The Amazon Seller Rating system is complicated. We don’t blame you if you don’t understand it. Unfortunately, many Amazon sellers do not. A good proportion of the rating is hidden, and Amazon isn’t exactly transparent about calculating the rating. Although, we are going to try and clear a few things up on this page.

What is the Amazon Seller Rating?

Seller ratings on Amazon are how Amazon determines whether a seller is good. Amazon loves sellers that offer a good experience for their customers. Therefore, the better the seller rating, the more Amazon will promote a seller on the platform. We will talk more about this in a short while, though.

There are two types of seller ratings on Amazon.

The first rating is a hidden metric. In the past, Amazon used to give each seller a rating out of 100 based on several different factors. This was meant to show how well-rounded a seller was. Thus, the higher the rating, the better the seller was.

This metric has now disappeared from the platform. Well, you can’t see it, at least. The chances are that Amazon thought too many people were trying to gain the system. Well, that or having multiple ratings appeared too confusing for potential customers. Amazon is almost certainly still calculating everything in the background, though.

The second rating is one that both you and your customers can see. It is the % of positive feedback that you have on your Amazon account. Amazon suggests that you try to have at least a 98% positive rating.

How is the Amazon Seller Rating Calculated?

The thing with attempting to discuss the Amazon seller rating calculation is that Amazon has never explicitly said how they calculate ratings. However, the % of positive reviews a business receives will be the main factor in customers’ ratings. There will also be a lot going on behind the scenes.

Because Amazon is a customer-centric company, the bulk of the seller rating calculation will likely focus on metrics important to the customer. It includes:

• Whether you run out of stock of products before shipping, i.e., if you have to cancel orders regularly, you will have a lower seller rating.
• Whether you respond to messages quickly. Amazon suggests that you respond to all messages within 24-hours.
• The return rate on products. It could indicate low-quality products.
• How fast you ship products if you are not using Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA)

Amazon will also likely focus on your refund rate, as well as how often you update your product listings.

Nearly everything that makes a good business a good business will be factored into the seller rating. Although Amazon likes to be secretive, we cannot tell you the exact weighting of these metrics.

How Can You Improve Your Seller Ratings?

We wish that we could give you some top-secret formula that will increase your seller ratings overnight. However, we can’t. Improving your seller ratings is a slow process. It is meant to be. The Amazon seller rating is designed to find the best businesses, and it takes a while to prove that you are a good business.

The following tips by SageMailer should help you improve your seller rating, though:

• If a customer has a complaint, deal with it swiftly. Sometimes giving a free product or refund is far better than receiving a negative review.
• Make sure all of your product pages have up-to-date images and descriptions. Ensure that they tell the customer what the product is about. It will cut down on the return rate.
• Answer messages as quickly as possible. Sellers should answer in under 24 hours but, the quicker you do it, the better.
• Ship products as quickly as possible.
• Only list products on Amazon if you have stock on hand.

Just try and be the best seller that you possibly can be. It is the only way to boost your seller rating.

What Are the Benefits of an Improved Rating?

Amazon promotes products from sellers with high seller ratings. It leads to more sales for your business.

Businesses with a high rating find that they can secure that ‘buy box’ more often too. So, again, this is going to lead to an increased amount of business.

Ensuring that you have a wealth of positive reviews will also drastically increase the chances of a customer wanting to buy from you.

Everything about that seller rating is about ensuring that your business makes as much money as possible through Amazon. So naturally, therefore, only the best sellers will thrive.

Final Word

If you are selling on Amazon, you must understand that your chances of making sales will be highly dependent on your Amazon seller rating. The better the rating, the more money you will be able to make through the platform. So do the best possible job as a seller, and we are optimistic those sales will roll in rather quickly.