Amazon Reviews

Many of our readers wonder why their Amazon reviews were never posted. Amazon has very strict rules governing their reviews.

The first rule is that you need to have spent at least $50 on Amazon.com, using a valid credit or debit card, in the past 12 months.

What’s Not Allowed List

Do any one of these and your review will never see the light of day.

Quoted directly from the Amazon website:

Seller, order, or shipping feedback

We don’t allow reviews or questions and answers that focus on:

• Sellers and the customer service they provide
• Ordering issues and returns
• Shipping packaging
• Product condition and damage
• Shipping cost and speed

Why not? Community content is meant to help customers learn about the product itself, not someone’s individual experience ordering it. That said, we definitely want to hear your feedback about sellers and packaging, just not in reviews or questions and answers.

Comments about pricing or availability

It’s OK to comment on price if it’s related to the product’s value. For example, “For only $29, this blender is really great.”

Pricing comments related to someone’s individual experience aren’t allowed. For example, “Found this here for $5 less than at my local store.” 

These comments aren’t allowed because they aren’t relevant for all customers.

Some comments about availability are OK. For example, “I wish this book was also available in paperback.” 

However, we don’t allow comments about availability at a specific store. Again, the purpose of the community is to share product-specific feedback that will be relevant to all other customers.

Content written in unsupported languages

To ensure that content is useful, we only allow it to be written in the supported language(s) of the Amazon site where it will appear. For example, we don’t allow reviews written in French on Amazon.com. It only supports English and Spanish. Some Amazon sites support multiple languages, but content written in a mix of languages isn’t allowed. 

Learn which languages are supported on this Amazon site.

Repetitive text, spam, or pictures created with symbols

We don’t allow contributions with distracting content and spam. This includes:

• Repetitive text
• Nonsense and gibberish
• Content that’s just punctuation and symbols
• ASCII art (pictures created using symbols and letters)

Private information

Don’t post content that invades others’ privacy or shares your own personal information, including:

• Phone number
• Email address
• Mailing address
• License plate
• Data source name (DSN)
• Order number

Profanity or harassment

It’s OK to question others’ beliefs and expertise, but be respectful. We don’t allow:

• Profanity, obscenities, or name-calling
• Harassment or threats
• Attacks on people you disagree with
• Libel, defamation, or inflammatory content
• Drowning out others’ opinions. Don’t post from multiple accounts or coordinate with others.

Hate speech

It’s not allowed to express hatred for people based on characteristics like:

• Race
• Ethnicity
• Nationality
• Gender
• Gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Religion
• Age
• Disability

It’s also not allowed to promote organizations that use such hate speech.

Sexual content

It’s OK to discuss sex and sensuality products sold on Amazon. The same goes for products with sexual content (books, movies). That said, we still don’t allow profanity or obscene language. We also don’t allow content with nudity or sexually explicit images or descriptions.

External links

We allow links to other products on Amazon, but not to external sites. Don’t post links to phishing or other malware sites. We don’t allow URLs with referrer tags or affiliate codes.

Ads or promotional content

Don’t post content if its main purpose is to promote a company, website, author, or special offer.

Conflicts of interest

It’s not allowed to create, edit, or post content about your own products or services. The same goes for services offered by:

• Friends
• Relatives
• Employers
• Business associates
• Competitors

Solicitations

If you ask others to post content about your products, keep it neutral. For example, don’t try to influence them into leaving a positive rating or review.

Don’t offer, request, or accept compensation for creating, editing, or posting content. Compensations include free and discounted products, refunds, and reimbursements. Don’t try to manipulate the Amazon Verified Purchase badge by offering reviewers special pricing or reimbursements.

Have a financial or close personal connection to a brand, seller, author, or artist?

• It’s OK to post content other than reviews and questions and answers, but you need to clearly disclose your connection. However, brands or businesses can’t participate in the community in ways that divert Amazon customers to non-Amazon websites, applications, services, or channels. This includes ads, special offers, and “calls to action” used to conduct marketing or sales transactions. If you post content about your own products or services through a brand, seller, author, or artist account, additional labeling isn’t necessary.
• Authors and publishers can continue to give readers free or discounted copies of their books if they don’t require a review in exchange or try to influence the review.

Plagiarism, infringement, or impersonation

Only post your own content or content you have permission to use on Amazon. This includes text, images, and videos. You’re not allowed to: 

• Post content that infringes on others’ intellectual property (including copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets) or other proprietary rights
• Interact with community members in ways that infringe on others’ intellectual property or proprietary rights
• Impersonate someone or an organization

Illegal activities

Don’t post content that encourages illegal activity like:

• Violence
• Illegal drug use
• Underage drinking
• Child or animal abuse
• Fraud

We don’t allow content that advocates or threatens physical or financial harm to yourself or others. This includes terrorism. Jokes or sarcastic comments about causing harm aren’t allowed.

It’s also not allowed to offer fraudulent goods, services, promotions, or schemes (make money fast, pyramid).

It’s not allowed to encourage the dangerous misuse of a product.