Seller feedback and product reviews are two different things on Amazon, and they affect your business in different ways. Here is what each one is, how to manage them, and what to do when something goes wrong.

New Amazon Handmade sellers often discover the distinction between seller feedback and product reviews through an unpleasant experience — a customer leaves a review in the wrong place, or feedback appears on the dashboard that looks alarming but is actually manageable. Understanding the difference from the start saves a lot of confusion.

Seller Feedback: What It Is

Seller feedback is a rating and comment that a buyer leaves specifically about their experience with you as a seller — not about the product itself. It covers things like: was the item shipped on time? Was it packaged appropriately? Did the seller communicate well? Was the overall buying experience positive?

Only verified buyers — people who actually completed a purchase from you — can leave seller feedback. It appears on your seller profile and contributes to your overall star rating as a seller, which shows on your Maker Profile page.

Seller feedback directly affects your Account Health metrics. A pattern of negative seller feedback can put your account at risk, particularly if it reflects on fulfillment speed, packaging quality, or communication. Take it seriously.

You can find your seller feedback under Performance then Feedback in Seller Central. Check it at least once a month, and more frequently during high-volume periods.

What to Do When Seller Feedback Is Wrong

Amazon's seller feedback policy is that feedback should be about the selling experience, not the product. If a buyer leaves a product review in the seller feedback section — commenting on the quality or appearance of the item rather than the service — that feedback is eligible for removal.

To request removal, go to your Feedback Manager under Performance, find the specific feedback, and select Request Removal. Amazon reviews removal requests and typically removes feedback that clearly violates the policy — feedback that is entirely a product review, contains personal information, or was left for the wrong seller.

You cannot request removal simply because the feedback is negative or unfair in your view. Negative feedback about legitimate service issues — late shipping, poor communication, packaging problems — stays unless it violates Amazon's content policies.

Product Reviews: What They Are

Product reviews are ratings and comments left on a specific product listing. They are visible to all buyers browsing that listing and significantly influence purchase decisions. Unlike seller feedback, Amazon allows anyone to leave a product review — not just verified buyers, because Amazon's philosophy is that people should be able to review products they have purchased anywhere, not just on Amazon.

Product reviews do not directly affect your Account Health metrics the way seller feedback does. But they do affect individual listing performance. A listing with a strong star average and a meaningful number of reviews tends to convert at a higher rate than a comparable listing with few or no reviews. And Amazon may suppress or deactivate a listing that has accumulated significant negative reviews relative to positive ones.

Getting More Reviews

Amazon has strict rules about how sellers can solicit reviews. You can ask for honest feedback — through Amazon's buyer-seller messaging system or through the Request a Review button available for each order in Seller Central — but you cannot incentivize reviews, ask for positive reviews specifically, or ask for reviews outside of Amazon's approved channels.

The Request a Review button in Seller Central sends an Amazon-generated email to the buyer asking for both a seller feedback rating and a product review. Using this consistently on fulfilled orders is the most compliant and low-friction approach to building your review count over time.

A Note on Three-Star Reviews

On Amazon, a three-star review is genuinely considered average — not negative. Amazon's rating system is calibrated differently from what many sellers expect. Sellers who come from Etsy, where anything below a five-star feels like a crisis, sometimes panic at their first three-star Amazon review. In most cases, a few three-star reviews in a sea of fours and fives does not meaningfully affect your listing's conversion rate. Do not over-index on individual reviews — look at your overall rating and trend over time.

Product Reviews Are Hard to Remove

Unlike seller feedback, product reviews are very difficult to get Amazon to remove. Amazon generally only removes reviews that contain personal information, are clearly left by a competitor, are blatantly fake, or violate Amazon's content policies in specific ways. A review that feels unfair, overstates a problem, or simply reflects a buyer who was not the right fit for your product is unlikely to be removed through a standard request.

The most effective response to a negative product review is to respond to it professionally and briefly — acknowledging the buyer's experience and noting what you would do to help — and then continue building positive reviews through the Request a Review process. A few negative reviews within a large positive base have minimal impact on performance.

Ready to Build a Well-Managed Amazon Handmade Shop?

Inside The Growth Thread, the Amazon Handmade content covers account health, feedback management, and the operational habits that keep your seller metrics strong as your volume grows.

Enrollment is not always open, but you can get on the waitlist and be first to know when doors open:

Join the Waitlist at TheGrowthThread.com

Not ready for that yet? A good next read is the guide to customer service when selling on Amazon Handmade — covering the standards Amazon holds you to and how to build systems that make meeting them manageable.