Reviews disappearing on Amazon???

[Jill]

I have had several people (whom I don't know) contact me and tell me they can't leave reviews on Amazon for my book(s). First off, they are verified purchases. Some say they did get my book free during a promotion, but the others were actually paid purchases. Two of which, the actual reviews have disappeared several times the next day. They have PM me and asked me how to fix this... Amazon says it isn't happening and sent me a canned message which was no help. Has anyone experienced this??? Please help... People are thinking I am removing these reviews myself..

Any thoughts or hints as to fix this would be appreciated.

Thanks..

--Jill

[Tracie]

First off, tell your readers that authors are unable to remove reviews from Amazon. They can request that Amazon remove them if they are abusive or offensive, but the removal of reviews is at Amazon's discretion.

Then have the readers contact Amazon and ask them directly why their reviews have been removed (although they probably won't get much more sense out of Amazon than you did). If it's a glitch, Amazon will (probably) fix it. Don't expect anything other than canned messages from the help desk - Amazon staff are specifically instructed to only use cut-and-paste explanations.

Some reasons why Amazon could be removing them deliberately - their algorithms (it's all automated) give them reason to believe that the reviews are less than honest. Some triggers might be -
- the reviewer coincidentally has the same last name as you (family members aren't allowed to review).
- you've reviewed one of their books, and they're now reviewing one of yours (you're no longer allowed to review swap).
- there was some phrasing in the review that led the Amazon bots to erroneously think that you'd paid for the review (you guessed it - not allowed).

Unfortunately, you can't argue with Amazon, and persistent attempts at having reviews reinstated could result in getting banned from Amazon (I've heard rumours of other authors being threatened with this). I think the best you can hope for is to convince readers that the removal of reviews is Amazon's doing, not yours.

[Pat]

Do you know if Amazon is doing this to all authors, including those with a traditional publisher?

[Jill]

Hi Pat, I don't. Are you having reviews disappear?

[Pat]

No, I haven't had any disappear, but I am going to google and see what I can fine out.

[Pat]

http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php...

Well that was fast. Here's some discussion of it that explains a little bit, although nobody really understands exactly what rules Amzon is using.
They are hitting both independent and published authors though and good reviews.
I think they should spend a little more time on the 'bad' reviews that are obviously faked.
I can't complain too much; Amazon has made me some money and got my books out.