BookVillage Referendum #1 – How Should We Handle This? · BookVillage

BookVillage Referendum #1 – How Should We Handle This?

Over the past few weeks we’ve noticed a recurring situation on Amazon.

Sometimes Amazon allows the submission of a review, but after a few days you discover that the review was never approved.

In other cases the review is approved and visible, but then disappears a few days later without explanation.

We analyzed the data across readers and books and there is no clear correlation between specific readers or specific books.

It is important to clarify that we are not talking about suspicious reviewer accounts, VA activity, or accounts created only to post reviews.

In the cases we analyzed:

• the Amazon accounts continue to function normally

• the accounts are not banned by Amazon

• the readers correctly purchased the books in Verified Paid Purchase assignments

• the readers are able to continue posting reviews on other products

In other words, everything appears legitimate both on the reader side and on the author side.

This issue does not only affect review platforms. It also happens to people who post reviews occasionally and even to users reviewing physical products on Amazon.

From what we are seeing, this may happen roughly once every 10–20 reviews posted.

For this reason, it currently appears that the cause is something happening on Amazon’s side, not related to the quality or behavior of the reader.

It is also possible that Amazon is currently running internal tests or changes to their review moderation system, although at the moment we have not found any clear pattern explaining these cases.

Whenever this situation occurs, we verify that both the reader and the author followed the rules correctly, and in the vast majority of cases everything appears perfectly legitimate.

Before voting, please put yourself in the position of both an author and a reader, because on BookVillage you will eventually experience both situations: sometimes you will be the one posting reviews, and sometimes the one receiving them.

So when you vote, try to choose the option that you believe would make the overall experience of the platform as smooth as possible.

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We would like to ask the community how you would prefer us to handle these situations:

Option A – Full verification process

In this approach we would apply a strict verification process every time this situation occurs.

If a review that was previously verified disappears from Amazon, the assignment would temporarily move from Verified to Rejected, even if it had already been verified before.

At that point we would:

• contact the reader

• request proof of purchase and additional verification

• wait for screenshots and confirmations

• only after receiving the documentation we would restore the assignment or classify it differently.

In practice, this means that even in situations where we are already 99% sure that the reader operated correctly and that the issue was simply a random Amazon moderation event, the reader would still need to send documentation and go through a verification process.

During the time required for these checks, the reader could temporarily have fewer promotions available to activate, since the assignment would not be counted until the verification is completed.

Once everything is confirmed, the assignment would then be restored and counted again.

At that point we would also notify the author about the situation.

This approach guarantees the maximum level of verification, but in practice it can become somewhat stressful for users. Considering that this situation might happen once every month or every 30–45 days for active readers, it could mean that users periodically need to send screenshots, wait for assignments to be re-verified, and handle additional emails.

Since one of the goals of BookVillage is to minimize the amount of time users need to spend managing the platform, this process could make the overall experience less fluid.

If the community chooses Option A, we will also introduce a new promotion status called “Purchase Only.”

This status would identify situations where a reader did legitimately purchase the book, but the review was not accepted or later removed by Amazon.

In those cases:

• the purchase amount would still be recognized for the reader

• the review itself would not be counted

As a result, authors might also see some promotions on their books marked as “Purchase Only”, indicating that the book was purchased but the review could not be counted because of Amazon’s moderation system.

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Option B – Silent handling (with exception checks)

In this approach we would first verify the situation internally, checking that both the reader and the author operated correctly.

If everything appears legitimate and the review was previously approved and verified, we would not change the status of the assignment, even if the review later disappears from Amazon.

In other words, the assignment would remain Verified, and no action would be required from the reader.

This approach would still be correct from a fairness standpoint, because in these cases the reader did everything properly: the book was purchased, the review was submitted, and the account is operating normally without excessive reviewing activity.

The disappearance of the review therefore appears to be a random moderation event on Amazon’s side, not an issue caused by the reader.

For this reason, handling the situation silently would simply avoid asking users to repeatedly send documentation for situations that are not caused by their behavior.

We would only contact the reader or the author if we detect something unusual or inconsistent in the activity.

This approach would make the platform much smoother to use, since readers would not need to send screenshots or go through verification steps in situations where everything appears normal.

The only trade-off is that, over time, the number of reviews visible on Amazon for a book might occasionally be slightly lower than the number of reviews recorded on BookVillage, since some reviews may disappear from Amazon even though the assignment remains verified on the platform.

However, since this situation would affect users both as readers and as authors, the overall balance of the system would remain unchanged.

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Before voting, keep in mind that the substance does not change. In both cases the system will recognize that the reader acted correctly.

You are simply deciding how you would prefer these situations to be handled operationally.

Which option would you prefer?

Option A – Full Full Verification Process

Option B – Silent Handling (with exception checks)

Vote below so we can understand how the community would prefer us to handle these cases.

Option A – Full Verification Process

Option B – Silent Handling (with exception checks)

36 votes

37 comments

BookVillage Referendum #1 – How Should We Handle This?