This article is for sellers who have received a 1-star or 2-star seller rating and are wondering, "Can I get this feedback removed?" Following Amazon's policies, we walk through the conditions under which Amazon removes feedback, how to read and sort the comments, how to submit a request from Feedback Manager and keep track of the deadline, and how to handle feedback that doesn't meet the removal criteria.
How seller feedback works: it's not the same as a product review
Seller feedback is a rating on a five-star scale, plus a comment, that shows how satisfied a buyer was with how the order was shipped and how the seller handled it. Five and four stars count as "positive," three stars as "neutral," and two and one stars as "negative." It is a separate system from "product reviews," which rate the product itself, and when something is posted in the wrong place, the channel for dealing with it is different too.
| Item | Seller feedback | Product reviews |
|---|---|---|
| What is being rated | The shopping experience, such as shipping, packaging, and customer service | The product itself |
| When the wrong kind of content is posted | If it is only about the product, request a removal review from Feedback Manager | If it is about the seller's service, use the "Report" button below the review on the product detail page |
Only buyers who purchased from that seller through Amazon can leave feedback, once per order, within 90 days of the order date. Sellers cannot edit feedback a buyer has submitted, and feedback does not disappear automatically over time. Amazon's Help states that sellers are not notified when a new review is posted or an existing review is removed. For seller feedback as well, it's safest not to count on notifications and instead to check Feedback Manager yourself on a regular schedule. This article is based on Seller Central and buyer-facing Help content as of September 2026. Policies and on-screen labels can change, so please also check the latest Help content before submitting a request.
How negative feedback shows up in your numbers
Your feedback score is calculated by dividing the number of positive ratings (4 and 5 stars) by the total number of ratings, and it is tallied over four periods: 30 days, 90 days, 365 days, and lifetime. On the offer listing page, if you have received feedback from 10 or more buyers in the past 12 months, it shows the percentage of positive feedback over the past 12 months along with your total number of ratings (Help doesn't specify the period covered by that total, so check what's shown on your screen). If you have fewer than 10 ratings, among other cases, it instead shows the lifetime percentage and total count. While your count of ratings is still small, even a single negative rating can move the displayed percentage significantly.
Negative feedback also affects your Order Defect Rate (ODR). The ODR is the percentage of orders within a specified 60-day period that have any of the following: negative feedback (1 or 2 stars), an A-to-z Guarantee claim (Amazonマーケットプレイス保証), or a credit card chargeback. You are expected to keep it under 1%. If you fall outside this target, your selling privileges may be restricted. Also note that the negative feedback rate is counted by order date, not by the date the feedback was received, so it may not match the feedback numbers shown elsewhere.
Once a removal is approved, the feedback no longer affects either your feedback score or your Order Defect Rate. If the buyer withdraws the feedback themselves, that order is likewise excluded from the ODR calculation (it can take up to 48 hours for the change to be reflected).
To see which orders were counted as defects, go to Customer Service Performance (カスタマーサービスのパフォーマンス) on the Account Health (アカウント健全性) page, select "View details," and check the report on the "Order Defect Rate" tab. For a review of the metric as a whole, see reviewing your Order Defect Rate.
Feedback that Amazon will remove
As a rule, feedback that complies with policy will not be removed. The fact that feedback is negative, or that you feel it is "unfair," is not a reason in itself. Seller Help lists the following types of feedback as eligible for removal.
- Contains obscene or profane language (harsh criticism alone does not necessarily qualify)
- Contains hate speech
- Contains personally identifiable information, such as an email address, full name, or phone number
- Is about a product sold by a different seller
- Is entirely a product review
In addition, negative feedback on an FBA order about the fulfillment service Amazon provided is not "removed" but handled differently: depending on the outcome of the review, a strikethrough and a note are added instead (explained in the next section). Help also lists another item, "feedback about products for which the seller is the brand owner or an authorized reseller," but gives no explanation of what kind of feedback falls under it. If you believe it applies, select this item (or the closest one) under "Select a reason" and explain the situation in the comment field.
Feedback that mixes product comments with comments about the seller stays up
Help states explicitly that if a comment includes both a product review and a rating of the seller's service, the feedback will not be removed. A comment that combines both, such as "It arrived late. The product wasn't as good as I expected, either," is not eligible.
Feedback about FBA fulfillment may be struck through with a note
When an order shipped through FBA receives negative feedback about the fulfillment service Amazon provided, the seller can submit a request, and depending on the outcome of Amazon's review, the feedback is treated as not affecting your performance numbers. The comment itself remains, struck through, with a note reading, "This item was fulfilled by Amazon, and we take responsibility for this fulfillment experience." Help doesn't say this happens automatically, so plan on requesting it yourself.
However, if even part of the comment is judged to be about the listing's condition (new, used, and so on) or the seller's service, the feedback stays as is. Seller-fulfilled orders are not eligible, even if they were shipped using FBA Multi-Channel Fulfillment.
Use caution with complaints about price
Amazon.co.jp's buyer-facing Help also lists pricing feedback and promotional content as grounds for removal, but these do not appear in the removal criteria in Seller Help, so you can't say for certain that feedback complaining only about price will be removed. Submit a request, with a specific explanation, only if one of the options under "Select a reason" fits, and leave the decision to Amazon's review. If none of the options fits, switch to explaining the circumstances in a public response instead.
Before you request removal: check the comment one sentence at a time
Whether feedback can be removed depends on the content of the comment, not the number of stars. We recommend splitting the comment into individual sentences, classifying what each one is about, and then making your judgment.
| What the sentence is about | Rough assessment |
|---|---|
| Impressions of the product's performance, ease of use, or design | If the entire comment is like this, it may qualify for removal |
| The fulfillment service (FBA orders) | If it doesn't mention condition or the seller's service, it may be eligible for a strikethrough |
| Late shipment or packaging (seller-fulfilled) | Does not meet the removal criteria |
| Condition not as described | Does not meet the removal criteria (stays up even for FBA) |
| Handling of inquiries, returns, or refunds | Does not meet the removal criteria (when it's the seller who handled it; for complaints about returns or refunds that Amazon handled on FBA orders, this can't be stated definitively) |
| Comments about another seller's product | If it conflicts with the order ID and shipping records, it may qualify for removal |
| Personal information, or obscene or discriminatory language | If present, it may qualify for removal |
The key point is that the removal criteria come in two types: "criteria that apply if the content appears anywhere in the comment" (personal information, inappropriate language, and so on) and "criteria that no longer apply if other content is mixed in" (product reviews; FBA fulfillment feedback also stops qualifying if it mentions condition or the seller's service). The following are hypothetical examples to illustrate the assessment process, not real cases.
- Example 1: "The battery doesn't last long. The instructions are hard to follow, too." → Both sentences are impressions of the product. You can consider submitting a request.
- Example 2: "It shipped late. It also ran a little small." (seller-fulfilled) → Not eligible, because it includes a rating of the seller's service.
- Example 3: "It arrived later than scheduled." (FBA) → This may be eligible for a strikethrough. If it also said, "It was supposed to be new, but it had been opened," it would touch on condition and stay up.
- Example 4: The comment contains the buyer's own phone number → Because it contains personal information, it may qualify for removal.
Avoid submitting requests indiscriminately for feedback you aren't sure qualifies. Help on FBA feedback prohibits sending large numbers of inappropriate or speculative requests to Technical Support (テクニカルサポート), as this prevents Amazon from supporting other sellers. The same thinking applies to requests from Feedback Manager: limit them to feedback you can explain meets the criteria. The Help page "Request a feedback review" also provides a field where you can enter an order ID to check whether the feedback is eligible for review.
How to request removal from Feedback Manager
Removal requests can only be submitted from Feedback Manager (評価管理) in Seller Central. Help states clearly that asking through other channels, such as Contact Us, may result in your selling account being suspended. The deadline is 90 days from when the feedback was submitted; after that, the system won't accept the request. Note that the button label varies across Help pages, appearing as "Request review," "Request a review," or "Request removal," so go by whatever name appears on your actual screen.
STEP 1. Find the feedback in Feedback Manager
Help directs you to open it from "Feedback" under the "Performance" tab (check the exact menu path on your actual screen). On the "Feedback Manager" tab, you can view the distribution of your ratings filtered by period and rating type, and the feedback list shows the date, rating, order ID, and comment.
STEP 2. Choose the request from the Actions column
In the "Recent Feedback" table, select "Request review" from the Actions column next to the relevant order ID. Be careful not to pick the public response or contact-the-buyer options in the same column by mistake.
STEP 3. Enter a reason and comment, then submit
Under "Select a reason," choose the reason that matches the removal policy, and in "Comments," explain why the feedback doesn't comply with policy, then click "Submit." The full list of options isn't published, so choose the one closest to the criterion you identified.
Three elements to include in your request comment
- The removal criterion you believe applies
- The relevant part of the feedback (which sentence it is; for personal information, indicate only its location without copying it)
- The facts of the order (FBA or seller-fulfilled, ship date, tracking status, and so on)
Emotional appeals or rebuttals to the buyer don't explain how the feedback meets the criteria. For the facts of the order, write only what you can confirm from shipping records or tracking information, and don't include guesses or anything untrue. Below is a sample showing how to structure the comment (a hypothetical example, not a real case).
Both sentences in this feedback comment are impressions of how the product works in use and do not mention shipping, packaging, or the seller's service. We believe this falls under the removal policy item "the comment is entirely a product review." For this order, we shipped an item in the condition described in the listing, within the expected ship date.
STEP 4. Check the review status
Once submitted, your request appears as "Under review" on the tab for managing requests, and changes to "Approved" or "Denied" depending on the outcome. If it's approved, the feedback is removed (or, for feedback about FBA fulfillment, struck through with a note added), and no further action is needed. There is no official estimate of how long the review takes, so check the tab regularly.
If your request is denied, select "Appeal the decision" and submit by the deadline shown on the screen. The number of days you have isn't published, and once the deadline passes the case can't be reopened, so note the deadline as soon as you see the denial.
In your appeal, don't simply repeat the text of your original request. Instead, add the points you weren't able to show fully (the location of the relevant sentence, FBA versus seller-fulfilled, ship date and tracking status, and so on), and state again, concisely, which removal criterion applies.
Also, if you believe feedback is abusive, the Help page "Request a feedback review" notes that you can ask for an additional review through "Report a violation of guidelines and policies." Don't use this to re-request the removal of denied feedback through a different channel; consider it only for egregious cases, such as feedback that includes threats or harassment.
Don't miss the 90-day deadline: build a log from your feedback reports
Because you can't rely on being notified when new feedback arrives, the 90-day deadline can slip by unnoticed unless you check for yourself. The time periods involved in feedback each start from a different reference date, so it helps to keep them in a single table.
| Period | What it covers | Counted from |
|---|---|---|
| Within 90 days | Period in which buyers can leave feedback | The order date |
| Within 90 days | Period in which sellers can request removal | The date the feedback was submitted |
| 60 days | Orders counted in the Order Defect Rate | Counted by order date |
| 30 days | How long a generated feedback report is kept | From when it was generated |
With "Download feedback report" in Feedback Manager, you can get your 3-star and 1- and 2-star ratings for a selected period (up to one year) as a tab-delimited text file (.txt). The report can take up to 45 minutes to generate and is kept for only 30 days, so for peace of mind, download it once a week and copy the entries into your own log.
Items worth recording in your log
- The date the feedback was received, and the date of day 90
- Order ID, order date, and whether it was FBA or seller-fulfilled
- The sentence-by-sentence assessment, and your decision on whether to request removal
- Request date, status, and appeal deadline
- Whether you contacted the buyer or posted a public response
Checking the log is easier to keep up if you pair it with a routine Account Health check. For an overview of that check, see reviewing your Account Health score.
Handling feedback that doesn't meet the removal criteria
For feedback that doesn't meet the removal criteria, assume it will stay up and respond in three ways: contacting the buyer, posting a public response, and fixing the underlying cause.
Contact the buyer only to resolve the problem
When you receive negative feedback, Amazon recommends contacting the buyer directly to resolve the issue. Do this through Buyer-Seller Messaging, using "Contact buyer" either from Manage Orders or from the Actions column in Feedback Manager. Using outside channels such as email, phone, or social media, or asking for personal contact information, is prohibited. For how to handle buyer information, also see reviewing how you handle buyer information.
Asking buyers to remove or change their feedback, or offering them an incentive, violates policy. Help even cites a message asking "Would you please remove your feedback?" after a problem has been resolved as an example of a violation. No matter how politely it's worded, don't ask buyers to remove or change their feedback. Incentives include money, gift cards, discounts, refunds, replacements, and future perks.
| Situation | Messages that violate policy (the gist of Help's examples) | Acceptable messages |
|---|---|---|
| After resolving the issue | Saying the issue is resolved and asking the buyer to remove the feedback | Thanking the buyer for the feedback and saying you hope the matter was resolved to their satisfaction |
| Offering a refund | Adding a request that the buyer update their comment after the refund | Explaining only the refund process, without mentioning the feedback |
Offering a refund is fine in itself, but don't tie it to a request to update the feedback. Whether to remove feedback is up to the buyer alone. Buyers can't edit their feedback, and once they remove it, they can't restore it or post feedback again for the same order.
You get only one public response
You can post a public response from "Post a public reply" in the Actions column. Your response is visible to future shoppers as well, and while it doesn't change your feedback score, it lets you show what you're doing to improve. Negative feedback about delays caused by outside factors the seller can't prevent, such as customs, is not eligible for removal either, and Amazon indicates that you can explain those circumstances in a public response.
Checklist before posting a response
- Have you avoided including personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, or payment details?
- Have you avoided asking questions or requesting a reply (buyers can't reply to your response)?
- Have you stated the facts and your improvements concisely, without an emotional tone?
- Have you reviewed it knowing that it can't be edited once posted, and that if you delete it you can't post a second one?
Below is a sample response for a delay on a seller-fulfilled order (a hypothetical example, not a real case). List only improvements you have actually made.
We apologize for the late delivery and the inconvenience it caused. We have reviewed our shipping procedures and now finish packing orders by the day before the expected ship date. Thank you for your feedback.
Fix the cause to reduce negative feedback
Help identifies problems with listings and order processing as the leading cause of negative feedback. The following review points are based on success stories Amazon shares, but as Help itself cautions, following them won't guarantee any particular rating (Amazon doesn't control the feedback you receive).
| Common complaint | What to review (the gist of Help) |
|---|---|
| Out of stock or late shipment | Review your inventory levels and handling time settings, and send tracking numbers when you ship |
| Not as described or wrong item | Post clear images and size information, and check your packing process and SKU mapping |
| Hassle with returns | Make your return policy easy to understand |
| Dissatisfaction with service | Keep your contact information accurate and respond to inquiries within 24 hours |
You can also see which products are drawing the most complaints on the "Voice of the Customer" (購入者からの評価) page. It shows the customer satisfaction health of each listing on a scale from "Excellent" to "Very Poor." It can take several weeks for your changes to show up in the metrics.
For late shipments, ways to improve your late shipment rate can help, and for complaints about returns, see organizing your returns process. If you want to increase the number of ratings you receive, the recommended approach is to use the "Request a Review" button as a neutral request (you can request only once per order, and asking only for positive feedback or asking only satisfied buyers is prohibited).
What not to do
Help lists manipulating ratings, feedback, or product reviews as prohibited seller activity and requires sellers to follow the same policies for both product reviews and seller feedback.
| What not to do | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Asking Contact Us or Seller Support to remove feedback (risk of suspension) | Submit the request from Feedback Manager |
| Asking buyers to remove or change feedback, or offering incentives | Limit contact to resolving the problem |
| Asking only satisfied buyers for feedback, or asking repeatedly for the same order | Use the "Request a Review" button, once only |
| Leaving feedback on your own transactions, or writing negative reviews of competitors' products | Focus on improving your own operations |
| Leaving feedback management entirely to an outside service (violations by third parties are also the seller's responsibility) | Submit removal requests yourself from Feedback Manager, and for any work you outsource, confirm in advance that the way buyers are contacted and the wording of feedback requests comply with policy |
Amazon states that deliberately manipulating reviews can lead to actions such as permanent removal of selling privileges and withholding of funds. For reviewing how you request feedback, also see responding to a product review warning.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Is there no way to remove negative feedback once 90 days have passed?
A. Requests from Feedback Manager aren't accepted more than 90 days after the feedback was submitted. After the deadline, your focus shifts to explaining what happened and what you've improved in a public response, and to making changes so the same complaint doesn't come up again.
Q. Do I need to worry about 3-star (neutral) feedback too?
A. Only 1- and 2-star ratings count as negative feedback in the Order Defect Rate; 3 stars are not included. However, because your feedback score is calculated as the percentage of 4- and 5-star ratings, 3-star ratings also bring the percentage down. The removal criteria are defined by the content of the comment, not the number of stars, so check 3-star feedback against the same assessment table as well.
Q. The buyer removed their feedback, but my Order Defect Rate hasn't changed.
A. It can take up to 48 hours for the change to be reflected, so wait a while and then check the order in the report on the "Order Defect Rate" tab.
Q. A buyer is hinting at negative feedback to pressure me into a refund.
A. Help says that buyers who, for example, threaten to write a negative review to get a refund or replacement can be reported through "Report abuse or violation" (不正または違反の報告) on the Account Health dashboard. Amazon indicates that the seller can also be held responsible for accepting such demands, so keep a record, and also see what to do when you suspect harassment.
Summary
You request removal of seller feedback not "because it's negative," but "because it meets the removal criteria."
- The main eligible types are feedback containing inappropriate language, hate speech, or personal information; feedback about another seller's product; and feedback whose entire comment is a product review. Feedback about FBA fulfillment may be eligible for a strikethrough
- Feedback that mixes product comments with a rating of the seller is not eligible. Classify the comment sentence by sentence to assess it
- Requests can be made only from Feedback Manager. Submit within 90 days of when the feedback was submitted, including the criterion, the relevant part, and the facts of the order, and if denied, file an appeal before the deadline
- For feedback that doesn't meet the removal criteria, respond by resolving the issue through Buyer-Seller Messaging, posting your one public response, and fixing the underlying cause
Even if you follow the official process, whether feedback is removed is up to Amazon. Track deadlines and assessments in your log, and pursue removal requests and improvements side by side. If feedback issues are driving up your Order Defect Rate or leading to warnings, check the details of your Account Health notifications and start reviewing your metrics as a whole without delay.
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Free consultation, 24/7 *This article provides a general explanation. The appropriate response in individual cases depends on the circumstances.
