Amazon Disabled Variation Review Sharing During Peak Season — This “Experiment” Is Crippling Small Businesses
I honestly cannot believe Amazon would choose Q4 peak season to run an experiment that disables review sharing across parent-child variations. Overnight, all of our hard-earned reviews stopped showing on the parent listings. Only one child ASIN displays reviews, and the rest look brand new — destroying conversion rates right before Christmas.
We received NO email, no notice, no warning. Sellers were not informed, not consulted, and not given any timeline or alternative option. For Amazon to make a major change like this during the busiest retail season of the year is beyond unreasonable.
Do they realize how much effort, money, and advertising we invest throughout the year to build those reviews? And now we’re forced to watch our sales tank because of a “temporary experiment” that we never asked for and never agreed to.
Small businesses cannot afford experiments like this. This decision feels disconnected from the real struggles of sellers who rely on Q4 performance to stay afloat.
Amazon, if you are testing something, at least:
- Inform sellers beforehand
- Do not conduct disruptive tests during peak season
- Provide an official statement and timeline
- Give sellers a workaround or opt-out option
Right now, we are left guessing, losing sales, and dealing with upset customers — all because of a change we weren’t even notified about.
This is extremely frustrating and unfair to sellers who depend on Amazon’s platform to survive. I hope Amazon reconsiders this experiment immediately, or at the very least, communicates properly with the sellers it impacts.
Amazon Disabled Variation Review Sharing During Peak Season — This “Experiment” Is Crippling Small Businesses
I honestly cannot believe Amazon would choose Q4 peak season to run an experiment that disables review sharing across parent-child variations. Overnight, all of our hard-earned reviews stopped showing on the parent listings. Only one child ASIN displays reviews, and the rest look brand new — destroying conversion rates right before Christmas.
We received NO email, no notice, no warning. Sellers were not informed, not consulted, and not given any timeline or alternative option. For Amazon to make a major change like this during the busiest retail season of the year is beyond unreasonable.
Do they realize how much effort, money, and advertising we invest throughout the year to build those reviews? And now we’re forced to watch our sales tank because of a “temporary experiment” that we never asked for and never agreed to.
Small businesses cannot afford experiments like this. This decision feels disconnected from the real struggles of sellers who rely on Q4 performance to stay afloat.
Amazon, if you are testing something, at least:
- Inform sellers beforehand
- Do not conduct disruptive tests during peak season
- Provide an official statement and timeline
- Give sellers a workaround or opt-out option
Right now, we are left guessing, losing sales, and dealing with upset customers — all because of a change we weren’t even notified about.
This is extremely frustrating and unfair to sellers who depend on Amazon’s platform to survive. I hope Amazon reconsiders this experiment immediately, or at the very least, communicates properly with the sellers it impacts.
7 replies
Seller_oJY2X570rx42E
They told me the experiment ends Dec 11th, but we'll see...
Seller_Sram36TnVt73c
I presume this is their fix to stop the review harvesting done with variation abuse.
Seller_0aId2Xmfcc0TB
Hi everyone,
Newbie seller here. I've set up a variation (an upgrade of the original product) for my star seller with 103 reviews. Eventually, this upgrade will be the only product available because the original will become obsolete.
If this experiment leads to being a permanent policy, does that mean I will lose all 103 reviews from my original listing once it's not available/stock out/listing closed?
Would it be better for me to sell out completely or create a removal order on the original item and resupply my new upgrade into that ASIN instead of creating a variation in order to keep my 103 reviews?
As for the "upgrade" it's merely a new design makeup bag to hold a set of brushes. The main product, the brushes, are staying the same.
Thank you for any advice.
Seller_32znQddiQabwX
CREA UNA NUEVA FAMILIA CON UN NUEVO ASIN PARENT Y VINCULA DE NUEVO TODOS SUS HIJOS ES LA UNICA MANERA QUE LOS JUNTAS ME PASO ALGO SIMILAR Y POR MAS QUE ABRIA CASOS Y CASOS NADIE ME AYUDO HASTA QUE HIZE ESTO POR SUGERERENCIA DE UN COLABORADOR DE AMAZON Y ASI LO LOGRE JUNTAR LA FAMILIA AUNQUE LO MIO ES UN MISMI PRODUCTO CON MUCHAS VARIACIONES
Seller_x0LjtGKlQJ0CA
This is so unfair!
I was affected by this issue as well. It crippled my holiday sales by thousands of dollars. I was in the middle of a $1500 campaign that left me owing Amazon $$$$$$.
I purchased thousands of dollars in supplies and shipped to FBA preparing for the holiday rush. All for nothing.
Support continued to lie to me about what was going on. The AI responses were nonsense, I was helpless to do anything but wait. Just another way for Amazon to take even more money from me.
Now it’s too late for my holiday sales.
