswered beyond 24 hours, including weekends.
5. Voice of the Customer. Open every offer rated poor or very poor and read the comments.
6. Compliance. Check every message template and insert card against the Communication program policy, and confirm no outside service touches reviews.
7. Log. Write down the cause behind each defect and the fix, so patterns show up over weeks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does negative feedback on FBA orders count toward ODR?

Amazon states that ODR only applies to seller-fulfilled orders. Feedback on FBA orders that is entirely about delivery may also be struck through by Amazon.

What ODR does Amazon require?

Amazon requires an ODR under 1%, measured over a 60-day period. Above 1% can lead to suspension of seller-fulfilled privileges or deactivation of seller-fulfilled offers.

Can I ask a buyer to remove negative feedback?

No. You may contact the buyer to resolve the problem, but Amazon says pressuring or incentivizing a buyer to remove or change feedback violates its policies. Removal is the buyer’s decision.

How long do I have to request feedback removal?

Amazon says removal requests must be made within 90 days of the feedback, and only through Feedback Manager.

Do product reviews affect account health?

Product reviews do not count toward ODR, but 1 and 2 star reviews that report a product or listing issue feed the NCX Review Rate and CX Health in Voice of the Customer.

Is it allowed to send review requests only to happy customers?

No. Amazon’s messaging policy prohibits requesting a review only after a positive experience or asking unhappy buyers to contact you first.

Does refunding a buyer remove an A-to-z claim from ODR?

Not if the claim was already filed. Amazon lists claims you refunded after filing as claims that count toward ODR.

Do fraud chargebacks hurt my ODR?

Amazon says it does not count fraud chargebacks, only service chargebacks the card issuer decides in the buyer’s favor.

Get Help With Your Seller Reputation and Account Health

If your ODR is climbing, offers have been deactivated, or Amazon has raised a review or feedback concern, the response has to name the real cause and prove the fix. Submit your case for a review of your notice and metrics, or book a consultation to build a reputation routine before it becomes a problem.

This article is educational information about Amazon’s published policies and is not legal advice. Amazon’s policies, metrics and targets change. Confirm the current version in Seller Central before you act. Outcomes depend on the facts of each account and are never guaranteed.

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

Sources

• Amazon Seller Central: Order Defect Rate
• Amazon Seller Central: Resolve or respond to buyer feedback
• Amazon Seller Central: When buyers want to remove feedback
• Amazon Seller Central: Can Amazon remove buyer feedback?
• Amazon Seller Central: Communication program policy
• Amazon Seller Central: Customer product reviews policies
• Amazon Seller Central: Voice of the Customer
• Amazon Seller Central: Condition guidelines
• Federal Trade Commission: Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, questions and answers