Showing Amazon reviews on your store, honestly

The rule in short

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials (16 CFR Part 465) took effect on 21 October 2024. Among other things it bans fake reviews, buying reviews, and two kinds of review suppression. The one that matters here: implying that the reviews you display represent most or all of the reviews you received, when you've hidden some because of their rating or negative tone. The FTC can seek civil penalties for each violation.

Other countries have their own consumer-protection rules on reviews, including the UK and the EU. The habits below are a sensible baseline wherever you sell.

Six habits that keep you clear

1. Same product onlyShow the reviews of the exact product on the page: same model, and the same variant where it matters (size, capacity, edition). Reviews of a similar product, an older model or a different item are "review hijacking". In the FTC's first case on it, in 2023, a supplement maker paid $600,000 for passing reviews of established products off as reviews of new ones.
2. Show the real mixIf you show a sample, sample across all ratings in the same proportion as on Amazon. A wall of 5-star reviews under a product rated 3.9 on Amazon is the textbook problem.
3. Label the sourceEvery review should say it came from Amazon, so shoppers know they're not reviews written on your store.
4. Don't change what reviewers saidNo rewording, no changed ratings, no new names. Fixing a broken character is fine; changing meaning isn't.
5. Hide only for good reasonsSpam, offensive content, personal information, a review about a different product, a duplicate, or a legal request. "It's negative" isn't one of them.
6. Never write or buy reviewsIncluding reviews from staff, friends or family without a clear disclosure, and reviews offered in exchange for a discount on the condition they're positive.

How Amazon Review Sync handles this

We built the app around these habits:

• Star mix. The optional Chrome extension reads the product's star breakdown on Amazon and picks reviews in the same proportions. If one star level is scarce, it collects fewer reviews overall rather than skewing the mix.
• Source on every card. Each review shows where it came from, like "Verified purchase on Amazon". You can hide the date or the verified label, not the source.
• Hiding needs a reason. Spam or fake, not about this product, offensive, personal information, duplicate, or legal request. There's no option to hide a review for its rating.
• Edits are visible to you and reversible. If you do edit a review, the original is kept, the review is marked as edited in your admin, and you can restore it. The app warns you that changing what a reviewer said can break consumer law.
• AI summaries are labelled. The optional summary says it's AI-generated and from how many reviews, and you can't edit it, only turn it off.

A quick checklist before you publish

• The reviews are for the exact product on the page.
• The reviews on the page come from every star level, roughly in Amazon's proportions.
• Each review says it's from Amazon.
• The text and ratings are the reviewers' own.
• Every hidden review has a reason you'd be comfortable explaining.
• Nothing on the page suggests these are all the reviews if they're a sample.

Read the FTC's own plain-language summary: The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers.