Quick answer
Use Buyer-Seller Messaging when you need to handle a real order issue, answer a customer-service question, or get information needed to complete an order. Use Request a Review for eligible orders when the goal is a neutral Amazon review request. Do not turn support messages into review persuasion, incentives, or selective follow-up.
Many Amazon sellers blur these two workflows because both touch post-purchase follow-up. That creates messy operations. A support message has a customer-service purpose. A review request should be neutral, repeatable, and tied to Amazon's official request path.
The cleaner habit is to separate the lanes before anyone clicks send. If the buyer needs help, route the order to support. If the order is eligible for review follow-up, use Amazon's official Request a Review workflow and keep a record of the outcome.
Which workflow should sellers use?
| Situation | Use this workflow | Why |
|---|---|---|
| The buyer has a delivery, address, item, refund, return, or customer-service question. | Buyer-Seller Messaging | The job is support, not review follow-up. |
| The order is delivered, eligible, and ready for neutral review follow-up. | Request a Review | Amazon sends the standardized request through the official workflow. |
| The seller wants to ask only buyers who seem happy. | Neither | Review follow-up should not depend on expected review sentiment. |
| The seller wants to offer a refund, discount, gift, or benefit for a review. | Neither | Keep incentives and benefits out of review requests. |
Use Buyer-Seller Messaging for support
Buyer-Seller Messaging is useful when the seller needs to resolve something about the order. That might mean answering a customer-service question, clarifying information needed to complete an order, or handling a real fulfillment issue.
- Use it when there is a specific order or service reason to contact the buyer.
- Keep the message focused on resolving the issue.
- Do not add review language to a support message.
- Do not ask for a positive review, a changed review, or a preferred outcome.
Operator rule
If the message would still make sense without any review goal, it probably belongs in support. If the goal is review follow-up, use the official Request a Review workflow instead.
Use Request a Review for review follow-up
Request a Review is the workflow to use when the seller is asking for feedback through Amazon's standardized review request path. The seller is not writing custom buyer persuasion. The seller is running a neutral request for eligible orders and letting the buyer decide what to do.
- Start with recently delivered orders.
- Confirm the order can still use Amazon's official request workflow.
- Remove orders that were already requested or belong in support, refund, or return workflows.
- Apply the same timing rule across eligible orders.
- Send the official Amazon review request and log the result.
Do not mix support and review requests
Mixing the two workflows is where sellers usually create avoidable risk and confusion. A support thread should not become a review request. A review request queue should not become a place to judge whether the buyer seems satisfied.
- Do not send custom review requests through support messages.
- Do not offer benefits in exchange for reviews.
- Do not ask only buyers who had a smooth support experience.
- Do not route unhappy buyers away from normal review options.
- Do not ask buyers to change or remove negative feedback in a review request workflow.
A cleaner weekly checklist
A simple checklist keeps the operator from deciding every order from scratch:
- Review open buyer messages and support cases first.
- Move unresolved order issues out of the review request queue.
- Build a list of delivered orders that may be ready for Request a Review.
- Filter for eligibility, timing, and already-requested orders.
- Bulk send official Amazon review requests for eligible orders.
- Record sent, skipped, failed, and support-routed orders.
What to track
| Record | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Sent requests | Shows which eligible orders already received the official request. |
| Skipped orders | Explains whether an order was not delivered, already requested, outside the window, or not eligible. |
| Support-routed orders | Keeps customer-service issues out of review follow-up. |
| Failed requests | Gives the operator a retry or account-access checklist instead of a mystery backlog. |
How ReviewOps fits
ReviewOps helps Amazon sellers run the Request a Review lane without living in Seller Central. Sellers can find eligible orders, bulk send official Amazon review requests, schedule neutral request windows, and keep a clear history of sent, skipped, failed, and already-handled orders across connected accounts.
Keep support and review requests in separate lanes
ReviewOps helps sellers reduce manual admin around eligible Amazon review requests without incentives, review gating, or custom buyer persuasion.
Open ReviewOpsRelated guides: Request a Review button workflow, review request compliance checklist, and seller feedback workflow for review requests.