Last reviewed by Robert Prime, 5 November 2026. Read that day: Schedule 20, paragraph 13 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority’s fake reviews guidance, and Amazon’s Community Guidelines. General information, not legal advice.
Quick Answer: In the UK you can pay for a review only if it is honest and clearly marked as paid. Hiding the payment has been banned since April 2025, and free copies given in exchange for a review count as payment. On Amazon you cannot pay at all. You can send free advance copies, but you must not require a review or try to influence it.
Two sets of rules, and you must pass both
| UK law | Amazon’s rules | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | DMCC Act 2024, Sch. 20 para 13 | Community Guidelines |
| Fake reviews | Banned | Banned |
| Paid reviews | Allowed only if honest and disclosed | Not allowed on Amazon |
| Free copy in exchange for a review | Counts as an incentive; must be disclosed | Not allowed, except an ARC with no strings |
| Who can be caught | Anyone trading who submits or commissions | The reviewer and the author’s account |
| Worst outcome | Enforcement under consumer protection law | Reviews and the book removed, account closed, payments withheld |
The law says these practices are “in all circumstances” unfair. The CMA’s summary: the banned practice “sets out behaviour that is automatically unfair and illegal”. It came into force on 6 April 2025.
Does this apply to a self-published author?
Our reading is yes, if you are selling your book. The Act covers a “trader”, meaning “a person acting for purposes relating to [their] business”, or someone acting on their behalf (s.225). A commercial practice is any act “relating to the promotion or supply” of a product. Selling your book to readers fits comfortably, even if publishing is a sideline. The CMA says those in scope include “professional reviewers, journalists, content creators” and “individuals acting on behalf of traders”.
The law also treats hiring a review-buying service as a separate problem. “Offering services to traders” for these purposes is banned too, so the seller is in breach as well as you.
What the words mean
From paragraph 13(5) and the CMA guidance:
- Fake review: one that “purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience”. A review of a book the person has not read fits this.
- Commissioning: “includes incentivising by any means”. The CMA lists money, commissions, discounts and “products given free of charge (‘freebies’)”.
- Concealed: when commissioning is “not made apparent”. This includes “missing, obscure or hidden disclosure”. The CMA gives a “learn more” link as an example of hiding it.
- Not commissioning: simply asking. “Merely emailing customers generally to ask if they wish to provide a review” is not prohibited, provided you don’t try to steer what they say. A prize draw with no guaranteed benefit is “unlikely to amount to commissioning”, though Amazon may take its own view.
What you can and can’t do
| What you want to do | UK law | Amazon | Our advice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ask readers at the end of the book to leave an honest review | Fine | Fine | Do it |
| Email your mailing list to ask for reviews | Fine, if you ask them generally and don’t steer what they say | Fine | Do it, and link to the page |
| Send a free ARC with no obligation | Fine | Allowed: “It’s OK to review a free or discounted book (advanced reader copy)” | Best route. Make the no-strings terms clear |
| Send a free ARC “in exchange for an honest review” | Incentivised, so must be disclosed | Not allowed: authors “can’t require a review in exchange” | Change the wording. See below |
| Give a discount or gift card for a review | Must be disclosed | Banned | Don’t |
| Pay a stranger or a service for Amazon reviews | Banned if hidden; banned if fake | Banned | Never |
| Offer a refund to remove a bad review | Risky: the CMA warns against suppressing genuine negative reviews | Banned | Don’t |
| Ask your mum, partner or co-worker to review it | Fake if they haven’t read it | Banned: friends, relatives and business associates | Ask them to tell people instead |
| Swap reviews with another author | Each review is an incentive for the other, in our reading | Banned: “Competitors” and those with conflicts of interest | Swap newsletter mentions instead |
| Pay a blogger or Bookstagrammer | Allowed if labelled clearly | Their post can’t go on Amazon as a review | Label it “advert” |
| Buy a Kirkus, BlueInk or similar paid editorial review | Disclose when you quote it (see below) | It is not a customer review; don’t post it as one | Say it was a paid review |
The wording that needs to change
“Free copy in exchange for an honest review” is everywhere in author advice, and it is the problem. It describes exactly what Amazon rules out, and even the word “honest” does not fix it. Send this instead:
Thanks for joining my advance reader team. Your free copy of [Title] is attached, and it's yours whether or not you review it.
If you'd like to leave a review once the book is out, you're welcome to, and I'd value your honest view, good or bad. You're under no obligation, I won't check, and I won't ask you to change anything.
If you do post a review, please say that you received a free advance copy.
[Your name]Amazon’s ARC exception doesn’t explicitly require the disclosure line, but the CMA says incentive disclosure needs to be plain where a free product is given in exchange for a review. It costs nothing to include. The UK Author Legal Pack has fuller ARC reviewer terms to send with your copies.
Then run it the way the message says. Don’t drop readers from the list for skipping a review or for giving you two stars.
Read our practical guides on building an ARC team and ARC platforms.
Paid editorial reviews and blurbs
Services such as Kirkus Indie, BlueInk and Clarion charge authors for a review. Is that a “consumer review” under the Act? The definition is broad: “a review of a product, a trader or any other matter relevant to a transactional decision”. It isn’t limited to consumers writing it, and the CMA names professional reviewers as being in scope.
Our reading: if you quote a paid review on your cover, website or Amazon description, say it was paid for. For example:
"[Quotation]" — [Review service], paid reviewWe are not aware of a UK ruling on paid book reviews specifically. Labelling removes the argument, and it costs you little. A review from a critic who received a normal press copy, with no deal attached, is a different thing: that is ordinary reviewing. See editorial reviews and author blurbs.
Quoting and showing reviews on your own website
The law also covers publishing reviews “in a misleading way”. The CMA says a trader may infringe if they “suppress genuine negative or positive reviews, selectively promote positive or negative reviews or omit information around how reviews have been written”.
Picking your best review quotes for a book cover is normal marketing and is not obviously what the CMA is after. Be more careful with anything that looks like an overall picture:
- Don’t show a star average you worked out only from your favourites.
- Don’t say “rated 5 stars by readers” based on a handful of hand-picked comments.
- Don’t edit a quotation until it says something the reviewer did not.
- Don’t threaten a reader with legal action over a genuine bad review. The CMA lists “threats of harm or legal action” as something traders should not do.
If you run a review section on your site, the CMA expects a published policy and reasonable steps to prevent and remove fake reviews. See the short guide for businesses. Most author sites avoid all this by using selected quotes, with no star ratings.
What Amazon does if it finds out
Amazon’s Guidelines say it may “remove their content”, “limit their ability to use community features”, “remove related products”, “suspend or terminate their account” and “withhold payments”. It adds: “Misconduct may also breach applicable laws, and can lead to legal action and civil and criminal penalties.”
For an author, “remove related products” is the line to worry about: it could be your book. Our guide to getting book reviews the right way covers what to do instead.
Reporting works in your favour too. If someone offers to sell you reviews or tries to pay you to change one, Amazon has a Report Review Compensation form.
Frequently asked questions
Are fake reviews illegal in the UK?
Yes. Writing or commissioning them has been a banned practice since 6 April 2025 under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
Is it illegal to pay for a book review?
Not if the review is honest and clearly labelled as paid. Hiding the payment is banned. On Amazon, paid reviews aren’t allowed at all.
Can I give away free books for reviews?
You can give away free advance copies. Do not make a review a condition of the free copy, because Amazon forbids that and UK law treats it as an incentive.
Can my friends and family review my book on Amazon?
Amazon says no: it removes reviews about products from friends, relatives, employers, business associates and competitors.
Do ARC readers need to say they got a free copy?
Amazon’s page doesn’t require it for ARCs. We recommend it anyway, because the CMA expects incentives to be made plain.
Can anyone leave a review on Amazon.co.uk?
No. Amazon says reviewers “need to have spent at least £40 on Amazon.co.uk using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months”. Some of your ARC readers may not qualify, which is one more reason not to count on every copy producing a review.
