I have sold on Amazon for 16 years. The review rules just came full circle. Late
By Danan Coleman · October 21, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
I have sold on Amazon for 16 years. The review rules just came full circle.
Late this month, Amazon opens Review Requests: an ad you pay for that asks your recent buyers to leave a rating or review.
Here is the loop I have lived through.
2010: nobody cared about reviews. If your listing had a photo, it sold.
Around 2014, everybody cared. Sellers gave products away in Facebook groups for reviews. Amazon required a disclosure, then banned incentivized reviews and wiped them out.
Then came Vine, a paid review program run by Amazon. Then the Request a Review button, which sellers automated until most buyers opted out of the emails.
Now the request shows up inside the Amazon app, and you bid for the placement. It only runs on products under 1,000 ratings and reviews, pauses on its own at 1,000, and Amazon reports 3x more weekly reviews in the closed beta. Pricing is not out yet.
My take: it will work, and I would test it. But here is the uncomfortable part. I see review attacks on sellers every week. Amazon lets plenty of them stand, and now it sells the cure.
Nacho made the smartest point when we prepped the panel: treat a review like a conversion. Put a dollar value on one, bid against it, and shut it off once the listing has enough social proof. It is a launch tool, not a forever budget line.
Before it opens, list your ASINs under 1,000 ratings and decide what one more review is worth to each.
Would you pay Amazon to ask your buyers for a review?
From the Accelerate + unBoxed recap panel with Jessica Wright of AO2, Kainoa Tayabas-Kim of IPSecure and Nacho (Ignacio) de Ros Durban of Adbrew.
#AmazonSeller #AmazonReviews #Ecommerce