Both can ask for a review, but they're not the same tool — and they don't carry the same risk. Here's when to use Amazon's Request a Review button vs Buyer-Seller Messaging.
Amazon gives sellers two very different ways to reach a buyer after a sale, and they get confused constantly. One is a fixed, one-click solicitation Amazon sends on your behalf. The other is a flexible message you write yourself. Both can lead to a review — but they don't carry the same risk, and they're not meant for the same job.
Request a Review: Amazon's standardized ask
Request a Review is Amazon's own button. One click (or one API call) sends a fixed message asking for a product review and seller feedback, translated into the buyer's language. You can't change a word of it, you can't attach anything, and it can only go out once per order inside the 5–30 day post-delivery window. Because it's Amazon's message, there's nothing in it to violate — no incentives, no selectivity, no editorializing.
The trade-off is control: you get none. But for the specific job of “ask every customer for a review, safely,” that lack of control is the whole point.
Buyer-Seller Messaging: your own message
Buyer-Seller Messaging (BSM) is the system for communicating with a customer about their order — shipping questions, problem resolution, fulfillment details. You write the content, so it's flexible. But that flexibility comes with rules and risk:
- It's meant for order-related communication, not marketing. Amazon increasingly restricts promotional or unnecessary messages.
- Buyers can opt out of unsolicited messages entirely — and many have.
- Using it to pressure for reviews, or to selectively chase happy customers, can trigger warnings or worse.
- You're responsible for every word, which means you're responsible for every compliance mistake.
Which should you use for reviews?
For the purpose of getting reviews, Request a Review wins for almost everyone. It's safer (nothing to violate), it's simpler (no copy to write or maintain), it reaches buyers who've opted out of marketing messages, and it can be fully automated through the Solicitations API. BSM is the right tool when you genuinely need to communicate — resolve a problem, answer a question — not when you just want to ask for a review.
Many older review tools lean on BSM campaigns because that's how the category worked before the Request a Review button existed. It still works, but it's the higher-risk path, and Amazon has been narrowing it for years.
We made the simple choice: official Request a Review only, automated for every eligible order, no buyer-seller messaging in the loop — and your real profit per product alongside it, for $19/mo flat. See the Review plan →