Amazon product insert rules, in plain English
Inserts are allowed. The trouble is that the useful-sounding ideas are the ones that get accounts actioned. Here is where the line actually sits.
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The short version: you may thank a buyer and ask for an honest review. You may not offer them anything for it, and you may not try to change what they write. Everything else follows from those two sentences.
What you are allowed to do
Amazon has no objection to a card in the packaging. Sellers have used them for years, and the permitted uses are broader than most people assume:
- Thank the customer for their order.
- Ask for an honest review — the word “honest” is doing real work there.
- Give support or contact details.
- Register a warranty, or point to a how-to video or user manual.
- Use a QR code to reach any of the above.
What gets accounts actioned
The prohibited list is shorter, but every item on it is something a seller might do without realising it is a violation:
- Asking for a positive review. “If you love it, leave us five stars” is an attempt to influence the rating. “Tell us honestly how we did” is not.
- Offering anything in exchange. Discounts, gift cards, free replacements, entry into a prize draw. All of it counts, even if the offer is open to everyone regardless of what they write.
- Review gating. Asking how satisfied someone is, then sending the happy ones to the review page and the unhappy ones to a private form. We covered this separately because it is the one most tools get wrong.
- Diverting complaints. Asking a dissatisfied buyer to contact you instead of reviewing is explicitly prohibited.
- Capturing emails for marketing. An insert that exists to build a mailing list is taking the customer off-platform, which is a separate problem from the review policy and just as actionable.
Where most sellers actually go wrong
Not with a deliberate scheme. It is usually one of two habits. The first is wording: a card that says “leave us a 5-star review” reads as friendly and is a policy violation. The second is buying an insert tool that gates reviews by default, and never looking at what it does, because the dashboard only shows the good reviews arriving.
Does the QR code help?
It does. In one published test, insert cards with a QR code drew around 15% more responses than the same card carrying only a printed web address. That is not surprising — a code removes the step where somebody has to type a URL into a phone with one hand while holding a box with the other.
The practical constraint is size. A QR code holds a web address, and a longer address makes a denser grid. A dense grid on a small card, in a poorly lit hallway, is the one that fails to scan. Short web address, roughly 2cm of printed code, error correction on.
A card that stays inside the rules
Concretely, the safe version of an insert says something close to this:
Thanks for your order. If you have a minute, scan the code and tell us honestly how we did — good or bad, we read all of it.
No number of stars mentioned. Nothing offered. No suggestion that unhappy customers should go somewhere other than where happy ones go.
Questions
Are product inserts allowed on Amazon?
Yes. Amazon permits an insert that thanks the customer, provides support information, or asks for an honest review. What it prohibits is incentives, review gating and anything that tries to influence what the review says.
Can I put a QR code on an Amazon insert?
Yes, if the destination is allowed. Support pages, warranty registration, how-to videos and pages that guide a customer to leave a review are all acceptable. Email capture for marketing, off-Amazon discounts, and pages that route only happy buyers to the review page are not.
Can I offer a free gift for a review?
No. Offering compensation of any kind in exchange for a review is one of the clearest violations of Amazon’s Customer Product Reviews policy, and it is enforced.
Can I ask an unhappy customer to contact me instead of leaving a review?
No. Amazon prohibits this specifically. You may show your contact details to every customer, but you may not present contacting you as an alternative to reviewing.
What size should an Amazon product insert be?
Most sellers use something close to a business card or postcard. There is no Amazon rule on size — the constraint is the QR code, which needs roughly 2cm of clear space to scan reliably in poor light.
Can I include a discount code for a future order?
A discount that is not tied to leaving a review is a different matter from a review incentive, but it still risks looking like an attempt to take the customer off-platform. If you use one, never mention it in the same breath as a review.
Does Amazon check what is printed on inserts?
Not systematically, but buyers report them and Amazon acts on reports. Enforcement is usually triggered by a complaint rather than an audit, which is why a card that looks harmless can sit in boxes for months before it causes a problem.
One caveat
This is a plain-English summary written by a software company, not legal advice, and marketplace policies change without much announcement. Before you commit to a print run, read the current Customer Product Reviews policy and the Communication Guidelines in your own Seller Central account. A wrong card is expensive precisely because you ordered ten thousand of them.
A card that cannot break the rule
Monact has no setting for review gating — every buyer sees the same screens in the same order, whatever they answer. Free plan, print-ready PDF in minutes.