I remember when we first got our first negative feedback on Amazon. It had a big impact on our Feedback Rating because we didn’t have many positive feedbacks — we had just 15, I think. Just one negative feedback reduced our feedback score from 100% to 63%. It wasn’t cool.
We shouldn’t have been surprised though — negative feedbacks are inevitable. If you sell on Amazon, expect one sooner or later.
Negative feedbacks don’t have much of an impact if you have a lot of positive feedbacks. But if you don’t, just one negative review will lower your feedback rating percentage. A low feedback rating will reduce the proportion of your inventory with the Buy Box, which will hit your sales and profit as a result.
Therefore it’s super important to have a lot of positive reviews, preferably over 98% over the last 12 months. Of course, the higher the number of positive feedbacks, the smaller the influence of negative feedbacks. You’re also likely to win the Buy Box at higher prices and profit more if you have a high feedback score.
But what if, like us, you receive some negative feedback early on in your Amazon journey?
In this article, I’m going to discuss some of the ways you can remove negative feedbacks and maintain a healthy Amazon selling account.
Request feedback removal
Not all feedbacks can be removed. But certain types can be automatically removed on request, including those that:
- Include profane or obscene language
- Contain personally identifiable information
- Are about the product
- Are about Fulfilment by Amazon
Therefore it’s always worth requesting negative or neutral feedbacks (1,2,3 stars) to be removed, even if they don’t violate Amazon’s feedback guidelines.
To request a feedback removal, go to Seller Central and click on your feedback score in the tab called “Performance.”
Next, find a negative or neutral review and copy its associated order ID.
Then click “help” near the upper-right corner.
This will trigger a side menu. From there click the “Contact Us” button.
Under “Quick Actions,” select “Manage customer feedback.”
Next, paste the order ID you copied earlier and click the “Next” button.
Once the order is found, check the radio button that says “Customer Feedback Removal Request” and click the “Next” button.
Confirm that you want the feedback reviewed and removed by clicking “Next.”
If the feedback violates Amazon feedback guidelines, it will be removed instantly.
Contact Seller Support
In some cases where Amazon denies the full removal of a negative or neutral feedback, they will put a strike through the feedback and add the statement, “This item was fulfilled by Amazon, and we take responsibility for this fulfilment experience.”
In such a situation, and when Amazon refuses the removal of any feedback in general, you will need to contact Amazon Seller Support and request a feedback removal. I normally contact Seller Support via phone or chat and explain my reasoning as to why a feedback should be removed.
To contact Amazon via chat, first, follow the above instructions until you get the option to enter the order ID of the negative feedback. Then, check the radio button that says “No order number” and then click the “Next” button.
Next, select “Chat” and the details required. Then hit “Chat now.”
You could also contact Amazon by email by selecting “E-mail” instead. Then enter the details required and hit the “Send” button.
Here is the email template that we use and have seen success with.
Hello
We are doing a performance evaluation and have found some seller feedbacks to be violating Amazon’s feedback guidelines.
Order ID: 026-9192484-2764313
Please review and completely remove the feedback as it is impacting our business.
Thanks
The above email template has been working well for us. Feel free to use it and, and of course, amend it to your needs. If you do, make sure to keep your version simple and to the point.
The Seller Support staff will remove the unfair feedback most of the time. If they refuse your request, don’t give up. Simply contact Seller Support again until a Seller Support staff accepts your reasoning and removes the feedback.
Contact customer
We have had every feedback removal request accepted using the above methods but one. This feedback did not violate Amazon’s feedback guidelines but was an unfair feedback in my opinion.
We acknowledged the customer’s frustration and provided a full refund. We then followed up with the customer via email and asked them to reconsider their feedback. Buyers have the power to remove their feedback but contacting a customer should be your last resort.
To contact a customer, first, go to Feedback Manager and find the negative or neutral feedback. Then click on its associated order ID.
Next, click the name of the buyer located next to “Contact Buyer.”
Finally, select an appropriate subject from the drop-down menu, kindly ask the customer to consider removing their negative feedback and hit the “Send e-mail” button.
When communicating with a buyer, make sure to abide by Amazon’s rule. Amazon is very strict on how you interact with their customers. You are, however, allowed to ask the buyer to remove a feedback.
The other good news is that you don’t need to sign-up to any third-party automated mass e-mail services. Instead, you can contact buyers who have left a negative feedback from Seller Central. And it shouldn’t take long because it’s very likely that you will get very few negative feedbacks. Even if you are a big seller, you will get only a handful of unfair feedbacks.
But before you contact a customer asking them to remove a feedback, there are some rules you must abide by. In your emails, be sure NOT to:
- Incentivise a customer to remove a negative feedback. That means you cannot provide a refund in exchange for the removal of a negative feedback.
- Pressure the buyer to remove a negative feedback in any way.
- Harass the customer by contacting the customer more than once, in my opinion.
If you are serious about your FBA business, I would recommend following Amazon’s policies. Your Sell on Amazon account is worth keeping. Besides, a few negative and/or neutral feedbacks won’t harm your business as long as you seek to increase your positive reviews.
So how can you what can you include to encourage a customer to remove a feedback? Usually, I offer a partial or a full refund and follow up with an email. In that email, I apologise and politely ask them to remove the negative feedback.
Here is the email template I use.
Dear [[first name]]
We are sorry for the inconvenience caused on your recent order [[product name]] and we hope we adequately addressed this issue.
If you feel we have addressed this issue, as a small business, we would appreciate if you consider removing the negative feedback.
Click the link below to remove the negative feedback.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201125570
Many thanks
[[Seller name]]
We’ve had some success with this email template. So feel free to use and amend it to your needs but, again, be sure to abide by Amazon’s policies.
Conclusion
The best way to avoid getting negative feedback is by preventing them from happening in the first place. You can do this by:
- Labelling the products that send to Amazon FBA accurately.
- Provide accurate descriptions of the products that you sell if they don’t have a listing page.
- Respond to customer messages as soon as you can, preferably within 24 hours.
- Always aim to provide excellent customer service, even if you’re making a loss on an order. You’ll make a lot more with money from the orders that go right. Think long term.
If, however, you do get a neutral or negative feedback (which you will), act quickly and attempt to remove it automatically. If unsuccessfully make sure to contact Amazon or even the buyer.
Negative feedback is part of selling on an e-commerce platform, you just have to accept it. If you are unsuccessful at removing a negative feedback, don’t worry too much. See it as an opportunity to increase your positive feedback score and work on preventing the same issue arising in the future.