Amazon introduces star-only seller feedback system

Amazon announced on July 29, 2025, a significant change to its seller feedback system that removes the requirement for written comments when customers submit ratings. According to the announcement posted on Amazon's Seller Forums, customers will be able to provide star ratings without accompanying text starting August 4, 2025.

The e-commerce platform stated that the simplified feedback submission process aims to increase the number of seller ratings by making it "easier for customers to submit ratings." According to Amazon's notification, written feedback becomes optional under the new system, which the company believes "will help increase rating submissions and give customers more information to confidently make purchase decisions."

The change carries significant implications for marketplace sellers. When customers submit star-only ratings without text, Amazon will disable the feedback appeal feature in Feedback Manager for those specific reviews. Sellers experiencing issues with star-only ratings must use the "Report a violation" process instead of the standard appeal mechanism.

Technical implementation details

Amazon's automated evaluation system will continue operating for all feedback submissions, whether they include text or not. According to the company's announcement, "When customers submit seller feedback with or without text, we automatically look for signs of abuse and evaluate them against our community guidelines."

The feedback system processes submissions through Amazon's community guidelines framework, which governs acceptable content across the platform. However, the removal of written feedback eliminates contextual information that previously helped determine whether ratings violated platform policies.

Amazon maintains that "honest and authentic star ratings are an important way for customers to know how past order experiences were perceived by other customers." The platform currently allows buyers 90 days from the order date to submit feedback, with one feedback submission permitted per order.

Seller community response

The announcement generated substantial criticism from Amazon's seller community, with forum participants expressing concerns about the policy's impact on marketplace operations. Multiple sellers highlighted potential abuse scenarios and the difficulty of addressing issues without written context.

According to forum discussions, sellers worry about distinguishing between legitimate service-related feedback and product-related comments that should appear in product reviews rather than seller feedback. The confusion between seller feedback and product reviews represents a longstanding issue on Amazon's platform.

One seller forum participant noted specific concerns about FBA-related issues: "98% of the 1 and 2 star reviews I have received since 2023 WERE AMAZON FBA'S FAULT AND WERE AUTOMATICALLY REDLINED AND REMOVED. Now these will stay on my account when it has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME AS A SELLER."

Sellers expressed particular concern about maintaining account health metrics under the new system. According to multiple forum comments, seller feedback influences Order Defect Rate calculations, performance reviews, and Buy Box eligibility. The inability to appeal star-only ratings creates additional risk for merchants operating on the platform.

Implications for marketplace dynamics

The feedback system changes occur within Amazon's broader marketplace ecosystem, where third-party sellers account for approximately 60% of all product sales. Seller feedback scores affect visibility in search results and customer purchase decisions, making the rating system a critical component of marketplace success.

Amazon's monitoring tools evaluate feedback submissions for abuse patterns and policy violations. However, the removal of written comments limits the platform's ability to assess context and intent behind negative ratings. This represents a significant shift in how Amazon approaches marketplace trust and safety protocols.

The change affects both seller-fulfilled and FBA merchants differently. Seller-fulfilled merchants face direct accountability for shipping, customer service, and order fulfillment issues reflected in feedback. FBA sellers often receive negative feedback for fulfillment issues handled entirely by Amazon's logistics network.

According to Amazon's documentation, the platform already struggles with customers confusing seller feedback with product reviews. The new system potentially exacerbates this issue by removing the textual context that helps distinguish between service-related and product-related comments.

Industry context and competitive landscape

Amazon's feedback system changes come amid increasing competition in e-commerce marketplaces. Walmart has expanded its marketplace seller programs, offering fulfillment services at reportedly 15% lower costs than competitors. The Walmart 2025 Marketplace Seller Playbook, released in July 2025, demonstrates growing competitive pressure on Amazon's marketplace dominance.

The feedback policy adjustment represents part of Amazon's ongoing platform optimization efforts. Earlier in 2025, Amazon implemented new product title requirements, limiting titles to 200 characters and restricting certain special characters. These standardization efforts indicate Amazon's focus on improving platform consistency and user experience.

The timing coincides with broader marketplace challenges affecting Amazon sellers. The platform recently surveyed merchants about tariff impacts on their businesses, gathering intelligence on supply chain disruptions and pricing strategies amid ongoing trade tensions.

Operational challenges for sellers

The star-only rating system creates several operational challenges for marketplace merchants. Without written feedback, sellers lose visibility into specific customer concerns that could inform business improvements. This informational gap affects customer service strategies and operational optimization efforts.

Sellers previously relied on written feedback to identify patterns in customer complaints, shipping issues, or product concerns. The text component helped distinguish between controllable factors (customer service response times, packaging quality) and external factors (shipping delays, product defects).

The appeal process limitation represents a significant procedural change. Amazon's current feedback removal policies allow sellers to request removal of feedback that violates platform guidelines or addresses issues outside their control. Star-only ratings eliminate this recourse mechanism.

According to Amazon's community guidelines, feedback should focus on seller performance rather than product quality. However, customers frequently misunderstand this distinction, leading to product-related comments appearing in seller feedback sections. The new system makes it impossible to identify and correct these misattributed ratings.

Technical assessment of automation systems

Amazon's automated abuse detection systems face increased complexity under the star-only rating framework. Machine learning algorithms typically analyze textual content for policy violations, spam patterns, and inappropriate content. Star ratings alone provide limited data points for automated evaluation.

The platform's existing community guidelines prohibit various forms of problematic content, including harassment, promotional material, and irrelevant comments. These violations typically manifest in written feedback rather than rating scores alone. The automated systems must now detect abuse patterns using rating distribution analysis and user behavior metrics rather than content analysis.

Amazon's detection capabilities include identifying unusual rating patterns, coordinated review campaigns, and suspicious account activity. However, the removal of textual context reduces the system's ability to understand rating motivation and appropriateness.

Financial implications for marketplace participants

Seller feedback scores directly impact revenue generation through their influence on product visibility and customer trust indicators. Lower feedback scores can result in reduced Buy Box eligibility, affecting sales volume and competitive positioning within Amazon's search algorithms.

The Order Defect Rate metric, which incorporates feedback scores below four stars, affects seller account health and advertising eligibility. Under the new system, merchants face increased risk of metric deterioration without corresponding recourse mechanisms.

For professional selling plans, account health metrics influence access to various Amazon services, including advertising platforms, fulfillment services, and premium seller programs. The star-only rating system potentially affects these qualification thresholds.

Customer experience considerations

From the customer perspective, Amazon's changes aim to reduce friction in the feedback submission process. The company's research likely indicates that lengthy feedback forms deter rating submissions, resulting in lower overall feedback volume.

However, the removal of written comments reduces the informational value of feedback for future customers. Written feedback traditionally provides context about seller communication, shipping speed, packaging quality, and problem resolution effectiveness. Star ratings alone convey limited actionable information for purchase decision-making.

The change aligns with broader industry trends toward simplified user interfaces and reduced form completion requirements. Mobile commerce growth drives demand for streamlined interaction patterns that minimize text input requirements.

Broader marketplace policy trends

The feedback system modification reflects Amazon's ongoing policy adjustments aimed at balancing customer experience optimization with marketplace integrity maintenance. Recent policy changes include shipping performance requirements, inventory management standards, and advertising compliance updates.

Amazon's approach to platform governance involves continuous refinement of seller policies, customer protection mechanisms, and marketplace functionality. The feedback system changes represent one component of this broader governance framework.

The platform's community guidelines continue evolving to address emerging challenges including review manipulation, competitive sabotage, and inappropriate content. The star-only rating system creates new enforcement challenges within this existing framework.

Enforcement and compliance considerations

Amazon's enforcement mechanisms for the new feedback system remain largely unchanged, with automated detection systems continuing to monitor for policy violations. However, the reduced appeal options create asymmetric enforcement outcomes between different violation types.

Sellers must adapt compliance strategies to accommodate the limited recourse options available under the star-only rating framework. This includes enhanced customer service protocols, proactive communication strategies, and improved order fulfillment processes to minimize negative feedback risk.

The "Report a violation" process becomes the primary mechanism for addressing problematic star-only ratings. This system typically requires more substantial evidence of policy violations compared to the standard appeal process, creating higher barriers for feedback removal.

Timeline

• July 29, 2025: Amazon announces star-only seller feedback system in Seller Forums
• August 4, 2025: New feedback system launches with optional written comments
• January 3, 2025: Amazon announced 200-character product title limits for marketplace listings
• July 2025: Walmart released comprehensive marketplace seller playbook detailing competitive initiatives
• April 8, 2025: Amazon surveyed sellers about tariff impacts on their operations

Key Terms Explained

Seller feedback: The rating and comment system that allows Amazon customers to evaluate their experience with third-party merchants rather than the products themselves. This system differs from product reviews by focusing specifically on seller performance aspects such as shipping speed, customer service quality, communication effectiveness, and order fulfillment accuracy. Seller feedback directly impacts merchant reputation scores, search ranking algorithms, and Buy Box eligibility, making it a critical component of marketplace success.

Star-only ratings: The new feedback format allowing customers to submit numerical ratings from one to five stars without accompanying written explanations. This streamlined approach eliminates the previous requirement for textual feedback while maintaining the scoring system that influences seller metrics. The star-only format reduces submission friction but removes contextual information that previously helped sellers understand customer concerns and identify improvement opportunities.

Feedback Manager: Amazon's administrative tool that enables sellers to monitor, respond to, and appeal customer feedback. The platform provides functionalities for reviewing feedback history, posting public responses to customer complaints, and requesting removal of inappropriate or policy-violating feedback. Under the new system, Feedback Manager's appeal feature becomes disabled for star-only ratings, limiting seller recourse options.

Community guidelines: Amazon's comprehensive policy framework governing acceptable content and behavior across marketplace features including reviews, questions and answers, and seller feedback. These guidelines prohibit harassment, promotional content, private information sharing, and irrelevant comments while establishing standards for honest, helpful contributions. The guidelines serve as the basis for automated abuse detection and manual content moderation decisions.

FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon): Amazon's logistics service where the company handles storage, packaging, shipping, and customer service for third-party seller products. FBA sellers often receive feedback for fulfillment issues entirely outside their control, such as shipping delays, package damage, or incorrect items being sent. The new feedback system complicates the process of identifying and removing FBA-related negative feedback that doesn't reflect seller performance.

Appeal process: The mechanism previously available to sellers for challenging inappropriate or policy-violating feedback through Feedback Manager. This process allowed merchants to present evidence supporting feedback removal, particularly for comments related to product quality rather than seller service or issues caused by Amazon's fulfillment operations. The elimination of appeals for star-only ratings represents a significant reduction in seller protection mechanisms.

Order Defect Rate: A critical seller performance metric calculated from the percentage of orders receiving negative feedback, A-to-Z guarantee claims, or service chargebacks. This metric directly affects seller account health, advertising eligibility, and Buy Box access. Ratings below four stars contribute to Order Defect Rate calculations, making the inability to appeal questionable star-only ratings a significant business risk for marketplace participants.

Marketplace sellers: Third-party merchants who sell products through Amazon's platform, representing approximately 60% of all Amazon sales volume. These sellers range from individual entrepreneurs to large corporations, operating under various fulfillment models including seller-fulfilled and FBA arrangements. The feedback system changes primarily affect these merchants rather than Amazon's first-party retail operations.

Buy Box eligibility: The qualification system determining which sellers can appear in Amazon's prominent "Add to Cart" section for products with multiple sellers. Buy Box eligibility depends on various factors including seller performance metrics, feedback scores, fulfillment method, and pricing competitiveness. Higher feedback scores improve Buy Box chances, making the new rating system's impact on seller metrics particularly significant for revenue generation.

Automated abuse detection: Amazon's machine learning systems designed to identify policy violations, spam, and inappropriate content in customer submissions. These systems analyze patterns in rating behavior, textual content, and user activity to flag suspicious feedback for further review. The transition to star-only ratings reduces the data available for automated analysis, potentially affecting the system's ability to detect and prevent abuse effectively.

Summary

Who: Amazon third-party sellers and customers using the marketplace feedback system, affecting millions of merchants operating on the platform.

What: Amazon removes the requirement for written comments in seller feedback submissions, allowing customers to submit star ratings without accompanying text. The change eliminates appeal options for star-only ratings.

When: The new system launches August 4, 2025, following Amazon's announcement on July 29, 2025.

Where: The changes apply to Amazon's global marketplace platforms, affecting seller feedback systems across all geographic markets where Amazon operates third-party seller programs.

Why: Amazon aims to increase feedback submission rates by simplifying the process, believing that easier rating submission will provide customers with more information for purchase decisions while reducing barriers to feedback participation.