Amazon buyer-seller messaging rules

Amazon defines Buyer-Seller Messaging as an accessory to order fulfillment. However friendly a message is, if why you sent it isn't on Amazon's list, it's a violation.

Two kinds of message, and only one of them is optional

The Communication Guidelines (a three-page PDF, public, no sign-in needed) split everything you send into Permitted Messages and everything else. Permitted messages then split in two:

• Driven by the transaction. A buyer asks a question, a custom order needs a spelling confirmed, a heavy item needs a delivery slot.
• Started by you. Amazon calls these proactive Permitted Messages. The rules below govern this kind, and a review request belongs to it.

The reasons you're allowed to write

The reasons Amazon lists for a proactive message:

What's missing from the list matters too. There's no entry for thanking a customer, announcing a new product, offering a discount to a past buyer, asking how they liked something, or following up on a review they already left. The catch-all at the end only widens the list toward logistics: required for the buyer to receive their purchase.

Four constraints on every proactive message

• 30 days. "Proactive Permitted Messages must be sent within 30 days of order completion."
• The order ID. The message must "include the 17-digit order ID". Check this especially with bulk-sending tools: a template that loses the ID on one batch makes every message in it non-compliant.
• The buyer's language. Messages must use the buyer's "language of preference". The marketplace default doesn't count.
• One review request per order. "A repeat request (per order) for a product review or seller feedback" is on the prohibited list. Use the Request a Review button and then send your own follow-up, and you've sent two.

What a message may never contain

Amazon keeps two lists: message types that aren't permitted at all, and things a permitted message still may not include. The first list:

The second item is a note whose entire content is thanks and an offer of help. It looks like a minimal message that avoids all the risky ground, yet Amazon lists it as a type that isn't permitted. If you send something, give it a reason from the list above.

None of the following may appear, however legitimate your reason:

What changed: [Important] no longer means important

For years, sellers who needed a message to land regardless of a buyer's email preferences put [Important] in the subject line. According to a deprecation notice reposted on the forums, that stopped working in April 2025 (see the box below).

A buyer who opted out of non-essential seller email may never see your message. When something has to reach them (an address that failed verification, a recall, a part you can't ship without confirming), use the Contact Buyer templates the notice points to.

The Request a Review button, and what it costs you

Seller Central's Request a Review button sends an Amazon-authored message asking for a product review and seller feedback, with your seller name and the item filled in by Amazon. Reportedly it can be used between 5 and 30 days after delivery, and the wording can't be edited.

Those operational details come from several third-party sources that agree with each other, not from a policy document we could quote. Amazon documents the button inside Seller Central, behind sign-in. The 30-day outer limit matches the Communication Guidelines; treat the rest as reliable but unofficial.

One way to split it: use the button when a review request is all you want to send. When you write for another reason on the permitted list, write it yourself and leave the review request out.

Four messages you can copy

Each pair below is the same situation written twice, and each line in the first version that breaks something maps to a rule quoted above. Swap the bracketed parts.

1. A neutral review request

The first breaks four rules in three sentences: an emoji, a request for a positive review, an email address, and routing unhappy buyers to private contact while happy ones are pointed at the review page. That last one comes from the Customer Product Reviews policy, which names this kind of review diversion. The second asks everyone in the same words and carries the order ID. If a review request is all you're sending, the button above is simpler; the handwritten version fits when you also need to mention something specific about the order.

2. A shipment that went wrong

Resolving an issue with order fulfillment is a permitted reason, and the second message stays inside it. The first adds a coupon (marketing), an emoji, a request for a positive review, and puts compensation next to that request, which runs into the incentivized-review rule.

3. A return you want to learn from

Asking a return-related question is explicitly permitted. The problems are the email address and the phone number: the guidelines' exception only covers numbers related to warranties, shipping providers and manufacturers.

4. A custom order that needs confirming

Verifying a custom design is on the permitted list, so the first sentence is fine. The second adds promotional messaging and a link off Amazon.

The route that does not go through messaging

That is the whole of what Buyer-Seller Messaging lets you send. It carries a structural limit: you have to open the conversation, and whether the buyer replies, or says anything useful, depends on him opening your message at all. Buyers who actually hit a problem often do neither. They skip the message, skip you, and go write a review.

Aftermesh is that other route. You build a buyer page and it gives you the QR code for the card. Buyers scan it and land there, without spending your messaging allowance and without signing in to Amazon, and what they write lands in your dashboard. You can look at the page a buyer scans into before you print anything.

Frequently asked questions

Can I message an Amazon buyer to ask for a review?

Yes, a review request is one of the reasons Amazon lists for a proactive message. The conditions: send it within 30 days of order completion, only once for the same order, and in the same neutral words for every buyer. Asking only buyers who had a good experience, or asking for a positive review, is a violation.

Can I put my email address or a link in a buyer-seller message?

Not an email address. A link can be one of two things: a secure working link needed to complete the order, or a link to Amazon. Phone numbers have an exception, but it only covers numbers "related to warranties, shipping providers, or manufacturers".

Can I ask a buyer to remove or change a negative review?

No. "Language that requests removal or an update of an existing product review" is on the prohibited list, even after you've fixed the problem. Fix it, say nothing about the review, and leave the decision to update it with the buyer.

Does the [Important] tag still get my message delivered?

Not since April 25, 2025, according to a deprecation notice circulated on the Seller Central forums: Critical Messages are now subject to the buyer's opt-out preferences. Amazon hasn't published this on an open policy page, so verify it in Seller Central before you change a process around it.

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