Asking a buyer to leave a review is completely fine on Etsy. Offering them something in exchange for a positive one is not, and the line between those two things is narrower than most sellers assume.
New and established sellers alike often avoid asking for reviews at all, worried they’ll accidentally violate a policy. The reality is more permissive than that fear suggests, but the specific line matters, this guide covers exactly what Etsy allows, what it prohibits, and what the FTC’s separate rules add on top.
Table of Contents
- The Short Answer
- What Etsy Explicitly Prohibits
- What Etsy Explicitly Allows
- The One Real Exception
- FTC Rules That Apply on Top of Etsy’s Policy
- How to Ask for Reviews the Right Way
- Review Request Timing and Frequency
- What Happens If You Cross the Line
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Key Takeaways
- The Bottom Line
The Short Answer
Yes, you can ask Etsy buyers to leave a review. A simple, neutral request, in a packaging insert, a post-purchase message, or a follow-up note, is standard practice and doesn’t violate any Etsy policy.
What you cannot do is offer compensation in exchange for a review, especially a positive one. That’s where a reasonable, common practice turns into a policy violation, and it’s a distinction worth understanding precisely rather than avoiding review requests altogether out of caution.
What Etsy Explicitly Prohibits
Etsy’s Extortion policy explicitly prohibits sellers from offering a buyer “additional goods, services, or compensation in exchange for a positive review.” This covers:
- Offering a discount, free item, or refund specifically conditioned on leaving a positive review
- Threatening a negative consequence (canceling an order, withholding a promised item) if a buyer doesn’t leave a positive review
- Asking a buyer to remove or change a negative review in exchange for compensation
Separately, Etsy’s Shilling policy prohibits compensating a third party, through free items, samples, cash, or other compensation, to purchase and leave a biased or inauthentic review. This closes the loophole some sellers might otherwise consider: paying someone unconnected to a real purchase to leave a fake positive review.
Both of these are enforced against genuinely inauthentic behavior, not against the simple act of asking someone who already bought something to share their honest opinion.
What Etsy Explicitly Allows
- Asking a buyer, without any condition attached, to leave a review sharing their honest experience
- Including a polite review request in a packaging insert, thank-you card, or post-purchase message
- Reminding a buyer that reviews help other shoppers and support your small business, general, unconditioned messaging
- Responding professionally to reviews, including negative ones, without offering compensation to change them
The One Real Exception
There is a narrow, explicitly permitted exception within Etsy’s policy: a buyer can receive an incentive tied to reviewing only if that incentive is available to all buyers, regardless of what they write. A discount on a future purchase offered to every customer who leaves any review, positive, neutral, or negative, falls within this exception, because it’s not conditioned on the review’s content.
The distinguishing question is always the same: is this reward tied to what the review says, or is it offered equally regardless of the review’s content? If it’s the former, it’s prohibited. If it’s genuinely the latter, it’s allowed.
FTC Rules That Apply on Top of Etsy’s Policy
Etsy’s policy is not the only rule that applies here. The Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides set separate, federal-level requirements around reviews and endorsements that apply to any business, including individual Etsy shops:
- Businesses should not ask for reviews only from buyers likely to leave a positive one, or discourage negative reviews specifically while encouraging positive ones.
- Any material connection between a reviewer and the seller (free products, discounts, family relationships) that could affect the credibility of a review should be disclosed.
- Per the FTC’s own guidance on frequently asked questions about these rules, knowing violations carry real civil penalty exposure, a sign these are not merely suggested best practices.
This section summarizes general regulatory guidance and is not legal advice, consult a qualified professional for guidance specific to your business, and review the FTC’s current guidance directly for the most up-to-date requirements.
How to Ask for Reviews the Right Way
1. Keep the request neutral and unconditioned. “If you have a moment, I’d really appreciate an honest review, it helps a small shop like mine a lot” is fine. “Leave a 5-star review and I’ll send you a discount code” is not.
2. Use a packaging insert or thank-you card. A small printed card included with the order, thanking the buyer and mentioning that reviews help your shop, is one of the most common and lowest-friction ways to prompt a review without pressuring anyone.
3. Send a single, well-timed follow-up message after the item has had time to arrive and be used or opened, not immediately at checkout, when the buyer hasn’t experienced the product yet.
4. Never ask only your happiest customers. Sending review requests selectively to buyers you expect to leave positive feedback, while skipping buyers who seemed less satisfied, runs against the spirit of the FTC’s guidance around soliciting only likely-positive reviews.
5. Make it easy, not naggy. One clear, polite request is far more effective than repeated follow-up messages pushing for a review, the latter can read as pressure rather than a simple ask.
Review Request Timing and Frequency
Send a review request once, at a reasonable point after delivery, enough time for the buyer to have actually received and, ideally, used the item, but not so long that the purchase has faded from memory. For most physical products, this lands somewhere between one and three weeks after delivery.
Etsy buyers can leave a review, including photos or video, within 100 days of delivery (or the estimated delivery date, if tracking isn’t available), so there’s a reasonably wide window, no need to rush a request the moment an order ships.
A well-presented shop naturally earns more of these honest reviews in the first place, see our shop presentation checklist and our banner design guide for the presentation fundamentals that build the buyer trust reviews depend on.
What Happens If You Cross the Line
Etsy can remove reviews it determines were solicited in violation of policy, and repeated or serious violations can result in listing removal or account-level enforcement action. Beyond the platform-level consequence, review manipulation, even well-intentioned, undermines the actual purpose of a review system: giving future buyers an honest signal. A shop built on inflated or manipulated reviews is more exposed when real buyer expectations don’t match what those reviews implied.
Example Review Request Templates
Seeing the actual wording side by side makes the compliant/non-compliant line easier to apply than the general rule alone. All three of these are unconditioned, meaning nothing is offered in exchange for what the buyer writes.
Packaging insert card:
“Thank you for supporting a small shop! If you have a moment after your item arrives, an honest review, good or bad, helps other buyers and means a lot to us.”
Post-purchase follow-up message (sent 10-14 days after delivery):
“Hi [name], I hope [item] arrived safely and you’re enjoying it. If you have a couple of minutes, I’d really appreciate a review sharing your honest experience. It genuinely helps a small shop like mine get found by other buyers.”
A compliant version of an incentive (offered to every reviewer, not conditioned on content):
“As a thank-you to everyone who takes the time to leave any review on their order, we send a 10% off code for your next purchase, regardless of what the review says.”
Compare that last one against a version that crosses the line: “Leave us a 5-star review and we’ll send you 10% off your next order.” The difference is a single word’s worth of framing, “any review” versus “a 5-star review”, but it’s the entire distinction between Etsy’s permitted exception and a policy violation. When drafting a message, it helps to read it back and ask specifically whether a buyer who left a 2-star review would still qualify for whatever is being offered; if the answer is no, the message needs to be reworded before it goes out.
Common Mistakes Sellers Make When Asking for Reviews
Wording the request as a conditional even by accident. Phrases like “we’d love a 5-star review” or “let us know if everything is perfect” nudge toward a specific outcome rather than an honest one, even without an explicit reward attached, and can read as solicitation of positive-only feedback under FTC guidance.
Sending the request before the buyer has actually used the item. A review request sent the moment an order ships, before the buyer has even received it, produces either no response or a rushed, low-detail review, since there’s nothing meaningful to report on yet.
Following up more than once. A second or third reminder message about a missing review, however politely worded, shifts from an invitation into something that reads as pressure, and pressure undermines exactly the honest, unprompted quality that makes a review useful to other shoppers.
Treating the incentive exception as more flexible than it is. Some sellers assume a small, cheap freebie is fine as long as it’s not explicitly tied to a positive review in writing, but the actual test is whether every reviewer gets it regardless of content, not whether the connection to positivity is stated outright. An unstated but obvious expectation carries the same risk as an explicit one.
Forgetting the FTC layer entirely. Sellers who carefully follow Etsy’s Extortion and Shilling policies sometimes still violate FTC disclosure rules by, for example, giving free products to friends or family who then leave undisclosed reviews. Etsy compliance and FTC compliance are two separate checks, not one.
Assuming a review request needs to sound formal to be compliant. Some sellers over-correct once they learn the rules and end up writing stiff, legalistic requests out of caution. Neither Etsy’s policy nor the FTC’s guidance requires formal language, only that the request itself is unconditioned and that any incentive offered applies regardless of content. A short, warm, plainly worded request is just as compliant as a longer, more formal one, and it tends to get a better response from buyers besides.
Running through this list before sending a batch of review-request messages for the first time takes a few minutes and catches most of the accidental missteps sellers make, since almost none of them come from bad intent, they come from wording a reasonable request in a way that happens to cross a line the seller didn’t know was there.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I offer a discount code to any buyer who leaves a review?
Only if the discount is offered to every buyer who leaves a review, regardless of what they write, positive, neutral, or negative. Conditioning the discount specifically on a positive review violates Etsy’s Extortion policy.
Is it okay to include a review request card in my packaging?
Yes, as long as the request is neutral and doesn’t offer compensation conditioned on the review’s content. A polite, unconditioned thank-you card asking for an honest review is standard, widely used practice.
Can I ask a buyer to change or remove a negative review?
You can respond professionally and address any legitimate issue the buyer raised, but you cannot offer compensation in exchange for removing or changing a negative review, that falls under Etsy’s Extortion policy regardless of how the request is worded.
What’s the difference between Etsy’s Shilling policy and Extortion policy as they relate to reviews?
The Extortion policy covers offering a buyer something in exchange for a positive review on their own purchase. The Shilling policy covers a separate scenario: compensating a third party to purchase an item and leave a fake or biased review, effectively manufacturing reviews rather than requesting honest ones from real buyers.
Do FTC rules apply to small individual Etsy shops, or just large businesses?
The FTC’s Endorsement Guides apply broadly to any business making claims or soliciting reviews, without an exemption specifically for small or individual sellers. The scale of enforcement may vary, but the underlying rules apply regardless of shop size.
How many times can I ask a buyer for a review?
A single, well-timed request is the standard, recommended approach. Repeated follow-up messages pushing for a review can read as pressure and work against the buyer relationship, even if each individual message is technically compliant.
Can I ask buyers to leave a review with photos specifically?
Yes, asking generally for an honest review, including photos if they’re willing to share them, is fine. You cannot condition any reward specifically on the review including photos or specific positive language.
Is it a violation if a buyer leaves a review without being asked and mentions receiving a small freebie with their order?
Not automatically, an unconditioned freebie included with every order, disclosed honestly by the buyer, differs from a reward explicitly offered in exchange for a positive review. The distinguishing factor is always whether the freebie was conditioned on the review’s content.
Should I respond to every review I receive?
Responding to negative reviews professionally is generally good practice for addressing concerns and showing other shoppers how you handle issues. Responding to every positive review isn’t required, though a brief thank-you is a reasonable, low-effort touch.
Can I use a third-party review platform or widget to display Etsy reviews on a website?
Etsy review content and how it can be displayed outside the platform depends on Etsy’s current terms, review Etsy’s Seller Policy directly before displaying Etsy-sourced reviews on an external site to confirm current allowances.
Key Takeaways
- Asking for a review is fine; offering compensation conditioned on a positive review is not.
- The one real exception: incentives offered equally to all reviewers regardless of what they write.
- FTC rules add a federal-level layer on top of Etsy’s own policy, including a disclosure requirement for material connections.
- A single, neutral, well-timed request outperforms repeated follow-ups.
- Never ask only your happiest customers, that itself runs against FTC guidance around selective solicitation.
- Violating review policies risks review removal and account-level enforcement, beyond the reputational cost of inflated reviews.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need to avoid asking for reviews out of fear of violating a policy, a plain, unconditioned request is standard and fully permitted. The line to respect is compensation tied to what the review says, not the act of asking itself. Get that distinction right, and review requests remain a completely legitimate, low-risk part of running your shop.
Related Articles
- Shop Presentation Checklist for Stationery Sellers on Etsy, strong presentation earns the reviews this guide shows you how to request.
- How to Move Your Etsy Customer List to an Email List You Own, another area where Etsy policy and FTC rules both apply together.
- Etsy Titles That Convert: 10 Real Examples Broken Down, pair review momentum with listings built to earn the click in the first place.
About This Research
Store Score Team writes the editorial content for Store Score, a free shop-audit tool for Etsy sellers built by StableCommerce. The tool scores a shop across four categories: SEO, pricing, presentation, and reviews/social proof. It returns specific, ranked recommendations rather than generic advice, reading only publicly visible shop data via the Etsy Open API with no login required.
This article draws on that same four-category audit framework, cross-checked against Etsy’s own current policy pages and the FTC’s current published guidance (both cited above) rather than presented as independent original research or legal advice.
Content reviewed and updated: August 10, 2026
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