IMPORTANT UPDATE – ABOUT AMAZON REVIEWS REMOVAL · BookVillage

IMPORTANT UPDATE – ABOUT AMAZON REVIEWS REMOVAL

A few weeks ago, we ran a referendum to decide how to handle cases where Amazon does not approve some reviews, even when they are posted by users we already verified as operating correctly.

Even though those cases were still relatively isolated, I spent time analyzing the situation in depth. As always, the goal is to give you early signals and solutions before problems scale.

Using Verified Paid Purchase reviews on ebooks is still safer than non-verified reviews. That hasn’t changed.

What has changed is that Amazon is now giving more weight to the overall behavior of the account, especially its purchase history.

When a review is not approved or gets removed, you should treat it as a silent warning.

If your goal is to use the same account long-term (50, 100+ reviews), relying only on ebook reviews, even verified ones, may no longer be enough.

From what we’re seeing, the most stable accounts are the ones that behave like real Amazon users:

• they occasionally buy physical products

• they use a real delivery address

• they sometimes leave verified reviews on those products

Even small purchases are enough. What matters is showing Amazon that there’s a real person behind the account.

On the other hand, accounts used almost only for ebooks are more likely to run into issues over time.

So in practice, this is what you should do:

• don’t use your account only for ebooks

• make regular physical purchases (even low-cost items)

• aim for about 1 physical purchase every ~20 ebook reviews (or every month)

• use your real delivery address

• avoid posting too many reviews in a short time

• never have more than 2 reviews pending at the same time

Also avoid repetitive patterns:

• don’t always buy ebooks at the same price

• don’t always post reviews on the same days

👉 The goal is simple: don’t look like a system

To keep everything smooth, make sure your Amazon reviewer profile is public, so we can easily verify that your activity remains balanced. Otherwise, we may occasionally need to request additional checks.

Looking ahead, we’ll also introduce Verified Paid Purchase reviews for paperback versions, which will make this much easier.

One last important point.

If we detect an unusually high percentage of review removals, combined with these guidelines not being followed, some assignments may be marked as rejected, even if they were originally verified as Verified Paid Purchase.

This is necessary to maintain the level of stability BookVillage is built on.

If we are already starting to see these patterns even on a platform with high safety standards like BookVillage, you can imagine what is happening on other platforms and services with much lower levels of control.

Shortcuts are becoming less and less sustainable.

And this trend will only continue.

The advantage is that those of you who have already chosen to operate in a clean and structured way will be in a much stronger position moving forward.

We’re sharing this now while the issue is still at an early stage.