Practically nobody read the comments since the fact that there even was a comment to a product review was not visible to people using the Amazon shopping app or on a mobile browser. Only the ever shrinking minority that uses a desktop OS browser or turns their mobile browser to desktop mode could see if there were comments.

Amazon tracks how buyers view the site and that is the reason for the change. No point in using up server space and lines of code for a feature that is not utilized.

So a customer comes and leaves a review that is easily remedied with a quick explanation of the sellers comment, and now buyers will see that review and be scared off. Great thinking Amazon, instead of giving sellers power to micro manage their products lets just address the issue with a blunt object. /sarcasm

Yes, this morning I got that email too, and I think it’s sad they are discontinuing. I’ve had a customer leave a bad review about failure to communicate to them, which simply wasn’t true, they never saw the replies. So I left a comment, very clearly stating what happened. There have been other instances as well, like someone who left a review on my seller page about a product I never sold. What are my options? So I think it’s an excellent way to clear up misunderstandings in reviews, so other customers can understand what is happening. But I also understand, Amazon has algorithms none of us see, and they know how much people are actually reading the comments.

I am pretty much on the same level as everyone else. It was not used often, but I think it is very helpful in some instances. Personally I have read comments to negative reviews when purchasing for myself as well.

I’m pretty surprised. I really thought adding the commenting functionality to the Seller Central backend was the gateway drug to full-on seller replies like on Yelp. Maybe that functionality was the nail in the coffin. They thought “hey, we gave them the ability to reply with ease and no one used it”. Pretty disappointing to say the least. But we’ve found that once you get over a number of reviews as long as none of the bad ones are the top reviews there’s nothing you can really do about a negative review. It used to keep me up at night!

Best case scenario if someone reviews you and they have a username that is a name you use it with the color/size/whatever they purchased to find their order number then send them a message. Now that we can actually message people again I would do that.

That is disappointing. I have always considered it the best way to respond to stupid and/or bad reviews. I certainly consider comments far more useful than Review Removal.

Extremely disappointed in this decision.
It gives us no ability to provide excellent customer service that Amazon wants us to provide.

It gives us no ability to defend ourselves against malicious reviewers or reviewers that provide false information (or a poor review because Amazon FBA sent the customer the wrong product)

It was bad enough that the customer had to hunt for seller responses to reviews - but now to completely take them away?

Poor decision. As others have stated this is a useful way to clarify or add context that would benefit customers who rely on reviews as part of their decision making. Disappointing for a company that is committed to customers.

And why the short (1 day) notice?

The fact that the feature was rarely used is reflective of its design which hid the comments to all but the most dedicated sleuths. Improvement of the feature is called for, not removal.

Their email said they were developing other opportunities to connect with customers. A replacement feature should have come out first. Hoping for a replacement soon.

Amazon is removing the ability to reply to product reviews…TOMORROW. (dec 16)

The reason they gave is that the feature is rarely used.

I have several challenges with this:

1. How much support is it taking to keep this feature live? If it isn’t taking much support, then even if (as they claim) it isn’t getting much use, why remove it from the sellers and shoppers who do get benefit from it?
2. Being able to reply to reviews is an important outlet for sellers when improper reviews are left on a product. Many sellers use the reply ability as a way to educate future buyers of how things should be used, etc. For example: When a buyer claims that an item doesn’t work, but didn’t put the batteries in it. Sellers are able to help future customers know that it’s important to install the batteries for a better experience. This helps the seller, this helps past customers, this helps future customers, and this helps amazon by decreasing returns and increasing customer satisfaction. Why remove this?
3. It’s possible that the comment feature isn’t heavily used because Amazon has worked to HIDE these replies. (for example see Product Review Comments) Most of the time replies to reviews aren’t showing unless a buyer clicks “comment” and then follows through to a whole separate page. This is poor user experience, so I imagine not many sellers put effort into responding to reviews knowing that they’ll never be seen. So, Amazon, since buyers, sellers, and YOU get benefit from this feature, how about making it easier to use and more noticeable to buyers, instead of turning it off?

I don’t get the logic of “Nobody uses this broken feature, so let’s take it away.”
Instead, the logic should should be, “Dang, people are having trouble using this useful feature because it’s broken. We should fix it.”

…Here’s the email I received:…
Dear seller,

You are receiving this email because you recently left a comment on a review.

While reviews and feedback are important to our customers and sellers, the comments feature on customer reviews was rarely used. As a result, we are retiring this feature on December 16, 2020.

We are committed to your continued success and will innovate and develop other opportunities for you to connect with customers.

Thank you.

Amazon Services

Dear Amazon,

Please DON’T remove the comments feature on reviews!

That is the ONLY public way we can answer our critics. When someone leaves a low-star review we need to address their issue(s) and show "publicly," that we will do all in our power to make things right!

So MANY times customers have told us that they bought our products BECAUSE of how we reply to those that are dissatisfied. This is a critical part of how we do business, especially since Amazon will no longer allow sellers to know who buyers are and reply to their concerns individually… especially if they use a fake/screen name.

PLEASE don’t take this from us! It will really hurt our sales and reputation.

What Amazon really should do, is notify reviewers when someone (especially the seller,) has replied to their review. This could help a lot more customers get the proper care and service they should expect, especially when they are unhappy for any reason. Amazon should also “Flag” ALL reviews that have been commented on… especially those that have comments from the seller. We TRULY want to help!

Again, this feature is MUCH more important to our business than other features on Amazon since it is generally the ONLY way we can reach out and attempt to make things right when someone is unhappy unless they do the right thing and contact us.

Thank You for Considering our appeal! We are partners with Amazon and want ONLY our mutual success!

All the Best,

Bill