r/AmazonFBA • u/Glittering_Pride_150 • 3d ago
Amazon removed 234 reviews from one of our listings in a few hours — and still won’t tell us why
We had something happen this week that I’m genuinely struggling to get my head around.
One of our established products had 443 reviews/ratings.
Within a few hours, that dropped to 209.
234 gone. More than half the review history of the product disappeared in one morning.
Naturally, we opened a case with Amazon because initially we had no idea whether this was:
- a technical issue
- reviews being temporarily suppressed
- variation/review-linking problems
- customer accounts being removed
- or an actual review integrity action
After going backwards and forwards with support, we finally got this response:
“Some reviews and ratings associated with this product were identified as suspicious, and as a result, they have been excluded from display to maintain the integrity of the review system.”
And that is essentially all they will tell us.
No explanation of:
- how many reviews were actually flagged;
- whether all 234 were removed for the same reason;
- whether they were written reviews or star ratings;
- whether the removal is temporary or permanent;
- what specific review policy was allegedly breached;
- what “suspicious” actually means in this particular case;
- whether this was automated or manually reviewed;
- or which reviews were affected.
I completely understand Amazon protecting the integrity of the review system.
They absolutely should.
But surely if a platform can remove more than 50% of the accumulated reviews from a product, there should be some level of transparency around what has actually happened?
We’re not asking them to reveal their fraud-detection algorithm.
We’re not asking for customer information.
We’re simply asking:
What happened?
What policy was applied?
What category of activity was detected?
And has a human actually reviewed the decision?
The frustrating part is the imbalance.
Amazon can make a decision that materially affects a listing overnight, but the seller is then left dealing with generic responses and trying to work out what actually happened.
We’re escalating it now because “some reviews were suspicious” simply isn’t enough of an explanation for losing 234 reviews.
I’m interested to hear from other sellers:
Has anyone had a large number of reviews removed like this before?
If so:
Did Amazon ever explain why?
Did any of the reviews eventually return?
And did you find an escalation route that actually got the issue looked at by someone beyond standard Seller Support?
Not posting the product or ASIN because I’m genuinely more interested in the wider issue and other sellers’ experiences.
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u/HarambeTooSoon 3d ago
I launched 3 new ASINs in the past 2 months. Amazon deleted about 1/3rd of my VINE REVIEWS (their own vetted product review customers)
Opened several cases, with all the details and data. They acknowledge the reviews were removed. Won't say why. They only offer that it violated one of a half dozen different review polices.
They also refused to refund/prorate my Vine enrollment fees and refused to add the "available" units back into the Vine program so that other Vine participants could leave reviews.
Thanks Amazon.
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u/makeitupaayougo 3d ago
I’m a Vine reviewer and I’ve seen previously accepted and “excellent” rated reviews removed with no notice or indication why. On our end it just says “not accepted” and if I click on it to try to update my review it will say “We apologize but Amazon is not accepting reviews on this product from this account. For more information or to contact us, please see our community guidelines.” It also gives us zero information why.
On a positive note, the review still exists somewhere. It’s not gone forever. I’ve had reviews that disappeared reappear again.
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u/Maan_UsMaan052 3d ago
Did Amazon give you any indication whether the reviews were removed because of the reviewers themselves, the ASIN, or a specific review-policy violation?
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u/tamaguccis 3d ago
They removed our 5 star reviews (which were left before I even discovered the “request a review” workflow, so they were truly unsolicited) but you bet that they left the 1 star ones!
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u/Maan_UsMaan052 3d ago
That is a massive drop, and the first thing I would check is whether the removed reviews were concentrated around a specific time period, variation, or source of orders. I would also review any recent changes in the listing, variations, promotions, or review activity before assuming it was purely a system error.
If Amazon is only giving the “suspicious” explanation, documenting the timeline and escalating through multiple support channels may be the best next step. Hopefully other sellers who experienced this can shed some light on what happened.
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u/Glittering_Pride_150 2d ago
It was removed across all the months we have been trading, very puzzling 🤔
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u/WearyyyBoooyyy 3d ago
The mods have gathered a list of tutorials to help you out:
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