Amazon.com Removes Negative Feedback: Good or Bad?

Amazon is undoubtedly an online commerce giant and many buy their products from their local site. But it is also a challenge for any company choosing to sell its products on this site as negative comments can appear. While marketers can find articles online with tips on how to deal with such negative comments – and even some tips from Amazon itself on the same topic – they also discvover that the website deletes negative comments about its services.

Puzzled?

Well, you could be. I read an article on this topic, an interesting one exploring many aspects of the issue. And then I spoke with some of my friends in the marketing field. They weren’t too happy to hear that Amazon deletes negative feedback. But then you’d have to look on its Feedback FAQ page and you’ll see that it is very clearly specified there that Amazon will remove feedback in some cases (note that it states feedback, not negative feedback), including when “the entire feedback comment is regarding fulfilment or customer service for an order fulfilled by Amazon.”

Therefore, all comments unrelated to the product but to Amazon’s services are to be removed. Is that a good thing? Some could say that no, it isn’t, as potential customers don’t find out whether a product was delivered on time and in good conditions. Others could argue that this is not an important aspect, and that comments regarding the product matter the most. I would anyway advise people to look for information and feedback on the products they are interested in buying from other sources before placing an order. When I bought things from Amazon I looked for the same product in other places – for a price comparison – and for other opinions and experiences with that product. I admit I am one of the Amazon satisfied customers. True, I didn’t place that many orders, but those that I did place, on the two sites I used, were delivered OK so I cannot complain.

Some could say that Amazon takes it too far by deciding what comments get to be published and which end up deleted. Others could say that the site got so big, that any rule or decision could be ignored by the site. However, if a rule is specified clearly in its terms of use or the FAQ section, isn’t a customer’s choice to comply with that rule or to go somewhere else to buy the products they want?

However, people interested in purchasing something from Amazon could ask their friends to find out how the site’s services are. It is very likely to have at least a couple of friends who’ve already become Amazon’s clients. Also, people can search the internet to see if there are articles on blogs or newspapers regarding Amazon’s services.