Reviews Disappeared
Our ASINs are all variations under the same parent ASIN and went from 72 shared reviews, to 12 on one ASIN and 16 on the other overnight.
First, the representative gave general review removal guidelines and said that they couldn't discuss specifics, but after pressing further I was finally told we're involved in another 'experiment' that removes review sharing. The experiment runs until Dec 11 and they cannot say what will happen after.
Unfortunately for us, some variation listing are closed (we stopped selling smaller package bundles of the same product) so those reviews just disappear now. We already have issues with our brand name not showing in search results and now we're going up against this.
This is obviously a bad time of year to drop down to a dozen reviews. Is there anything that can be done about this?
Support Case: 18966619171
Reviews Disappeared
Our ASINs are all variations under the same parent ASIN and went from 72 shared reviews, to 12 on one ASIN and 16 on the other overnight.
First, the representative gave general review removal guidelines and said that they couldn't discuss specifics, but after pressing further I was finally told we're involved in another 'experiment' that removes review sharing. The experiment runs until Dec 11 and they cannot say what will happen after.
Unfortunately for us, some variation listing are closed (we stopped selling smaller package bundles of the same product) so those reviews just disappear now. We already have issues with our brand name not showing in search results and now we're going up against this.
This is obviously a bad time of year to drop down to a dozen reviews. Is there anything that can be done about this?
Support Case: 18966619171
24 replies
Seller_vn4peRuGOrfij
We got the same message since our reviews got split too. It would have been nice of them to give us sellers some sort of heads up...
Seller_pTQEzv3Oc7Qd7
we are facing same issue as well. This is literally the best time of year for business growth and here we become part of some random experiment causing significant loss, with losing goodwill and business both. what a shame
Lets push this problem as much as we can. This needs to be escalated right away.
case id: 18978992371
Seller_0MCo01CQIXJOy
Sharing an update for everyone having this issue... I had a scheduled meeting this morning with Amazon's Seller Experience Research team (I frequently participate in research studies with that team.) and I brought the situation up during the meeting. He took it very seriously as this is a serious issue!
He immediately messaged someone internally to escalate and they responded right away. They were already made aware of the situation and they are tracking down the team that owns the experiment to try to stop it. These types of experiments are often automated so the team responsible might not have been aware until people started escalating. Lets hope this helps!
Wanted to let everyone know that this situation is now escalated outside of the typical spin of seller support to actual teams that have authority to do something about it. Lets just hope they do.
Seller_v2bkIPsWJQHOn
Same story.
Sales dropped by 70%.
Doing this during what was supposed to be the busiest time of the year is just a crime - I can’t call it anything else.
Seller_Mle50NCJxUozk
We reported something similar and heard for the first time about this experiment taking place.
This was our response:
Thank you for the update.
If we had known this experiment was being implemented, we would have approached both our Vine investments and our inventory planning very differently. Launch-season review aggregation is a key component of our strategy, and temporarily removing it during the busiest period of the year significantly impacts the child ASINs we’ve invested in and stocked at FBA for Q4.
Given the timing and the degree of planning that has already gone into these ASINs, we respectfully request that our brand be opted out of this experiment. We would be happy to participate during the slower season, but during peak weeks we simply cannot absorb the impact.
Seller_qoN23FMYjKB5W
Amazon changed the variation rules and removed some themes. Official deadline was in October, but they actually pulled the plug around Nov 30. If you still had any of those “retired” variation themes in your parent/child family, those child ASINs are probably orphan now, so their reviews aren’t being shared with the rest of the family anymore.
NR_Amazon
@Seller_ioh7Jntwlu4Tk Thank you for surfacing this issue to the forums, and another thank you to all sellers who have raised similar concerns.
Please note I have forwarded over these details to our partner team for clarification and review.
I will provide a follow-up on this thread when I receive word back from the partner team.
Thank you!
NR_Amazon
Seller_Nlug90hefo9Qf
Hey, we've been experiencing a super similar phenomenon. We've lost over 100 reviews over the course of two weeks in three separate cullings. They're seem totally random—there's no correlation with time, review type, or geography.
Were you able to get this resolved and/or have any updates on it?
