What is Amazon Seller Feedback?
The Amazon Seller Feedback system was created so that Amazon customers could access more information about previous buyers’ experiences with different sellers. Seller feedback acts as a report card for each seller, indicating the quality of the customer experience they provide.
Seller feedback evaluates the speed and quality of fulfillment (which does not apply to FBA sellers) and rates how the product’s listing description matches the actual product received.
Amazon seller feedback is measured on a scale of 1 to 5 stars which rates your business’ performance. Each customer has 90 days after their purchase to submit feedback. Customers are asked questions about your approach to shipping, customer service, and the general experience of buying from you. Seller feedback is unrelated to the quality of your product itself, as we will later explain.
Seller feedback is public, and customers can view your rating to evaluate whether or not they want to purchase from you. Amazon seller feedback can be a critical factor in an Amazon customer’s buying decision, especially for high-value products with a lot of competition. Not only does your seller feedback influence potential customers, but Amazon’s algorithms will consider your seller feedback score when deciding where to place your products in search results.
How is Seller Feedback is Different from Product Reviews?
Amazon product reviews are related to the actual product you’re selling and shipping. Amazon seller feedback is specifically about you and your business’ performance. Both are important and will have a slightly different impact on your business.
Amazon product reviews are unrelated to shipping and seller performance and are related only to the quality of the product itself. Product reviews are located on the product details page on Amazon. Amazon encourages buyers to leave product reviews to express what they liked and disliked about the product in order to help prospective customers make informed decisions. Customers can only leave one review/rating per product unless the older review gets deleted.
On the other hand, Amazon seller feedback is closely related to shipping performance and the customer service experience you provide. Customers can give seller feedback every time they buy a product from the seller. Your seller feedback score can affect your ability to win the Buy Box for any product you sell.
How do Customers Leave Seller Feedback?
Amazon customers can leave seller feedback in two ways…Either directly from their orders page or from the dedicated Amazon feedback page. They have 90 days from their order date to leave a review, where they are asked yes or no questions including:
- Did the item arrive on time?
- Did it match the description that you provided in the listing?
- If you contacted the seller, did they provide a positive customer service experience?
They’ll also be asked to rate their order out of five stars overall and leave optional comments.
How is Seller Feedback Calculated?
Your overall seller feedback rating is the aggregated average of recent feedback received from your buyers. This is because Amazon calculates an average of how much positive feedback you’ve gathered over certain periods of time, tracking 30-day, 90-day, 365-day, and lifetime scores. Your Seller Feedback Score is simply the percentage of positive feedback you have received over a specific period of time. Amazon explains that only 4-star and 5-star feedbacks count toward your score. Neutral (and of course negative) feedback is excluded from the calculation and instead is measured by your Negative Feedback rate.
Amazon considers 5 and 4-star ratings to be positive, 3-star ratings to be neutral, and 1 and 2-star ratings to be negative. So for example, if 100 customers have left seller feedback reviews over the last 30 days, and 95 of them left either 4 or 5-star ratings, your score for the past month would still be 95% positive regardless of whether those remaining 5 customers all left neutral or negative feedback.
How to View Your Seller Feedback and Overall Seller Feedback Rating
To view the seller feedback you’ve received, log into your account, click Received Messages under Communications in your left navigation, and click the Seller Feedback Tab. You can sort by rating or status, and search by order ID.
To view your Amazon seller rating, go to your Seller Central dashboard and click Performance, then click Customer Satisfaction. From here open the Customer Feedback Tab to see your overall performance broken down for the last 30 days, 90 days, 365 days, and your lifetime rating all side-by-side.
What is a Good Seller Feedback Score?
As we explained, Amazon considers 5 and 4-star ratings to be positive, 3 start ratings to be neutral, and 1 and 2-star ratings to be negative.
Your Seller Feedback Score is simply the percentage of positive feedback you have received over a specific period of time. Amazon does not specifically state what they consider to be a good seller feedback score, but aiming for a positive rating of 95% or higher over the last 12 months is industry standard.
Amazon calculates a number of seller metrics from buyer feedback, including your Negative Feedback Rate. Amazon classifies a 0% to 2% rating as “great”, but any score lower than 5% is seen as reasonable, especially if you serve a lot of customers. Keeping your negative feedback rate below 5% will most likely keep you in Amazon’s good graces.
Why Does Seller Feedback Matter?
Customers may be influenced by your seller feedback, and Amazon also takes your seller feedback score into account in a number of different ways….
Acquiring the Customer
Seller Feedback can either persuade or dissuade potential customers from purchasing for you, especially when you have a lot of competitors. Your rating is displayed prominently when customers compare alternative sellers to the Buy Box winner. Either your 12 month or lifetime seller rating will be used to give prospective customers an idea of your customer service reputation, depending on where they look.
Winning the Buy Box
Seller feedback affects a seller’s ability towin the coveted Amazon Buy Box. More specifically, seller feedback is a key component of your Order Defect Rate which is calculated based on how much negative feedback you get. Amazon weights a seller’s Order Defect Rate heavily in its Buy Box algorithm. With all other things being equal, a seller with a solid reputation for providing a great customer experience will win the Buy Box more often than one with a history of disappointing Amazon customers.
Avoiding Account Suspension
In certain cases, Amazon will even penalize sellers whose Order Defect Rate gets too high with suspensions or an outright ban. Currently, Amazon requires sellers to maintain an Order Defect Rate that is less than 1%. Learn more about common mistakes that lead toaccount suspension here.
How to Improve Your Seller Feedback Score
Ask for Feedback
First and foremost, to collect more feedback from your customers you can simply ask. Many sellers who have trouble generating reviews and feedback neglect to do this. You can use Amazon’s messaging service to make one polite request for feedback after an order has been delivered. Your request must not violate these guidelines…
- You can’t incentivize feedback. Offering payment, discounts, freebies, or any perk to encourage customers to leave positive feedback or remove negative feedback is forbidden as it jeopardizes the integrity of customer reviews on Amazon.
- The seller can only ask for feedback once per order. This should happen after the customer has received their order to ensure a genuine review.
- Don’t coerce or pressure buyers to leave feedback. Again, sellers can make one simple request for feedback.
- Don’t message buyers who have opted out from receiving unsolicited messages, including those for feedback.
Improve Shipping Time
Optimize your shipping and ensure your products don’t arrive late. Amazon shoppers have grown accustomed to free, two-day shipping, and late arrivals are a big source of negative feedback. Providing your product on time should be non-negotiable, and providing your product early is even better. Early arrivals can delight buyers and result in favorable ratings. Expediting internal order processing and upgrading customer shipment methods can be great ways to improve your feedback.
Improve Inventory Management
Running out of stock results in negative feedback. Proactive inventory management is key in building a healthy feedback score. Keep your inventory available and accurately listed.Using FBAcan improve your processes. Read more abouthow to forecast inventory for Amazon.
Provide Easy Returns
If you provide easy returns, customers will appreciate your customer service leading to more positive comments. Amazon encourages sellers to “rigorously” review their return policies along with providing full product refunds for a standard 30-day period. Read more onhow to track and reduce your return rate.
Manage Customer Expectations
It’s extremely important to write accurate product listings for your products. Don’t try to exaggerate your descriptions, overpromise, or mislead to try and outdo your competition. When a product fails to meet or exceed the expectations set in your product listing, the customer is left disappointed and the seller is to blame. Be honest and transparent in your descriptions and provide accurate information that you believe will help your buyer gain a better understanding of your product. Be especially careful to add detail and manage expectations with private label and bundled items.
Get Undeserved Negative Amazon Seller Feedback Removed
Sometimes, negative feedback is given even when it is undeserved. According to Amazon’s latest feedback rules, you may not ask customers to change or remove their reviews. However, in some cases, you can get undeserved negative feedback removed by Amazon. Your first step should be to talk to Amazon. It’s possible that if the feedback relates to something out of your control, they will remove it. Additionally, if a customer leaves a negative product review instead of seller feedback, you can ask Amazon to remove it, since the customer posted in the wrong category.
If you’re using FBA, you shouldn’t be receiving any negative feedback as Amazon handles your shipping and customer service. In this case, Amazon should remove negative feedback as they are at fault.
Tracking Seller Feedback with myHorizons
Staying on top of your seller reputation by monitoring your seller feedback is an important part of being a successful seller on Amazon.At Envision Horizons we keep a close eye on the Seller Feedback tool in our software, myHorizons, to monitor for new ratings and make sure we are being responsive to customer reviews. To access this tool, log in to your myHorizons account, go to the Health tab, and select Seller Feedback to easily view the feedback you’ve received over a specific time period.
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