This rumor must be squashed once and for all. Honestly, it's getting pretty exhausting on social media. I see this paranoia almost daily.

Rumor: "Jon, doesn't Amazon suspend sellers for adding product inserts? I have seen Amazon gurus say that you can't do this anymore."

Rumors are nasty things, and they ultimately hurt sellers.

Here's the truth.

Amazon actually WANTS you to add inserts with your products.

Why?

Amazon wants MORE reviews! They just want organic reviews without any manipulation. It's really that simple.

Here is what Amazon says on the matter:

1- Conditional or Manipulative Language: You cannot use phrases that steer the customer toward a specific rating.

• Examples of violations: “If you love our product, leave us a 5-star review!” or “Help our small family business by leaving a positive review.”

2- The “If/Then” Feedback Funnel: You cannot divert unhappy customers to private channels while pushing happy customers to Amazon.

• Examples of violations: “If you are happy, leave a review on Amazon. If you are unhappy, contact us directly so we can make it right.”

3- Offering Incentives or Compensation: You cannot offer any reward in exchange for a review. This includes free gifts, extended warranties tied to a review, refund offers, discounts on future purchases, or gift cards.

4- Taking Communication off Amazon: You cannot request that customers contact you outside of Amazon’s Buyer-Seller Messaging tool for order issues. Inserts cannot include external personal emails, phone numbers, or QR codes/URLs that route customers to an independent e-commerce store.

Amazon makes it crystal clear what's allowed and what is NOT. Just follow the dang rules!

Here are two recent product inserts I received, and my jaw dropped:

😨 So, the first one starts off really well but then sinks the ship the next line down haha. Thanking customers is perfectly acceptable, but their offer of "showing their love" is not! Not only is this brand manipulating the customer with a discount code, but they are also taking the customer OFF-Amazon, which is the worst sin of all.

To make matters worse, they include an email that is not Amazon Messaging. That is sin number 2.

The second insert card is a little more benign. But this one crashes pretty quickly as well. Helping customers with questions they might have is wonderful, BUT you must keep all correspondence on Amazon Messaging. Zero exceptions. This brand makes the critical mistake of bribing customers with a 12-month warranty and an offer to answer their questions.

Offering a warranty is great! Put it on your Amazon listing. Be loud and proud. Just don't put it on your insert card.

👉 Here's what you should do instead.

• Be bold. One of the best conversion rates I have seen is adding a bright red stop sign on the insert card. This is the first thing a customer sees when they open up their package. It grabs their attention immediately. Right below it is an aggressive request for a review.
• Leverage your story! Is your brand personal to you? Add your headshot and a message from the "founder." Maybe you sell kids' learning toys and a portion of your profits go to local public school teachers. Talk about that! Or maybe you run a supplement brand and part of your story is healing your body from chronic illnesses. Mention that! Pull on their heartstrings.
• Ask the question and make it easy! I always encourage my clients to add the actual URL & QR code that takes them to their Amazon app to leave a review. Make it seamless. Don't just ask for a review. Tell them where to go and make it easy!
• Remind them of why your brand stands above the rest. Mention your 12-month warranty. Mention your purity testing standards. Mention being made in the USA. Mention social media mentions! Have a low return rate? Mention that.
• BONUS HACK: When you ask for a review, you are allowed to include a 5-star graphic. As long as you are not mentioning the star rating in your text, you are good to go. This is an easy way to weaponize human psychology. You are basically telling the customer to leave you a solid review without telling them.

Ultimately, I'm telling you to study your customer. What makes them tick? What moves them? If you do this properly, your insert card will command a 5-7% review rate. Yes, you read that right. Not a typo.

Use your story. Use Canva. Use your graphic designer. Use AI. There is no excuse in 2026 for not having the most epic insert card ever.

Amazon Got MEGA Greedy. Again...

Did you really think that Amazon would stop finding new ways to extract money from 3P sellers?

Hahahahaha…

Guess what Amazon just announced?

Reviews for a fee!

How does it work?

• Customer buys your product.
• They leave a one-click star rating. No text required.
• For the truly bored, they can leave a quick review. -Your product listing must have under 1,000 reviews.

Amazon CLAIMS that sellers saw 3x more reviews during Beta testing, but who knows if that’s actually true. If it is, this will become an absolute money printer for Amazon. Imagine having access to unlimited reviews from legit customers for a fee? Brand owners, including my consulting clients, will be scrambling to PAY.

Now, the money side of things.

• You pay per click, NOT per review. I can hear the groans already.
• These campaigns will run through Amazon Ads Agent with the same ad structure you already use.

Now, the not-so-exciting news…

• This program will not give you the ability to exclude customers based on complaints or returns. Basically, if your product is not the very best, get ready for some damage. I’m warning you now. Just saying.

This opens up to most sellers in LATE October. Get your seatbelts on!