Customer satisfaction with Amazon marketplace sellers has plummeted globally since 2020. Starting August 4, Amazon will exacerbate the issue by allowing customers to leave seller feedback with just star ratings – no written explanations required.In the U.S., only 84.7% of customers had positive experiences with marketplace sellers over the past twelve months, down from 92.1% in 2020, representing millions of extra negative experiences. The decline is global – Germany dropped from 93.9% to 86.1%, the UK from 92.5% to 85.7%, and India collapsed from 80.3% to just 53.2%. Of those marketplaces tracked five years ago, only Australia improved, rising from 78.6% to 84.5%.Amazon this week emailed its sellers informing them of a “simplified seller feedback submission experience, so customers can give a star-only rating with optional written feedback,” framing it as helping sellers “receive more seller ratings faster.” But the change creates a fundamental problem for sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon, where most negative feedback stems from Amazon’s delivery delays, packaging issues, or customer service – not seller performance.Currently, when customers leave negative feedback saying “didn’t receive it” or complaining about Amazon’s fulfillment, sellers can request removal since those issues aren’t their fault. Star-only ratings eliminate that context entirely. A one-star rating could result from late delivery, damaged packaging, poor customer service, or product issues – but sellers won’t know which, making appeals nearly impossible.“If a product is fulfilled by Amazon, and customer service is provided by Amazon, and a seller is not supposed to contact that Amazon customer for anything outside of basically product support, why is there even an option for seller feedback at all?”— Clifford Donovan, LinkedIn The disconnect is glaring, but the practical impact should be minimal. Seller feedback has a low impact on both buy box visibility and conversion rates, as seller ratings aren’t prominently displayed on product pages where purchase decisions happen. Unlike product reviews, seller feedback is buried in secondary screens that few customers see.But Amazon’s change highlights a broader problem. The company has prioritized growth over experience quality, evidenced by the steady decline in satisfaction scores. Fulfillment restrictions and rising fees force sellers into inventory shortages while customers blame sellers for Amazon’s operational issues.Amazon’s star-only feedback change will likely achieve its stated goal of increasing feedback volume – customers find clicking stars easier than writing explanations. But more feedback isn’t better feedback when it conflates seller performance with platform performance. Rather than fixing the underlying disconnect between accountability and responsibility, Amazon is making the system less informative.Five years after half a million unhappy Amazon customers highlighted systemic marketplace problems, Amazon’s solution is to obscure feedback rather than address root causes. The rating system gets simpler, but the underlying issues remain.