Why do purchased reviews disappear and drop my ranking?
Buying fake review packs provides a temporary boost before platforms purge them, which ultimately causes overall rankings to fall below their starting point. Business owners facing review spikes or damaging feedback often need to rely on specialized reputation management services instead of buying shortcuts.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 47.1× more often in r/restaurantowners than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Buying review generation packages from third-party sitesDid this help you?
- 2Asking customers directly for reviews with QR codes and promptsDid this help you?
- 3Encouraging customers to include photos with their reviewsDid this help you?
- 4Reporting the review to platform support with screenshot evidence of the buyer's admissionDid this help you?
- 5Writing a public reply to the review to expose the buyer's reasoning for future customersDid this help you?
- 6Ignoring the outlier review and letting good reviews bury it over timeDid this help you?
- 7Disputing the reviews through supportDid this help you?
- 8Responding publicly to each review to explain the situationDid this help you?
- 9Creating a single bundled custom listing for multi-item purchases to prevent multiple reviews in the futureDid this help you?
- 10Checking overall service stats and tracking metricsDid this help you?
- 11Referring to previous threads and guides on seller protection program rulesDid this help you?
- 12Relying on delivered tracking status to protect against item-not-received claimsDid this help you?
- 13Deleting the listing and creating a new one from scratchDid this help you?
- 14Writing a professional and pleasant public response to the review to explain the context to future buyersDid this help you?
- 15ignoring weird reviews as mostly noiseDid this help you?
- 16Looking at the overall direction of reviews instead of individual onesDid this help you?
- 17Waiting for repetition or multiple customers to mention the same issue before looking into itDid this help you?
- 18Reaching out to every customer leaving a review of three stars or lessDid this help you?
- 19Evaluating whether the ads are still converting despite the negative feedbackDid this help you?
- 20Ignoring minor negative reviews if overall business ratings remain highDid this help you?
- 21getting defensiveDid this help you?
- 22replying honestly and fixing the actual operational gapDid this help you?
- 23turning off fries as an option for third-party delivery appsDid this help you?
- 24using open containers instead of closed ones so steam can escapeDid this help you?
- 25adding a note to the app telling customers to reheat fries in the ovenDid this help you?
- 26switching to pre-packaged potato chips as the only delivery optionDid this help you?
- 27Ignoring bad reviews completelyDid this help you?
- 28Replying to literally everything with generic responsesDid this help you?
- 29Trying to have Google remove fake bad reviews without replyingDid this help you?
- 30Responding publicly to state there is no record of the customer and outlining proper protocolsDid this help you?
- 31Reporting the review to the platform and waiting for a responseDid this help you?
- 32Reaching out to dissatisfied buyers to resolve their issues and asking them to amend reviewsDid this help you?
- 33Responding publicly to reviews to explain that work is original and address customer misunderstandingsDid this help you?
- 34Asking the customer directly for clarificationDid this help you?
- 35Sending receipts via email to prove paymentDid this help you?
- 36Ignoring the negative reviews and not respondingDid this help you?
- 37Killing them with kindness in public responsesDid this help you?
- 38Relying on regular customers to flood the page with positive reviews to bury the bad onesDid this help you?
- 39Vent to peers in online communitiesDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Today, I noticed that a buyer left me a two-star review. In the review, they explained that they received everything they wanted, including the specific requests they asked me to do. Because of that, I was confused about the two-star rating, so I reached out and politely asked if there was anything wrong with their order.”source ↗
“They told me that they gave me two stars because my shop already had a five-star rating and they “wanted to humble me.””source ↗
“I reported the review to Etsy and made sure to screenshot the buyer’s message admitting why they gave me the low rating. I’m just not sure if Etsy will accept my report and remove the review, but I really hope they do.”source ↗
“Someone left me 11 one star reviews and now I’m being penalised.”source ↗
“Now Etsy has reduced my visibility for having more than 10 bad reviews.”source ↗
“I tried but they technically don’t violate Etsy policies. They mention shipping but Etsy says the review talks about my service as the customer stated I didn’t send replacements - even though I had.”source ↗
“One item has like 12 5-star reviews, and then recently a 1 star. Now that item is rated as a 3.7.”source ↗
“The 1 star? The plant was lost by the shipping company for a week, so the plant look bad when it arrived.”source ↗
“I messaged the customer telling them we offer exchanges, refunds, etc..... She said she wanted to keep it. HUH?!?!?! How can you give something a 1 star then not want a refund.”source ↗
“Does this mean that for the next 3 months, my shop may not be eligible for Etsy Purchase Protection if a buyer claims they didn’t receive the package, even though the tracking shows “Delivered”, just because I’m not meeting the review metric?”source ↗
“i had similar situation once with few 3 stars in one week, didnt lose protection as far as i know. annoying though when one buyer tanks your average like that”source ↗
“Now I’m worried that I could also lose Purchase Protection for the next 3 months because of that one buyer.”source ↗
“It just feels really unfair that one customer who purchased multiple items can leave several low reviews at once and potentially hurt a shop for three months, even though my shipping, response time, and case rate are all still 100%.”source ↗
“I'm a crochet pattern seller on Etsy, and I've maintained a 5-star rating for the past year. But over the past two weeks, two buyers have given me 1-star reviews.”source ↗
“She updated her already bad review to rage-bait me and wrote, "This seller is totally AI. Don't trust her."”source ↗
“Then another 1-star review came this week. She didn't tell me what her problem was or message me at all. She went straight to leaving a 1-star review.”source ↗
“My rating has now dropped to 4.7, but I want to ask: when future buyers visit my shop, will they see these reviews and think that I'm selling AI-generated patterns?”source ↗
“I am so incredibly sick of the entitlement. Two 1 star reviews tearing down things that I cannot control, tearing down good things for little mom and pops like being packed, tearing down the community because nobody looked friendly when it was literally an entire dining room full of people having a great Sunday morning, and giving less than 10 seconds for someone to address them when it was all hands on deck of constant service.”source ↗
“Especially with DoorDash where the bag has to be sealed. How can anyone expect to-go fries to be hot and crispy? But a couple times a week we get 1 star reviews based on our to-go fries showing up cold and soggy.”source ↗
“As a Korean Restaurant owner I received a couple of 1 star reviews for not cooking chicken strips and fries. For grown up adults.”source ↗
“I get a handful of one star reviews a month. Some people you just can’t please. Really awful, rude, entitled behavior.”source ↗
“I fell for this in 2022. Bought a pack of 20. They looked great for about three weeks. Then, poof. 12 disappeared overnight. A month later, the other 8 went. My ranking dropped lower than it was before I started. Complete waste of money.”source ↗
“I once had a spike in weird, damaging reviews and used ReputationDragon to handle it.”source ↗
“We got a pretty nasty Google review recently and I've caught myself checking it way more than I probably should.”source ↗
“when you own the place one angry customer can somehow become the review you think about instead of all the normal ones.”source ↗
“I received a negative review on Google from someone I don't know that is false and defamatory.”source ↗
“This is a complete lie, probably made up by someone who wants to destroy my business.”source ↗
“I reported it 3 weeks ago and I haven't received a response.”source ↗
“it stung because they were right.”source ↗
“how do you handle the reviews that hit a nerve because they're accurate? those are harder for me than the unfair ones.”source ↗
“How do you all mentally handle negative reviews?”source ↗
“"I've decided to give a 5 star for performance and scheduling and a 1 star for business applications in my social media due to not recognizing my payment of bill in my neighborhood and social outlets."”source ↗
“my favorite chinese takeout place near me closed down after disgruntled customers made a concentrated campaign. they'd eat half the stuff they ordered, upload it and say that is all they got, etc.”source ↗
“helping a friend restart her cafe here in indonesia and honestly we have no idea how to deal with google reviews. like when a bad one comes in, do you reply?”source ↗
“i've seen some places reply to literally everything and others ignore it completely, so i'm not sure what actually helps vs just makes it worse.”source ↗
“Fairly high rating on Google but the business received a 1 star review from a random person critiquing a simple but tasteful video ad that’s been running for a few weeks.”source ↗
“Received a few quotes to create the same video for 4-5k, so I made one for $35 in credits. Am I at fault?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Seller offered refund if I change my review
- 2Why are my legitimate customer reviews getting deleted?
- 2How fast do you need to reply to customer reviews?
- 2Why are online career communities so negative?
- 20How to handle a manager who insults you publicly
- 8How to stop sellers from harassing you to change reviews