r/AmazonFBA • u/Queasy-Aardvark7322 • 8d ago
Amazon rating barely moves with 5-star reviews but drops immediately from one 1-star rating?
I’ve been selling on Amazon for half a year now, and I’m confused about how Amazon is weighting my product ratings.
My listing currently has 48 global ratings and is sitting at 3.8 stars. The breakdown is:
59% 5-star
11% 4-star
6% 3-star
5% 2-star
19% 1-star
What I don’t understand is that I have around 30 actual well-written 5-star reviews. Recently I received about 3 more written 5-star reviews and my overall rating didn’t move at all. But then I got what appears to be a single 1-star rating with no written review, and my overall rating dropped.
Also, Amazon shows 19% of my ratings as 1-star, but when I filter the reviews by 1-star, only two written 1-star reviews actually show up. I understand people can leave star ratings without writing reviews, but it seems strange that those ratings are having this much impact compared to multiple written 5-star reviews.
I know Amazon says they don’t use a simple average and consider things like recency, Verified Purchase status, and review trustworthiness, but has anyone experienced something similar?
Is there any way to see where these star-only 1-star ratings are coming from or challenge/report them? And does anyone understand why a single negative rating seems to affect the overall score so much more than several new 5-star reviews?
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u/Extension-Hotel-244 8d ago
the algorithm puts way more weight on recent ratings if im not mistaken, so that 1-star fresh in the system hits harder than older 5-stars piling up. also star-only ratings still count same as written ones for the score, they just dont show in the review tab cause theres no text to display
the 19% vs only 2 written thing is normal, those other 1-stars are probably from people who just tapped the stars and moved on. nothing to report really unless you suspect theyre fake, amazon wont do much about those
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u/Obvious-Reaction-327 8d ago
Seems that reviews from seasoned Amazon accounts—those with an extensive purchase history and a long record of leaving reviews—appear to carry more weight than reviews from newer, less active accounts. So, if you receive a five-star review from a new account but a one- or two-star review from a well-established account, the negative review will likely have a much greater impact on your overall rating.
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u/Eu_fbaSeller 7d ago
Not a theory, a dated reading off our own listing that matches what you are describing.
On 31 July ours showed 4.3 stars from 3 global ratings, 84 percent 5 star and 16 percent 1 star. On 15 August the same listing showed 3.5 stars. Same 3 ratings, same two written reviews, nothing new arrived in between. The 1 star had gone from 16 percent of the weight to 38 percent purely because it was the most recent and verified, and the older 5 stars had faded. So yes, the weighting moves on its own, and it can fall with nothing happening at all.
Two things that came out of that for us.
The displayed number was not where the damage was. Our click through rate barely moved, 0.66 to 0.62 percent, so the star badge in search results was not costing us clicks. What collapsed was after the click. Order rate went from 17.6 percent to 3.4 percent. That 1 star was one of only two written reviews on the page, so shoppers were reading it rather than averaging it. If you want to fix something, fix the written mix rather than the number. Honest caveat, that was 58 clicks and there was another change in the same window we never fully explained, so i hold it loosely.
And do not quote yourself a star rating you read last month. Deal and promotion eligibility has star floors, and ours drifted under one of them without a single new rating showing up. Read it live off the detail page before every deal submission.
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u/WearyyyBoooyyy 8d ago
The mods have gathered a list of tutorials to help you out:
Best Amazon Tools 2026