Why You Should Never Buy Amazon Reviews

This article has been updated to reflect current Amazon policies.

In 2015, Amazon filed a lawsuit against websites that offer sellers paid reviews. Owners of four websites, including buyamazonreviews.com and buyreviewsnow.com, were being sued for violations of trademark and consumer protection laws.

In its complaint, Amazon alleged that these websites smeared its brand image and undermine the trust of consumers and merchants alike by misleading them through fake four- and five-star reviews.

Amazon remains committed to maintaining a strong review ecosystem on its platform. It banned incentivized reviews and has continued to make updates to review policies to protect the integrity of the reviews buyers provide.

Trust in Reviews is Key

Merchants who resort to buying fake reviews know the weight of consumer reviews in an eCommerce environment such as Amazon. Reviews can make or break a purchase decision. Buying Amazon reviews may appear to be a good option to improve sales, but it can do much more harm than good.

The 2015 case was the first time that Amazon sued to protect the integrity of its review structure, but it has never turned a blind eye to abuses of its system. Other users could report any violation of Amazon’s guidelines on review creation. Reviews, including the promotional or paid reviews offered by third-party vendors that do not comply with the guidelines, could be rejected or removed.

Amazon reviews benefit buyers, sellers, and Amazon itself. Amazon is a trusted source for shoppers looking to evaluate products, due in large part to the strength of its reviews. Protecting the integrity of reviews is important to the continued success of the marketplace.

Never Buy Amazon Reviews

You know reviews are necessary, but unfortunately, there's a lot of bad advice out there. Reviews are crucial to a product's success on Amazon, but getting them can be challenging. This leads to situations in which non-compliant methods might be recommended to help a product gain traction on the platform. However, the consequences of buying Amazon reviews are severe.

Amazon has a zero-tolerance policy for reviews that mislead or manipulate users. A feature called Amazon Verified Purchase displays a “verified purchase” badge on reviews for items purchased on the Amazon marketplace. Helpful votes are provided by the buyer community through the "Helpful" button below each review.

The same holds true with seller feedback. Amazon prohibits merchants from rating themselves or doing anything to purchase positive feedback from buyers. Feedback offers insight into the performance of the sellers in terms of shipment, product quality, returns, and professionalism.

Misuse of ratings or reviews could result in merchants facing cancellation of listings, suspension from the use of Amazon, and even removal of selling privileges.

Consider the Amazon Vine Program

One way to get reviews is to enroll products in the Amazon Vine program, which provides customers with unbiased reviews from the marketplace's most trusted reviewers. Vendors and third-party sellers who are brand registered can enroll select products for reviewers to try out and rate. The reviewers, who are called Vine Voices, are pooled based on criteria such as the helpfulness of their reviews and interest in the products included in the program.

Since Vine Voice reviewers are not paid for reviews (other than receiving a free product), people trust them to be honest, and those opinions can provide value to potential buyers, as well as the seller. Enrolling products in the program does not guarantee that they will receive reviews. If you're hoping to get reviews for a new product, enrolling it in Vine is much more effective (and far less risky!) than attempting to buy Amazon reviews.

Note: Adult, digital, and heavy and bulky products may not be enrolled.

Automate Review Requests

In summary, trying to buy Amazon reviews is bad business. Proactively requesting reviews and feedback from buyers is the best way to get more ratings. Make sure you understand and follow all related Amazon policies before sending requests.

If you want a simpler solution, you can automate review requests that are always compliant with Amazon's policies with FeedbackFive by eComEngine. Get more control of your reputation while saving time. Bonus: FeedbackFive's review monitoring feature makes it easy to keep track of your incoming reviews so you can identify issues and trends. You can also get alerts for new reviews via SMS or email.