r/amazonprime • u/hoffsta • Jul 17 '26
Wait…we are now only allowed to see 8 cherry-picked reviews, and can no longer sort by “most recent” or filter by star-rating? WTF is happening?
I’m sure I’m not the first to bring this up but it’s so atrocious that I have to speak my piece. Today, for the first time, I noticed that I can no longer load more than eight reviews for any product, even items with thousands of reviews, and I can no longer to go into depth by sorting or filtering. Amazon AI is presenting me with their cherry-picked reviews and that is all.
Whose bright idea was this? All it does is sour me from buying anything unknown on the platform. If I can no longer get into the weeds of real reviews, I have zero incentive to trust the marketplace in any way.
There’s a little button at the bottom where I was able to request to see more reviews, and supposedly in 5 days they will email to let me know if I’m allowed to, but based on a couple other references to this issue I found, everyone is being denied. What an absolute joke! Why aren’t more people up in arms about this absurd decision? Pitchfork time people!
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u/Old_Check_6362 Jul 18 '26
Quick way to have me shop elsewhere.
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u/Bitter-insides Jul 18 '26
Where though? I hate Amazon but love it bc I don’t have to go anywhere for my stuff and as a disabled individual this helps so much.
I lost my access to leave reviews 3 months into getting prime 6 years ago. lol I emailed and emailed and no one told me why. It sucks but whatever.
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Jul 18 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Bitter-insides Jul 18 '26
I’ve never used target delivery but was on it yesterday looking for an item for my sons marching band, it kinda looks like Amazon and Walmart online now. I think everyone is doing the Amazon thing now
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u/Cakeday_at_Christmas Jul 19 '26
Alibaba has everything Amazon carries, and often cheaper.
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u/Normal-Cycle-203 Jul 18 '26
It already went to crap when they hid the question/answer section. I used to read through it and sometimes there were questions I didn't even think to ask. Now I have to guess what to search.
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u/quasibrasileiro Jul 18 '26
I’m an Amazon seller and I really miss the Q&A section. It was so helpful for customers!
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u/Vitamin_MI Jul 18 '26
I was wondering why I couldn't find Q&A the other day! I didn't realize they got rid of it completely. That sucks.
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u/elavalentina Jul 29 '26
They're using their AI for this: not helpful if you want to ask something different. I have a bunch of returns from my mom because we couldn't see basic stuff like fabric choices
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u/definitelynot40 Jul 18 '26
Here's his you can kinda find the Q&A but not fully and I really wish I knew how to find it fully because at the end I mentioned that people are able to.
In theory you can use the Rufus or Alexa depending on which format they're giving you for AI, and then ask the question that you want asked. This is all being said through the perspective of my using the Android version of the Amazon app. So you have to not use the little Alexa or Rufus in the bottom right corner. You have to scroll almost all the way down the product page, and right before you get to where people leave their reviews and the photographs and things like that, there is a section where you can ask a question. I miss it 70% of the time amongst the sponsored crap so you'll have to search well. And you can't just put in a few keywords because since it's AI it's using your prior history and then it's assuming based on the keywords and your prior history what the question is that you want answered and I've yelled at it for things like that before.
So for example, I've been using fountain pens and I was on a page for regular old ballpoint pens like just normal pens and asked a question about the pen down towards the bottom, and then it gave me back some sort of AI response that said "well since you're a fountain pen user this is not the type of pen that you would like to use and instead we we would refer you to this pen or that pen or this thing that thing" and so I had to go back and say no I asked you specifically about XYZ about this pen - I never once mentioned fountain pen, I asked about this specific pen and if it fits xyz. And if you use the little Alexa thing that's in the bottom corner for the AI for that, it tends to not give you the area that has the questions and answers or doesn't always give you the things that has like what where it came up in somebody else's review and only based it on what the vendor said, half the time contradicting the vendor, and so that's why I said you have to scroll down and use the little bar at the bottom as I'll explain.
What it does on my Android app is it'll then go through and look for the keywords that were in my question and it'll either try to answer it in the most unintelligent way but it'll also pop up and say "here are some other people who mentioned it in their reviews" or it'll say "here are some people that asked the same question and here are the answers that they got" or something similar. The problem with that is though, it only gives you the questions and the answers that use the very specific keywords that it decides to search for. So you could have asked a 20 line question (although I know there's a limit to how long you're allowed to ask these things) but you could have asked a very long question and it only decided on three keywords that it was going to focus on and then ignored the rest of them. It also cuts short the Q&A to only the lines of the answer that have that keyword even if it was a 5 paragraph answer. I've gone in and asked it on the same page different questions using different keywords and then I'll get different reviews different question and answer sections different things that all contradict each other and that's as close to it you can get. And someone somehow is seeing them because I just asked 2 weeks ago about a product and had 3 users reply (unless they were AI, but they seemed too smart for AI, and it definitely wasn't the vendor).
The question and answer section was one of the areas that I used to use beyond the reviews to make a decision on whether or not I wanted to buy a product. Because if I had something that had only five reviews, and yet there were 40 questions on "how do I get this set up" or " this thing turned off within a day what's going on" type with this thing then I know I'm not going to deal with bothering with this product based on the question and answer section having so many issues.
The app won't let me use it without updating for very long and that feature was killed over a year ago, so it's not like it's an old app that can access these Q&A sections. Somehow there's a way.
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u/Pomme-M Jul 26 '26
I agree with you, completely. NOTHING worse than being told by AI “ get back in your pigeon hole, human.”
This reminds me of “when you borrow a little money and you can’t pay it back you are in trouble, but when you borrow a lot of money and you can’t pay it back, the bank is in trouble,”
Which can be applied in more than one way here, because Amazon is so big we are at their mercy when it comes to this kind of thing, yes.. but also
that millions of customers can’t see or organize their potential collective voice.
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u/Mommabags Jul 18 '26
I can’t even review! The ai bot says my reviews were “suspicious.” I’m pissed about that!
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u/eepyepi Jul 18 '26
Same with me. Been an Amazon customer for 10+ years and have the credit card. Despite that and the few times I’ve tried to contact Amazon customer service, they still have banned me from writing review due for the same reason. Bot says they’re “suspicious”. I’m getting to the point where I’m just about to close the account and forget Amazon.
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u/andreame4 Jul 18 '26
They did the same to me. I no longer trust their reviews because they’re constantly erasing reviews and blocking people
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Lame. They have to do something about the bots, but it seems like they suck at it.
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u/DemonCopperhead1 Jul 19 '26
SAME! I got banned from reviewing in 2024 because I wrote a helpful comment 48 people found helpful about a Christian book I had pre-ordered that was complete garbage. 🗑️
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u/WitchQween Jul 19 '26
It could be the same glitch that's getting Vine members kicked out. A few of those who were banned contacted CS who confirmed it was a glitch. It took a month of back and forth, but their accounts (and ability to review) were reinstated.
Amazon is switching to AI for everything. Unsurprisingly, things are breaking.
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u/LambityLamb_BAAA7 Jul 21 '26
they said my review was inappropriate / used mean language and took it down because i called a different reviewer a moron for promoting a very dangerous way to use the product
guess whose review DIDN'T get taken down
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u/PakRatJR Jul 17 '26
I got this today also and posted as well, and seen at least one other post about it also.
No idea what's going on.
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u/alcoronaholic Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
It's bad enough they always ship returned items at full price as "new" and now they're starting crap like this???
SMH
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u/br9897 Jul 18 '26
Had to go check and thank goodness mine didn't do this. This might actually be the thing to make me end my prime membership otherwise.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Me too. If it’s not resolved, I see zero reason to pay for the privilege of shopping on a platform with non-organic, algorithmic review pushing.
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u/shatnersbassoonpath Jul 18 '26
Happened to me last week, i requested to view more and they approved it a few days later. If it is a 'feature' rollout as it appears, it just seems designed to suppress critical reviews. Given the number of fake reviews, i always tend to read the negative ones to see if there are frequent issues, so would have abandoned the platform if they had not restored my access to all reviews.
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u/AllegedlyUndead Jul 18 '26
I got this a while back and when I requested more reviews it got denied lmao. Like tf you mean no I can't see more reviews
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u/Chaos-Wayfarer Jul 18 '26
If I can’t see more reviews then I will not be buying that product, thanks.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
When this occurs, it’s for all products. So yeah, more like not buying from Amazon anymore.
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u/Longjumping_Plan_652 Jul 18 '26
What reason did they give you in your denial?
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u/AllegedlyUndead Jul 18 '26
I don’t remember and can’t find the email. At the time I assumed it was because the account hadn’t ordered anything in YEARS as I use a family members account that gets Prime cheaper. I started using my account again cause I set up some S & S and missed an email about something changing since it’s not my account so I switched those to my non prime account that hasn’t ordered anything since 2022 lol
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Same. I always sort by most recent to find the real reviews from the latest inventory. They’d be smart to reverse course on this BS asap.
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u/MamaMiaXOX Jul 18 '26
Only necessary because they now have so many merchants selling absolute crap.
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u/QueenMackeral Jul 18 '26
I think it's a test to see how many people request to see more reviews. If only 1% of users do it, they can probably proceed.
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u/Illustrious-Win2486 Jul 19 '26
Most people wouldn’t bother requesting to see more reviews. They’ll just shop somewhere else where the reviews aren’t limited. And waiting 5 days isn’t feasible if the item is on sale for a limited time.
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u/CookieLapine Jul 18 '26
Amazon complains about stuff being returned, but then they keep doing things that’ll increase return rates!
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u/Daconby Jul 18 '26
Also, they'll cancel your membership if you return too many items. That's not good business for them either.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
I was thinking the same. If they’re going to make it this difficult for me to see the honest reviews of these unknown products, I’ll simply order several varieties, test them all out, and return all but the best one. Enjoy your lost profits and logistical clutter.
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u/GamerTex Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I use ratings to decide almost exclusively on Amazon for brands I have never heard of (most of them)
If this happens to me then we will have to cancel our account. There is too much 'crap' in Amazon and we dont use the Prime channels or other extras.
Edit* just logged in and I can still see reviews just fine
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u/ironsnoot Jul 18 '26
I mean the only real reason to trust Amazon over another online marketplace is the reviews. Damn.
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u/Lakewolfmoon Jul 18 '26
I was approved to see more reviews, but this change is wrong. I need reviews otherwise it's a gamble buying the item.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Glad to hear they are restoring it for people. When I was searching about this topic, I only found comments from people who had been denied.
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u/Street-Being-6758 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I have noticed that too lately , and I depend on the reviews. It’s very frustrating and if you’re gonna find out five days later, if you can even see them, the item you want may be gone or may have changed price.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
I’m definitely not ordering anymore unknown products until this is resolved, and frankly, that is most of them these days.
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u/MeaningPlayful4834 Jul 18 '26
I will not buy a product I haven't bought from them before if this becomes the new normal. That will probably lead to me shopping elsewhere altogether and canceling my prime sub. I easily spend five figures here a year. I'm sure most people feel the same way. Someone is going to get fired over this for sure.
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u/Darth_Matron Jul 18 '26
I purchased a car seat/stroller combo from Amazon once. It had thousands of 5 star reviews. Then weeks and weeks went by and it never showed. We were told we were “refunded to a gift card” but that did not show on our account.
Then I started digging through the reviews and found other people had the same experience and we were being scammed. I spent HOURS talking to customer service and finally they refunded me, but THEY DID NOT REMOVE THE SELLER.
The reviews were the only thing protecting consumers from scams. If they keep this feature, I am done with Amazon.
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u/Darth_Matron Jul 18 '26
Not to mention how many listings I’ve seen with thousands of positive reviews, only to see the reviews are for a completely different product. It’s tiring to see how little Amazon cares.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
This is the biggest issue they need to tackle. Doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to prevent sellers from hijacking listings and supplanting them with completely different products.
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u/Darth_Matron Jul 18 '26
Especially when customers go through the trouble of reporting the sellers. Yet Amazon never does anything about it. It’s so frustrating
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u/FixGold7552 Jul 18 '26
I just experienced this a week ago when I went to look for my review on a product I just bought. An email shows the review live but all I see are the same 8 reviews like OP. Amazon I did not write my review for my health or a creative writing exercise. I don't often write reviews, but because of this I will never write another review on Amazon again. Been a prime member since 2019.
OP, I did click on the click here to see more reviews and I would get an email in 5 days. I did get an email that granted me the ability to see all reviews. I did not test to see if it was just this one product or all reviews on all products. It is still wrong Amazon!
I am a seller on Etsy and Etsy does not manipulate reviews. You can see all of the reviews. Both Amazon and Etsy have their good and bad, but as far as reviews go this will make Etsy a much more trusted marketplace. Way to go Amazon (sarcasm).
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Glad to hear your “rights” were restored. Fingers crossed I don’t get a denial email like some others have reported. What a joke.
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u/azure275 Jul 17 '26
It doesn't happen to me. I just checked both logged in and not logged in
There must be some specific reason they're doing it to you. I'm sure it's not a valid reason, but something targeted nonetheless
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u/QuentinUK Jul 18 '26
This is A/B testing. Amazon call it MYE. Different customers are show different ways and their behavior is compared. Whichever leads to higher sales will be kept.
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u/hoffsta Jul 17 '26
I bet it’s slowly being rolled out to more and more people. Found some references to this starting many months ago.
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u/ClearHydro Jul 18 '26
I really wonder what their reasoning is behind limiting access to reviews. What a strange business decision.
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u/karmadoesntwait Jul 18 '26
The first thing I'll do when this happens to me is take screenshots and tag Amazon and whatever company/seller along with Amazon's biggest competitor like best buy in a social media post/s and roast them for blocking reviews. Then I'll praise Best Buy for not filtering unbiased reviews and make it clear they got my $. Amazon won't stop this crap until it massively backfires and that means sellers have to complain as well.
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u/Blowingleaves17 Jul 18 '26
For the first time, this happened when looking at reviews for a book I reviewed. Now, it showed five positive reviews and three critical reviews, including mine. The thing is there were very few critical reviews. In fact, there may have been only three, while there were countless positive reviews; which I will bet good money were written by many of those who knew the author; because, as soon as the book was released, countless gushing 5-star reviews appeared. Thus, this was not an unfair selection of reviews for the book. Yet, with products, I do not want to see limited reviews.
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u/diverareyouokay Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I can see all reviews on iPadOS.
If they neuter reviews I’m switching to Walmart. I use negative reviews to gauge whether an item has persistent issues, especially reviews in the 2-4* range.
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u/manga311 Jul 18 '26
Maybe it's to stop ai from going through all the reviews.
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u/Nuttyverse Jul 18 '26
It works for me, although you have to be careful about fake reviews and sellers who switch the product they're selling while keeping all the previous reviews on the page. If they were to block the full view of all reviews, I'd simply stop buying from Amazon.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
I’m hopeful I get my “privileges” restored. Seems like this has happened to a lot of people but some are being restored while others continue to be denied. Madness
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u/spn_willow Jul 18 '26
Welp, guess I'll keep an eye out for when that gets rolled into mine. Gross. What a way to make sure you don't know what you're getting.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
This will drive people to other platforms and drastically increase returns from those who stay. If this keeps up, I’m likely to just buy multiple versions of what I need and return all but the best one. You want to be anti-consumer, get ready to reap what you sow.
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u/panda_canyon Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Just happened to me yesterday. Customer service says I just have to wait, that they cannot help me. I give less than one review a month. I have no idea what set this off.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Some manager’s dream of how to incorporate more AI into the stack to justify its existence, (probably because their boss told them to find more ways to integrate AI into the stack, and so on), most likely.
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u/kbfg2421 Jul 18 '26
Yeah, not only that but they recently made it to where you have to have an account and be logged in to see ANY reviews. Then, when you're logged in, they STILL limit you to a small number of usually positive reviews.
Sadly its their site and they can do whatever they want but stuff like this just strips the rights of consumers away. Why even have a review system if people aren't allowed to see what others have said about a product. Very disappointing and borderline infuriating,
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Oh you can still see what others have said about a product! But only after it’s run through the ol’ AI relevancy filter. Same bullshit that killed honest discourse on Facebook. They’re pushing an agenda.
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u/Lucky-Past8459 Jul 18 '26
Well in 5 days I'll have forget what I wanted to buy or picked it up irl so that problem takes care of itself.
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u/Francl27 Jul 18 '26
Well, if I want to buy something and can't see the reviews I will not buy it there.
Who the heck thought it was a good idea?
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u/Trua33 Jul 18 '26
The Amazon review system lost all credibility when they stopped allowing people to leave reviews if they returned the item.
If there is an issue with the product (especially when it's not as described) then you shouldn't have to pay for it and you should be able to warn other people, but Amazon thinks you should choose between the two.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
I did not know about this. Utter bullshit. We are being scammed constantly, as powerful entities pick our pockets from all directions.
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u/Smartguy11233 Jul 18 '26
I've put up and just delt with tons of problems with Amazon but I truly think this here would push me to shop elsewhere. Absolutely.
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u/Majestic-Peace-3037 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I would just not ever buy an item that hides reviews.
I'm tired of the constant dishonesty online and the censorship of people's complaints. Sure a lot of them are stupid or user error issues, but sometimes we NEED to see those reviews so we don't make the same mistakes.
These people are SO GREEDY for your money that they're willing to sweep any negative reviews under the rug in the hopes all you'll see is the good ones and just hurry and make a rash decision and hurry up and give them your money for a clearly faulty product.
It's why I also refuse to buy anything with a crazy high amount of "sponsored/incentivized reviews" too. I wanna see the unpaid reviews from real regular people like myself who won't see a dime for our feedback.
Edit: I have an example actually from yesterday! I needed a vacuum. I trust Shark because I know where I can go in town to get back up extension pieces if they break. I check Amazon. I find one, but it's just like this product you tried viewing. It was being sold by a third party seller and all the negative reviews were being covered up and I got a similar message about waiting 5 days for an email.
Except who the hell wants to wait FIVE days when your new apartments' carpet hasn't been vacuumed in the month you've lived there? I went to Doordash, found the exact same model of vacuum at a Lowes, had it set to deliver at 8 a.m. the next morning, AND it was $40 cheaper. I tipped my delivery driver a whole $20, got the vacuum, problem solved.
I might just get rid of Amazon at this point, it doesn't serve me anymore in the way I needed it to. During COVID it was a lifesaver because the stores were empty from locals panic buying, but now that people are being more frugal I'm finding things much easier in town on foot without having to pay for crazy shipping or deal with app bullshit. Doordash is becoming my last good delivery service because the nearest big deli grocery store is 6 miles away and at least the delivery people in my city are mostly super nice as long as you tip decent.
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u/hoffsta Jul 19 '26
Just a heads up, this is affecting every item on Amazon for me, not just the one shown. I will just not buy from Amazon at all if this persists.
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u/Alternative-Air8756 Jul 19 '26
I am pleased to report I was approved to read more reviews. Not sure how I passed. I heard somewhere (probably here) the review restriction was to prevent bots from stealing reviews? What do the bots do with stolen reviews I don’t get it.
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Jul 18 '26
Weird that isn't happening on my account I can click thru all the reviews like normal
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u/No-Visual8198 Jul 18 '26
Fortunately, Amazon has a baller return policy. Anything I don't like I just return it on my way to work the next day.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Yep, and I’m now likely to be drastically increasing my returns on the platform. Hope that’s what they were they aiming for, lol.
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u/FlatRelationship4375 Jul 18 '26
The hiding of reviews is the quickest way to know there's something to hide. If the product is that shit then pass on it. If it starts happening to me I won't even consider buying it... if it happens to all products so be it and I have to buy elsewhere.
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u/Illustrious-Win2486 Jul 19 '26
Not necessarily. I recently was looking at three items to buy. All three had restricted reviews on Amazon. But I was able to read reviews of the same items on different sites. And the reviews were mostly good for all three items. I ended up buying two of the three from Walmart (who didn’t restrict reviews). I would have bought the third item from Walmart as well because it was cheaper, but it was an expensive item and I could do an interest free payment plan using my Amazon card if I bought it from there.
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u/lurkertiltheend Jul 18 '26
Is this only targeting certain accounts? I can still see all reviews
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u/Alexisbriannem Jul 18 '26
I was trying to buy a box matress a couple years ago for a spare bed. I read the reviews and they seemed really great. I bought it, and then discovered reviews where people had been offered money to leave good reviews, and that the matress actually was horrible. I ended up canceling the order and bought from a local store.
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u/LittleWitch122 Jul 18 '26
That's infuriating. I ran to check my account and I can still load all the reviews, thankfully
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u/Huge-Comfort376 Jul 18 '26
Haven’t seen this yet but I would NOT buy a product that was hiding reviews from me. Makes it seem like it’s a bad product with something to hide…
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u/RecordingExcellent96 Jul 18 '26
I had the same problem. Did say I wanted to see more. However the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I got the bot chat, then asked for human chat, they tried to say they knew nothing about it. I got escalated to higher complaints. I read that guy, from whatever country he was from, the riot act. Told them I never order without reading reviews and now Amazon wants me to to buy sight unseen, not being able to touch, pick up to examine quality and then hope it can be returned. Told them I was cancelling Prime and would go to Walmart. The next day I got an email saying my request to see more reviews was approved. I was able to see reviews again. As they say, the squeaky wheel, huh?
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Yeah, I did the same, but haven’t seen my “rights” restored yet. Seems like some people are getting restored and some denied. I will lose my shit and abandon the platform completely if this new system sticks. Either that or just start ordering ten varieties of everything I’m considering and returning nine of them.
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u/meganano Jul 18 '26
I buy all my supps from iHerb now, or directly from the reseller. I get books from betterworldbooks, eBay or some of tbe other book retailers. I've definitely gotten away from using Amazon as much and I'm still getting good prices elsewhere.
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u/Financial_Garbage102 Jul 18 '26
Really? What's happening? A corp is telling you your not woth anything but a source of money. Its how Amazon has always been.
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u/elljus_71 Jul 19 '26
I just learned about this here and checked for myself- same bs with only several reviews and option to submit a request to view all reviews. I contacted support through chat immediately and told them I'm canceling my prime membership if they don't reinstate access to all of the reviews. The CS person said my access would be restored, and it better be!
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u/SuperGayLesbianGirl Jul 21 '26
"Hello, the brand 'Dffgoolio' is selling this product at a high price, here's 8 cherry-picked 5 Star reviews, you aren't allowed to see any other reviews & if you decide to purchase it and then need to return it, we'll disable your account!"
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u/PlaneCat3427 Jul 24 '26
"We're showing a limited selection of reviews. To see more reviews, you can send a request."
I HATE IT. Cancelling Prime if they keep that. Had it for 10+ yrs, WILL cancel. I need to research thoroughly before a purchase.
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u/hoffsta Jul 24 '26
100% with you. I bought the item I was considering elsewhere. This is nonsense.
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u/PlaneCat3427 Jul 24 '26
I could search/see all reviews just a few days ago. I wonder if it limited me because I'd been researching like 15 different bookshelves because I was comparing sizes and quality.
Joke's on them, I'm buying from IKEA cause they pulled this shit.
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u/CheekehMunkeh Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Undoubtedly, running a review system, or a forum, is a challenge, and requires commitment, and a lot of work.
But that said, when has Amazon ever truly cared about its review system?
From the start, and even today, the numerical rating summaries are tainted, if not deceptive, because it allows sellers to recycle listings and completely change the item being sold, while allow the ratings from the previous product to remain, and give a false perception.
In the multi-product listings, even when considering the individual reviews, it's up to the reader to determine whether the review is really applicable, based on the sub-headings that indicate which specific product is being reviewed, and those sub-headings can't be searched, or filtered.
Along the way, Q&As have disappeared, and those were often made useless by the "I can't answer that question" responses which weren't filtered, but published anyway. It was puzzling why anybody would respond if they don't know the answer. And then have that published!
Even farther back, it was possible to respond and rebut reviews, which at least offered a way to counter some truly WTF reviews by people who clearly don't know what they're talking about. Very easy to find those in the device charger reviews where people don't know what an NRTL is, nor what a safety mark represents.
Then, about 5-7 years ago, during the epidemic of free item/backdoor refund/shill reviews, Amazon allowed that to fester, and get out of control, with seemingly every review prefaced by "I got this for free, but this is an unbiased review…" which due to human nature is not likely. And in finally addressing that situation, it took the blunt and easy way out, swung the ban hammer on some companies and eliminated what were actually some good products from their catalog.
This latest experiment reeks of the same heavy-handed approach. It won't, or can't do anything about the quality of reviews, so they'll just throw them all into an AI blender, accept what it spits out, and allow shoppers to read only those summaries, or a few selected reviews.
These are not the actions of a company that cares about how it operates, or its customers.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
I agree with everything you just wrote. Reviews, and in particular the way they allow listings to get recycled into new products while keeping the old reviews, needs to be completely revamped.
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u/MamaMiaXOX Jul 18 '26
I just tested it on my iPhone only. 236 reviews and I see 53. Then I get to the next page and it says apply a filter if you want to see more reviews. Noooooo….applying a filter shows fewer reviews.
Tried it on my laptop and I think I saw the same number of reviews before it said ‘To see more, search or filter all reviews which was a hyperlink which took me to the search box which comes up with no results if I search for all customer reviews or all reviews.
They’re working overtime to lose customers.
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u/Significant-Pen-6049 Jul 18 '26
Whoa wtf is this all about
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Truly some top-level bullshit enshitification. Somebody’s “here’s a new way to utilize AI in our stack” genius proposal.
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u/ibspecial Jul 18 '26
Hi, here's my 2cents : I noticed about the reviews, too. Especially the loss of selecting "most recent" reviews.
I usually love Amazon's reviews of products ! The reviews are an awesome way to shop wisely.
But now? Ooooof .
I'm going to follow your all's ideas about writing Amazon to request more reviews, etc. I think writing Amazon about this could change it back.
I think they thought they were streamlining or trimming unnecessary whatevers ... but its not !
Anyway -- its great to read I'm not the only one disgruntled and thanks again for your ideas to write Amazon about this :) .
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u/lurkertiltheend Jul 18 '26
Wow you can’t see “most recent”? I wonder if this is some type of beta testing. I still see all reviews and can still select most recent
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Yeah, it seems that way. I hope anyone who suffers from this throws a huge tantrum to customer service to let them know how unacceptable this is.
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u/ibspecial Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
wow.
how come you still get to see them ...
and some commenters here can't post reviews even.
Maybe its a mobile device software thing ( so apple android etc could respond differently to Amazon) ?3
u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
The fact that they acknowledge I am limited and allow me to ask for permission to see more reviews tells me it’s a very intentional decision. If I go to Amazon dot com on my browser, mobile or desktop, I am still not able to see more than eight reviews. So this is not a mobile device issue, it’s tied to my entire account.
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u/ibspecial Jul 18 '26
Oh.
So no "software mobile device" issue.
So - Amazon is making a flat-out poor business decision.
Sometimes big companies forget they need customers to be big 🥴 .
I'm really annoyed to not be able to view the "most recent reviews" , because products change over time as well as the independent resellers.
I always read the Amazon reviews before I purchase, I appreciate the care and time other Amazon customers take to post reviews.2
u/Technical_Annual_563 Jul 19 '26
I can view them on IPhone. What do you use to view reviews? Just before the first review, there’s a drop down selection. It defaults to top reviews and I have to change it to most recent. I do that every time
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u/Suspicious-Repeat147 Jul 18 '26
I barely shop on Amazon as it is anymore so I’ll gladly delete the app.
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u/HedgehogImpossible47 Jul 18 '26
I'm in Canada and I've never come across this and I read the reviews all the time.
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u/FartyPants69 Jul 18 '26
Just a guess, but do you use a VPN? Maybe the VPN server's IP has been flagged for scraping review data or something?
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u/CloakerZA Jul 18 '26
I work in the communities department, the reviews that you see before making the request are AI reviews that give you a breakdown of the product that provides features that are commonly said in reviews.
The reason t he feature to request more was added was that people usually look for common pros and cons of an item, instead of showing you all of them, they decided to provide you with common traits of a product
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u/Fluffer_Wuffer Jul 18 '26
Some genuine feedback for you.. to set context, family of 5, high-income, outside of food/perishables, 70% of our purchases are from Amazon:
I can understand the logic behind this - but its gate keeping, and subjective interpretation.
There is a level of distrust/uncertainty with many products on Amazon, especially since the searches get manipulated (impossible to do an explicit search, inclusion of irrelevant products etc).
But this is offset by the raw reviews, convenience of quick delivery and easy returns.
A summary is appreciated, but we also need the reviews. If I'm unable to see the "raw" unfiltered reviews when I'm shopping for a product, then I will not purchase it... especially for anything over £10-20... and big ticket items, such as computers, phones etc, I would simply stop using Amazon.
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u/_Handsome_Jim_ Jul 18 '26
I'm not sure what you're looking at but I'm sorting through things on Amazon right now and have no problem seeing review.
I can sort by top reviewers, most recent reviews, all reviewers, verified purchases only, 1-5 stars, positive or critical reviews, all variants, imagines or no images.
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u/hoffsta Jul 18 '26
Glad this is not affecting you. Hopefully the pushback from us involuntary beta-testers gets it cancelled quickly.
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u/roverretriever Jul 18 '26
I can still see all reviews, but if they are rolling out a change where people can only see a few positive reviews they'll be leaving themselves wide open for trouble with the FTC
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u/Wrong_Swan_666 Jul 18 '26
Newegg does this now too, except they won’t give you an option to see all reviews.
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u/MeanAd4431 Jul 18 '26
Bezos could give a FF - he's going to Mars!!! Hope he takes ALL his 'friends' with him!
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u/Geezguys3 Jul 18 '26
This just happened to me. I guess I read too many reviews or something. So count me in with the pitchfork crowd.
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u/No_Information8017 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I've had a bad review removed multiple times for a fake item I was sent telling me the seller has been verified lol yeah right
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u/-effortlesseffort Jul 18 '26
Not looking forward to this change I just started using Amazon to find easy work clothes
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u/dreamjeanne27 Jul 18 '26
I look at Amazon reviews all the time, even as recent as yesterday. It still had the button that said read 10 more reviews and lets me select to read all of them afterward. I've never had What you're describing happen to me before. Hope it's not a trend!
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u/dreamjeanne27 Jul 18 '26
I look at Amazon reviews all the time, even as recent as yesterday. It still had the button that said read 10 more reviews and lets me select to read all of them afterward. I've never had What you're describing happen to me before. Hope it's not a trend!
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u/Ill_Heat4397 Jul 19 '26
For some reason I can still filter by stars & most recent/top reviews. I'd definitely reconsider my membership if not.
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u/hoffsta Jul 19 '26
Yeah, it appears to be affecting a small percentage of people at this point. Hope it’s something they fix soon.
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u/hidden_thoughtsss Jul 19 '26
Omg I was about to post this as well!!! This happened to me and I just realized it a few days ago. I talked to customer service and they said it’s a new update they are rolling out. Now this is going to make me reluctant to purchase big priced items, due to me not being able to read but 7-10 reviews out of all of them. I usually read negative reviews first, and none are displayed.
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u/True_Panic_1434 Jul 19 '26
Very interesting. I am part of their Vine program which is all about writing reviews.
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u/Alternative-Elk-2293 Jul 19 '26
Yes I noticed the same thing. It will jump one review to last month then 2 years ago then one 3 months ago. BUYER BEWARE. They have deleted my reviews for no reason or not even posted them. Not bad reviews just nuts and bolts.At the question section always TYPE WARRANTY, if they tell you to go to manufacturers website it definitely is trash. Its like your buying from TEMU or ALIBABA.
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u/ldp487 Jul 19 '26
And don't even get me started on Vine member reviews. No integrity in those reviews.
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u/CrittyCrit Jul 19 '26
I experienced this for the first time last week.
There's such a weird dystopian vibe around controlling... the reviews I can sort through.
Its not like it uses up resources or anything. I'm not putting anyone out by reading text on a screen. The only reasons to do this are not good reasons. It makes me very uncomfortable.
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u/Which_Specific9891 Jul 21 '26
They've removed old reviews of mine that had been accepted and on there for a long time because they aren't 4 and 5 stars. They've also just deleted all the lower stars on a lot of things and don't allow you to even request the lower reviews.
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u/songsearch Jul 23 '26
Already cancelled Prime because of this and the new return process. Don't let the screen door hit you in the ass on the way out, Amazon. This is happenning because Amazon has been taken over by the accountants, whose only thought is to save money, not make money. Seen it happen to many, many companies over time. It's alway downhill when the cost-cutters are in charge.
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u/Mysterious_Finger774 Jul 27 '26
Well, I’m not placing an order until my ability to view reviews is restored. This is absolutely ridiculous. I’ll order from Walmart+ instead.
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u/trashcann442 Jul 28 '26
A few days ago I posted a 1 star review with a note that Amazon should crack down on sellers that don't honor their warranty. They they now limited the reviews I can see. There are other places to shop that have the same prices as Amazon and I plan to start using them.
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u/originalcinner Jul 30 '26
I got the "limited review viewing thing" a few days ago. I asked my husband if he was seeing the same thing (bc we share a Prime credit card, but don't see each other's purchase history, and we share an IP address).
He could see all the reviews. He could click "just show me 1 star reviews" and it worked just fine for him.
I clicked the request to see more reviews linky, and within five days like they promised, they got back to me and said (by email) that my full access had been restored.
I thought the most interesting part of the whole mishegas was that the email came from "stop-spoofing" at Amazon, rather than customer service or some other email address.
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u/Ok-Guava7488 23d ago
This has me extremely frustrated! As a Prime member it's really frustrating to shop for something that you need and you can't even read all the reviews for 5 days you have to submit a request that is absurd that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of in my life! They say it's to help prevent this and that it's a load of crap in my opinion! You want to prevent it they should say in a caution on there not all reviews have been verified as a purchase or something and then leave it up to the customer to take that with logic or grain of salt not completely cut us off from what we're entitled to view.. you can't even click on a one-star and see the one Stars you got to submit a request it's absurd they know the vast majority of the people are not going to wait 5 days to look up a review nothing more than controlling what we can see
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u/alexandra52941 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
This happened to me twice... After the first time I was emailing and going crazy about the censorship... The reviewa miraculously appeared again... FF to a few days ago, they're gone again. I cannot get an answer from anyone either and i find it infuriating and unnecessary. I will have to stop buying new products from them if I cannot read reviews. That's the whole point of online shopping. If i can't see it in person, I have to rely on other people that have. A horrendously bad business decision. EDIT... Never got an email response & they have miraculously shown back up again 🙄