Amazon takes review manipulation seriously. Breaking the rules can mean removed reviews, suppressed listings or a suspended account. This summary covers the main points; Amazon's own policies in Seller Central are always the final word.
What you can do
- Use the Request a Review button, or an app that uses Amazon's Solicitations API, for any eligible order.
- Ask once per order. If you prefer Buyer-Seller Messaging, a single neutral request is allowed, but not as well as Request a Review for the same order.
- Enroll eligible products in Amazon Vine.
- Improve your product and listing based on what reviews tell you.
What's not allowed
- Offering money, refunds, discounts, free products or gifts in exchange for a review.
- Asking for positive reviews, or asking only buyers who had a good experience.
- Steering unhappy buyers away from leaving a review, for example "contact us first instead of leaving a review".
- Asking buyers to change or remove a review.
- Reviewing your own or a competitor's products, or having friends, family or employees review them.
- Buying reviews or joining review exchange groups.
Messages to buyers
Buyer-Seller Messaging is for completing orders and answering questions. Messages can't contain marketing, links to other websites or requests for a positive review. Some buyers choose not to receive unrequested messages, and Amazon enforces that.
Seller feedback follows the same rules
You can ask for seller feedback neutrally, but you can't offer anything for it, and you can't ask a buyer to remove negative feedback in exchange for a refund or anything else.
Why Request a Review is the safest choice
Amazon writes the email, sends it and decides which orders qualify, so the content can't break the rules. Automating it keeps that safety, as long as the app uses Amazon's official API rather than scraping Seller Central or emailing buyers directly.
This article is a summary, not legal advice. Amazon updates its policies, so check the Community Guidelines and selling policies in Seller Central for the current wording.