A trick for removing bad feedback on Amazon

A quick trick that might resolve negative feedback that is unfair.

A lot of Amazon booksellers complain that their please to Amazon to remove bad feedback fell on deaf ears. There is a lot of unjust feedback that falls between the cracks of the official reasons Amazon will remove feedback.

As a matter of policy, Amazon will only step in to remove feedback if it fits one of the following criteria:

• The feedback includes obscene language.
• The feedback includes seller-specific personally identifiable information, such as e-mail addresses, full names, telephone numbers, etc.
• The entire feedback is a product review.
• The entire feedback is regarding fulfillment or customer service for an order fulfilled by Amazon.

This does not encompass all of types of truly unfair feedback. For example, what if the buyer is clearly leaving feedback for an item they ordered from a different seller? Or the seller left a very positive review, but accidentally hit one-star instead of five, and isn’t responding to emails? Both of these have happened to me more than once.

I tried something recently that I had never tried before, and it worked.

The problem: A buyer left negative feedback because the book description on Amazon‘s product page was inaccurate. The ISBN matched, and I listed it on the correct product page.

The attempt to resolve: Amazon responded that this did not meet the criteria for feedback removal, and that they wouldn’t remove it.

The second attempt to resolve: I contacted the buyer, who did not respond (many buyers use a “spam account” for their shopping, and don’t check it often, if ever).

The third attempt to resolve: I attempted to open a second support ticket with Amazon, but I was met with a message that said you can’t make more than one claim about a feedback issue.

This is what I did: It was so simple that I didn’t think it would work. I sent another message to customer service, this time under a totally different support category (not “feedback issues”). The person who reviewed this one agreed with me, and removed the feedback.

The takeaway

1. If feedback is truly unfair and not your fault, don’t hesitate to contact customer service twice. Just use a different support category.
2. There is a human at the other end of your emails. And every one of them is different. Some may not see things your way, but some will.

Don’t abuse this. If feedback is your fault, take the lesson and leave it alone. But there are many times when feedback is truly unjust, and as an Amazon seller you should have the option of an (informal) “appeal.” That’s what this trick offers you.

 

 

 

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