Amazon sellers face cutthroat competition in the marketplace and as a result, Amazon sellers have to focus on maintaining a high feedback rating to stand out among others and survive successfully on Amazon. To build buyers’ trust in your brand it is crucial to have a good seller rating. Buyers make up their minds whether the seller is trustworthy or not after going through feedback ratings on Amazon seller profiles. In most cases, it is observed that buyers tend to opt for the seller with the higher ratings, especially if they have to choose between listings with similar prices.
Apart from buyer’s trust, there are certain rules about how negative seller feedback can impact Amazon sales distinctively. Here are a few ways:
- Your chances of winning the Buy Box are decreased because of negative feedback.
The Buy Box is the box that appears on the product detail page allowing the customer to add the item to their shopping cart. Multiple Amazon sellers compete to be positioned in the Buy Box because who doesn’t want their brand to have the most visibility.
The winning seller of a Buy Box is determined by Amazon on an overall seller score of customer experience. And here because of the negative seller feedback (one and two-star ratings), you might end up with the largest order penalty to Buy Box losing a chance to attract the maximum number of buyers possible.
- Amazon selling privileges might be revoked due to negative feedback
Amazon measures an Order Defect Rate (ODR), as a seller performance target which is the percentage of your orders that have received negative feedback along with other poor customer reviews.
As it is known that one and two-star ratings are considered negative feedback. Amazon stated that sellers having an ODR above 1% could result in losing their seller privileges.
- Neutral Amazon feedback also hurts.
Customer feedback that’s 3 stars or lower can be proven damaging to the Amazon seller’s profile as only a 4 or 5-star rating is considered positive. A seller’s profile also consists of a positive ratings percentage from the past 12 months.
Ways to Remove Negative Feedback on Amazon
After acknowledging the importance of feedback score and its effects, Amazon sellers might be wondering if the negative feedback received on Amazon can be removed or not. The answer to this question is yes, and here is how you can remove However, remember to act as soon as you notice because feedback must be removed either by Amazon or the buyer within 60 days after being updated. After this period, it can no longer be removed.
- Request for removal if feedback violates Amazon guidelines.
Yes, you heard it right, Amazon sellers can contact Amazon concerning to remove negative feedback. The reason why Amazon might consider your request is that Amazon has zero-tolerance for reviews that can mislead or manipulate customers in any manner. That being the case, if sellers find that any feedback is violating the guidelines, sellers can request to Amazon for removing it.
Amazon policies are strictly against unfair feedback related to product reviews and price complaints. To be accurate, here is the list of feedback that Amazon considers as ineligible feedback:
- Product reviews: Amazon predefined space for reviews on the product page instead of writing there, customers may write it on the seller feedback, which is considered unnecessary by Amazon.
- Abusive or obscene language.
- Promotional content: Any content that promotes other sellers’ products or comments about other products or links to other sellers and websites.
- Personal information: Any piece of information revealing the identity of other Amazon users.
As soon as you get anything from the above-mentioned feedback, anticipate opening up a ticket with Seller Support on Amazon and request to remove the feedback mentioning that it violates the feedback guidelines.
However, make sure that while justifying to Amazon the message is concise in other words, straight to the point to increase your chance of success as it is very likely to be denied by staff for a long explanation.
After you’ve submitted your request, the feedback will be reviewed by Amazon, and determine whether the feedback needs to be removed. You will get a response if Amazon validates your request and feedback will be removed and you can open up a new ticket with Seller Support if Amazon denies your request.
- Reach out to the buyer if feedback is ineligible for removal.
If there is a case of you receiving negative feedback that doesn’t qualify for removal by Amazon, do not lose hope there are still some actions to save this situation. Initially what you can do is reach out to the buyer, who left the review.
For no matter what reason, if the customer is reasonably unsatisfied with the product or the process then your best action is to act fast and approach them apologetically. Respond to the customer with an affectionate email elaborating the reason for the mistake and apologizing for the inconvenience. Convince them with your words that you have learned from the mistake and take the actions to prevent it from happening in the future and ask them if there is anything you can do to resolve it.
Compensate the Mistake
The best way to straighten out the situation by ensuring the most favorable outcome is to offer compensation to the customer. Given as an example, if you have failed to deliver on time, you can offer either a partial or full refund for the shipping costs incurred on the product. In typical cases, an Amazon gift card is an effective way to compensate for the mistake. However, be extremely cautious with your wording when you offer compensation to the customer.
One thing sellers should be mindful of is that any attempts of feedback manipulation, harassment, and quid-pro-quo agreements violate Amazon’s policies. Hence, NEVER ask the customers to delete their negative reviews when offering compensation. It’s notably impermissible to offer them a refund in exchange for removing their comment which is not in your favor.
Nonetheless, if you hear back from the customer, in conjunction with the offerıng you can also explain how important the feedback score is to you as a seller. Following that, ask them, very respectfully, if they would contemplate deleting the negative feedback on Amazon.
There is a case when the buyer agrees to remove their negative feedback, you can accelerate the process by handing the buyer a link or set of instructions on smoothly removing the negative feedback.
- Leave a response on Amazon’s site if the buyer doesn’t remove feedback.
Even though you make enough effort to communicate about the product with the buyer to make things right, sometimes you might not get a response for the same at all. In this scenario, the best option for you is to leave a direct response to the feedback on Amazon’s site. This will make sure that the other buyers see that you have made an effort to rectify the error.
You might feel discouraged after putting in effort and still not getting a chance to resolve the issue with the customer, but rather than holding a grudge keep your response short, professional, and neutral. Otherwise, you might communicate to other customers that you don’t care about their sentimental.
Having a high seller feedback rating is the most critical part of being a successful Amazon seller as the involvement of the customer is equally important in it. In addition to the price, it is the most important factor that determines your eligibility for Buy Box. On that account, it’s crucial to remove negative feedback on Amazon, which prejudices your seller rating.
Even so, getting a valid negative review won’t take down your Amazon business if you react wisely. Everyone makes mistakes, but it is how you respond that sets different sellers apart. Acknowledging the mistakes by either offering compensation or trying to prevent them altogether ensures that you minimize the possible damage. Keep this piece of advice in mind, and you will thrive in the Amazon marketplace without any obstacles hindering your success.
