Amazon Early Reviewer Program-Everything you need to know
After banning incentivized reviews due to complaints from third party sites and customers about the integrity of the reviews, Amazon is coping with the imbalance in the ecosystem by introducing Amazon Early Reviewer Program. Let’s look at what it actually is.
Amazon is trying to increase the number of organic reviews by rewarding random customers who make a purchase of products that have been entered into this program with $1 — $3 Amazon gift card. Only products with under 5 reviews are eligible for this program. This is to help Amazon shoppers make better buying decisions and help new sellers or new products to get reviews early on. This doesn’t let sellers influence reviews, nor can they communicate with their customers about these reviews. These reviews are honest, can be good or bad depending on the customer’s experience. This program purely encourages customers to leave a review for the product purchased.
PS: SellerPrime is an Amazon analytics tool aimed for Ecommerce Sellers to sell better. You can get an early access by registering here.
Eligibility
You are eligible for this program only if you satisfy the following criteria
1. Your brand is registered in the U.S. If you own the trademark for the brand name that appears on your products and packaging, you might be eligible to apply for Amazon Brand Registry. Once registered, you can enroll your products into the Early Reviewer Program.
2. You sell on Amazon.com. Right now, this program is limited only to U.S marketplace. So only products that are sold on Amazon.com will be eligible for this program and customers buying products from U.S marketplace only can participate in this program.
3. Your product is priced over $15 — You will be charged for each ASIN that runs this program. Tax may also apply apart from fee. So, it would only make sense to have this program run for products that are more than $15.
4. You have under 5 reviews. This program is primarily to encourage customers to leave a review for products that do not have many reviews by rewarding the customers that left a review with gift cards worth $1 to $3. This type of reward system will not be necessary for products that already have a huge number of reviews because it does not make much difference to customer’s buying decisions or to the sellers to gain credibility.
Fee
You will be charged for each ASIN/product that has been accepted into the program once Amazon receives the first Early Reviewer Program review for the said product. The fee is displayed next to the Upload button when the seller uploads the SKU file. Taxes may also apply. When the fee is processed, it will show up as ‘Early Reviewer Program fee’ transaction on your Seller Central account statement. To view your account statement, go to Seller Central > Reports > Payments > Transaction View.
Criteria for choosing reviewers
Reviewers are chosen at random as long as they meet Amazon’s eligibility criteria. Not all customers get to participate in this program, only a few reviewers are selected randomly for this program as long as they have no history of abusive or dishonest reviews. Amazon employees or participating sellers or their friends and family are not eligible to participate in this program. Early Reviewer Program reviews are identified with an orange badge that reads ‘Early Reviewer Rewards’.
Refund policy
Refund is not done. No specific number of reviews is guaranteed by Amazon.A flat fee is charged once the seller receives the first ‘Early Reviewer Program’ review on an ASIN. Amazon does not continue to request more reviews after the first 5.
Enrollment cancellation
Once you enroll an ASIN into the program, you will be unable to cancel the enrollment. Note that you will only be charged for an ASIN when you receive the first Early Reviewer Program review on that enrollment.
Amazon Seller Central Screenshot:
