What changed
Paid campaign that invites recent buyers to rate or review a product on Amazon
When
Announced September 29, 2026; US open beta set for late October 2026
Who it affects
US sellers and vendors in good standing, products under 1,000 ratings and reviews
What to do
Check Ads Agent for access and test one ASIN against a control

Key takeaways

  • Review Requests ads target products under 1,000 ratings and reviews, and Amazon has published no price.
  • Judge the ad on cost per incremental rating, not raw cost per review.
  • Test one ASIN against a control for four weeks with a stop rule set in advance.

Review Requests so far

  1. Closed US test

  2. Amazon announces Review Requests

  3. US open beta window on Amazon's page

  4. Month named in unBoxed coverage, per SellerVine

  5. Other marketplaces planned

What Amazon announced, and what is still unclear

Amazon Ads announced Review Requests on September 29, 2026. Campaigns run in Amazon Ads Agent or the Unified API, with the same bid and budget controls as other campaigns. Eligibility is checked at setup and during the campaign, the advertiser needs good standing with no active policy violations, and campaigns pause automatically at 1,000 ratings and reviews. The US is first, and other marketplaces have no dates.

Availability is the first open question. Amazon's launch page says late October, while SellerVine notes that Amazon's unBoxed article names November, and reads that as a possible phased rollout. We found no Amazon statement that the beta is live for every account, so look in Ads Agent or ask your account team. Keep Amazon's headline claim in proportion too: three times as many ratings and reviews per week in a closed US test from June 3 to 21, 2026, from internal data. PPC Land notes that sample size, spend and categories were not published, and we saw no control group described.

What it costs, as far as anyone knows

Amazon has not published pricing. UNITIX reports cost per click, charged when a shopper clicks into the review flow, with a $0.75 default bid and a $100 default daily budget in a demo. It also reports a prompt shown at least 7 days after delivery. Those are reports of a demo, not Amazon price terms. Steven Pope of My Amazon Guy made the key point: "We have no information on whether that is guaranteed." If billing is per click, you pay whether or not the buyer rates, and whatever star they choose.

So what: you are buying the difference, not the review

Most coverage asks whether the ad works. The better question is what it adds. The free Request a Review button still exists, and Amazon has not said that is changing. So a paid prompt also reaches buyers who might have rated anyway. Use this formula: spend divided by ratings above your expected baseline, after subtracting any change on a similar control product.

It also moves review work into the ad budget, as Jonny Golding noted in PPC Land's coverage. Give this spend its own line, or it will quietly inflate ACoS with no sale attached.

Worked example with illustrative numbers

These numbers are invented to show the math. A $30 product with $10 contribution before ads earns 5 ratings a week, so 20 are expected over four weeks. You spend $20 a day, or $560, and get 60 ratings. Raw cost is $9.33 each. Incremental ratings are 40, so the real cost is $14 each, assuming the control product stayed flat.

To repay $560 you need 56 extra units at $10 each. At 9,000 sessions a month and 10% conversion, that is 900 units, so conversion must rise to about 10.6% for one month, or stay up by a smaller amount for longer.

Now compare Amazon Vine. The 11 to 30 unit tier costs $200 per parent product. If 30 units cost you $12 each, the total is $560, and 20 reviews would be $28 each. Vine also has a limit of fewer than 30 reviews, so it suits launches, while the ad covers the long stretch from 30 to 1,000.

Three ways to ask for a rating

Request a ReviewVineReview Requests
CostFree$0 to $200 plus unitsNot published
ReachOne email per orderUp to 30 unitsRecent buyers on Amazon
Limit5 to 30 days after deliveryUnder 30 reviewsUnder 1,000 ratings

What sellers should do

  • PPC manager: confirm access in Amazon Ads Agent, or ask your account team. Metric: a yes or no, plus the billing terms shown in your own account.
  • Brand manager: choose one ASIN at 4.3 stars or better with steady sales and fewer than 1,000 ratings, plus one similar control ASIN. Metric: both have eight weeks of ratings history.
  • Operations: keep the free Request a Review routine and all other review activity unchanged on both ASINs. Metric: no new inserts or email changes during the test.
  • PPC manager: start at a small fixed budget for four weeks, with a separate campaign name and budget line from your Amazon PPC management work. Metric: spend stays separate from sales campaigns.
  • Analyst: calculate cost per incremental rating with the formula above, and record average stars and written reviews separately. Metric: a single dollar figure, plus any change in star average.
  • Brand manager: set a stop rule before launch, such as pausing if the average falls or cost passes your payback limit. Metric: the decision is made from the rule, not by feel.
  • Compliance owner: do not route unhappy buyers away from a review, since reports say review gating stays banned. Metric: no such language in any buyer message.

Clean test setup

  • Confirm access in Ads Agent
  • Pick one test and one control ASIN
  • Freeze other review activity
  • Keep spend in its own line
  • Set a stop rule first
  • Measure cost per incremental rating

When this does not apply

Skip it if your product sits under about 4.0 stars, since more ratings can lock in a weak score. Fix the product first. Skip it at 1,000 or more ratings, since you are not eligible. Use Vine first on a new ASIN with few reviews. Low-volume ASINs have too few recent buyers for the ad to reach, and the test will not read clearly. Outside the US it is not available yet.

Where PPC Spider helps

We set targets from margin after fees, so non-sales spend like this gets its own payback rule. See our Sponsored Products guide, the unBoxed 2026 announcements and the Amazon advertising news channel, or request a free Amazon audit.

Sources

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