Amazon allows sellers to include product inserts inside their packaging — but only if those inserts follow strict rules designed to protect customers and preserve review integrity.
Amazon’s guidance on inserts lives across multiple places (Seller Forums, Seller Central policies, training videos, and packaging resources). While these sources occasionally sound inconsistent, the underlying intent is clear and consistently enforced:
Product inserts may support customers and your brand — but may never manipulate reviews or pressure customers.
What Is a Product Insert?
A product insert is any physical material included inside your Amazon shipment, such as:
Thank-you cards
Product instructions or setup guides
Warranty or safety information
Brand storytelling or educational marketing
Inserts must remain informational and neutral. Anything that attempts to influence reviews or redirect customers improperly violates policy.
Where Amazon’s Guidance Comes From
Amazon’s position on product inserts is shaped by several sources.
Seller Forum
Seller Code of Contact
Insert Guideline Video
Amazon Product Packaging Guideline
Amazon Case Logs
Seller Forum guidance from Amazon representatives
Explicitly Approved:
✅ Thank You Cards
✅ Connecting with your customers
✅ Brand awareness and marketing
✅ Product information/Product Guides
Explicitly Not Approved:
❌ No Telling the customer what to say about the product in a review
❌ No Telling the customer how to rate the product
❌ No giving the customer $$ in exchange for a review
❌ No messaging the customer outside of Amazon
Intent derived from this article:
Encourages sellers to thank customers with product inserts for retention and reviews
Don’t manipulate reviews
Don’t take customers from Amazon
Reality of Enforcement
Most brands (90%+) use inserts to sign customers up for a newsletter, and Amazon can’t do much about that as sellers customers go out of their way to manual opt-in.
Amazon is very strict about review manipulation
Selling Policies & Seller Code of Conduct
Note on this: This article is about what you can do over the ENTIRE ecosystem. Meaning that product inserts aren’t specifically relevant to what this article says.
View Detailed Screenshots
View Detailed Screenshots
Don’t:
Reimburse customers for purchasing items
Manipulate reviews
Pay for reviews (good or bad)
Manipulate reviews
Send messages that are unsolicited or market to Amazon customers.
Save order information from Amazon about your customers
Send customers to Shopify/other sites
Intent derived from this article:
Don’t manipulate reviews
Don’t take customers from Amazon
Reality of Enforcement
Amazon is more strict in these terms as they are for on-site as well. They’re not apples to apples based on what’s on your product.
Seller University Compliance Training
Explicitly Approved:
✅ Thank You Cards
✅ Connecting with your customers
✅ Brand awareness and marketing
✅ Product information/Product Guides
Implicitly Approved through Imaging:
✅ Emailing
✅ Connecting with your customers
✅ Discounts
Explicitly Not Approved:
❌ No Telling the customer what to say about the product in a review
❌ No Telling the customer how to rate the product
❌ No giving the customer $$ in exchange for a review
❌ No messaging the customer outside of Amazon
Reality of Enforcement
Most brands (90%+) use inserts to sign customers up for a newsletter, and Amazon can’t do much about that as sellers customers go out of their way to manual opt-in.
Amazon is very strict about review manipulation
Amazon Packaging Resources
Explicitly Approved:
✅ Thank You Cards
✅ Connecting with your customers
✅ Brand awareness and marketing
✅ QR with discount
✅ QR cross selling to Shopify
Reality of Enforcement:
Have not found cases (yet) despite other guidelines indicating this isn’t allowed, where a seller has been taken down for this.
This seems to be the most accurate.
Amazon Case Logs
Explicitly Approved:
✅ Thank You Cards with Discounts
✅ Thank You Cards with Review Links
✅ Connecting with your customers
✅ Brand awareness and marketing
✅ Product information/Product Guides
Explicitly Not Approved:
❌ No Telling the customer what to say about the product in a review
❌ No Telling the customer how to rate the product
❌ No giving the customer $$ in exchange for a review
❌ No messaging the customer outside of Amazon
Taken together, these make Amazon’s priorities very clear — even when wording differs.
To Summarize
✅ Explicitly Allowed Product Insert Content
Amazon allows inserts that add value without influencing reviews, including:
✔ Thank-you cards
✔ Brand awareness and marketing
✔ Product information or instructions
✔ Product guides and educational content
✔ Neutral ways of connecting with customers
These inserts should feel helpful, not persuasive.
❌ Explicitly Prohibited Product Insert Content
Amazon strictly prohibits inserts that attempt to influence customer reviews or bypass Amazon systems.
Do not include:
❌ Instructions telling customers what to say in a review
❌ Requests telling customers how to rate your product
❌ Discounts, refunds, gifts, or money in exchange for reviews
❌ Requests to message the seller outside Amazon without proper opt-in
These violations are among the most common causes of listing takedowns and account warnings.
Review Manipulation: Amazon’s Hard Line
Amazon is especially aggressive about review manipulation.
Even subtle phrasing — like encouraging “positive feedback” or highlighting 5-star ratings — can result in enforcement action.
Best practice:
If your insert references reviews at all, keep the language completely neutral:
Thanks for scanning! We'd love to hear your feedback.
We'd love to hear your feedback. 100% optional, always appreciated.
Thanks for your support! Your feedback helps us grow.
Reality of Enforcement
In practice:
Most brands include inserts encouraging newsletter signups or education
Amazon generally allows this when customers manually opt in
Amazon consistently enforces against review manipulation
To reduce risk:
Use neutral, customer-first language
Avoid mentioning star ratings or “positive” reviews
Never tie incentives to feedback
Keep opt-ins voluntary and transparent
Frame inserts as product support, not performance requests
TL;DR
✅ Product inserts are allowed
❌ Review manipulation is not
⚠ Language matters more than intent
📦 Product education and brand storytelling are safe