Product reviews after the UK fake reviews ban: what a shop may ask for and show

This guide is for anyone running a UK shop who wants more product reviews and has heard that the fake reviews ban now regulates them. It covers what the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (the DMCC Act) banned from 6 April 2025, what you may still ask for and must publish, what the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) checks on shop websites, and how to ask after delivery. Disclosure: we build Orbit Commerce, a hosted ecommerce platform with a reviews plugin, so weigh the Orbit parts accordingly. Every rule below was read at its linked source on 9 November 2026. It is general information, not legal advice.

What did the UK fake reviews ban change?

Section 225 of the Act prohibits unfair commercial practices and makes any practice listed in Schedule 20 unfair in all circumstances (DMCC Act 2024, section 225). Paragraph 13 covers reviews and has applied since 6 April 2025 (Schedule 20, paragraph 13, checked 9 November 2026). It bans four things:

• Submitting or commissioning a fake review, or one that conceals an incentive: writing your own, buying them, or rewarding them without saying so.
• Publishing reviews, or ratings drawn from them, in a misleading way: hiding negative reviews, favouring positive ones, or hiding an incentive.
• Publishing reviews without reasonable and proportionate steps against fakes: reviews with no policy and no checks.
• Offering services to traders to do any of the above.

Enforcement changed too. Since April 2025 the CMA has been able to decide for itself that consumer law has been broken and fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover (CMA press release, 7 April 2025, checked 9 November 2026).

After a three-month adjustment period the CMA reviewed more than 100 review-publishing websites, checking whether each had a published policy on fake and incentivised reviews. More than half, 54 businesses, could be falling short, and the CMA wrote to each (CMA case page, checked 9 November 2026). By April 2026, 90% had improved their policies, and in March 2026 the CMA opened investigations into five businesses over how reviews were obtained, moderated and displayed, with no conclusions yet (CMA blog, 17 April 2026; CMA press release, 27 March 2026).

What counts as a fake review or an incentive?

A fake review “purports to be, but is not, based on a person’s genuine experience”. A review is not fake because you disagree with it, nor because the reviewer got the item as a gift, and fake negative reviews are caught too (CMA fake reviews guidance CMA208, paragraphs 2.5 to 2.8, checked 9 November 2026). A review conceals an incentive when someone was commissioned to write it and that is not made apparent; commissioning covers money, discounts, vouchers, free products and asking your own staff, though a prize draw is unlikely to count (paragraphs 2.9 and 2.10, footnote 8).

The CAP Code, the advertising rulebook enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has carried matching rules, 3.44 to 3.46, since 6 April 2025 (CAP Code, section 3; CAP advice, Fake consumer reviews). Writing reviews of your own products while posing as a customer breaches it (CAP advice, Testimonials and endorsements).

Can you offer a discount or a free product for a review?

Under the Act, yes, on two conditions: you tell consumers the review was incentivised, and it still reflects the reviewer’s genuine experience (CMA208, paragraph 3.7). The label must be prominent, “namely, as an advert”, and incentivised reviews must be distinguished from the rest (paragraphs 3.5 and 4.7). A reward tied to the rating is banned outright: the CMA’s examples include a free or discounted product for a five-star review and a refund or gift card for changing a negative review.

Google is stricter about reviews left on Google. Its help page calls incentives for posting, changing or removing a review “strictly prohibited” (Google, Tips to get more reviews, checked 9 November 2026), and its content policy bans payment, discounts or free goods for any review (Google Maps content policy, checked 9 November 2026). Neither page carves out prize draws.

For a small shop the simplest route is to offer nothing: emailing customers generally to ask if they wish to leave a review, without predetermining what they say, is not prohibited (CMA208, paragraph 3.6). On Orbit the plain ask is the natural route: Product Reviews takes every review on the same terms, and Loyalty Points are earned on paid orders only, so a review asked for that way comes with nothing attached and needs no label.

Is it legal to hide a bad review on your own website?

Not if it is genuine. The first example of misleading publication in paragraph 13(2) is “failing to publish, or removing from publication, negative consumer reviews whilst publishing positive ones”. The CMA’s guidance lists the forms it takes: editing, withholding or removing genuine negative reviews, legal threats, stopping and starting review invitations, or an offer to settle a dispute that is conditional on no negative review (CMA208, paragraph 4.4). It also covers review gating, the survey that sends only the delighted to the review form: cherry-picking “by encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews” (paragraph 4.5). Remember paragraph 8.16: removing a genuine negative review “may mislead consumers as much as publishing a fake positive review”.

Not every submission must go live. The guidance expects you to suppress fake negative reviews and to apply clear, consistent rules on who can submit (paragraphs 4.4 and 8.19); the ASA draws the line at removing genuine reviews that are relevant and not offensive. So a published policy can exclude reviews not based on a genuine experience, abusive content, reviews of a different product, and reviews from your own staff or suppliers unless that interest is stated (paragraph 4.6). Apply the same checks to five-star reviews as to one-star ones (paragraph 8.16), publish without unreasonable delay, and if you hold reviews as pending, say what pending means (paragraphs 8.22 and 8.23). Approving reviews before they show is allowed; using approval to filter by sentiment is not.

If you suspect a review is fake, leave it pending so it does not count in the rating, compare the name and email with your orders, and read whether the text describes something you sell. Several reviews from one email or IP address, or a sudden spike of very good or very bad ones, are the patterns the CMA names (paragraph 8.19). If it is fake, remove it and correct the average and the count (paragraph 8.24). If you cannot tell, publish it: the guidance warns against removing a review merely because you object to it (paragraph 8.22).

What are “reasonable and proportionate steps” for a small shop?

If you publish reviews, paragraph 13(3) says you must take reasonable and proportionate steps to keep fakes off the page and remove any that slip through. Every publisher needs a clear policy on preventing and removing banned reviews, a view of the risk, and whatever further steps are proportionate (CMA208, paragraphs 8.4 and 8.5). Size is no exemption: “even a small trader publishing only reviews from their own customers” must act where its content poses a risk (paragraph 8.31). But a shop publishing its own customers’ reviews, with proof of purchase to hand, may need less than a platform, and a low risk needs only limited further steps (paragraphs 8.14 and 8.32). For a small shop:

1. Publish a reviews policy that prohibits fake reviews and says how you treat incentivised ones, in plain English, linked from where people read and write reviews (paragraphs 8.9 and 8.10).
2. Decide who can review and apply it every time: anyone who has bought or used the product, gifts included (paragraph 8.19).
3. Check each review before it shows: does the email match an order (a mismatch is a prompt, not proof), is it about a product you sell, is the language acceptable. Then publish promptly, whatever the stars.
4. Keep a short log of anything rejected and why (paragraphs 8.13 and 8.26).
5. Give people a way to report a suspect review, and look into reports (paragraph 8.19).
6. Re-read the policy and the log once a year or when something changes (paragraphs 8.14 and 8.27).

A plain reviews policy you can publish

The CMA’s short guide says a published policy should clearly prohibit fake reviews and state your approach to incentivised reviews and to ratings (CMA short guide for businesses, 4 April 2025, checked 9 November 2026). A starting point for a shop that publishes its own customers’ reviews and offers no rewards:

• Who can review. Anyone who has bought or used a product from us, including as a gift. We ask for your name, which is shown, and your email address, which is not.
• What we publish. Every review that reflects a genuine experience of the product, whatever the rating, normally within [two] working days.
• What we do not publish. Reviews not based on a genuine experience, reviews of a product we do not sell, abusive content, and anything we have good reason to believe a bot or a paid writer produced, whatever the rating.
• Incentives. We do not pay for reviews or offer discounts, free products or prize entries for them, and our staff and suppliers do not review our products.
• Reviews and complaints. A review is published on the product page. If something has gone wrong, email [address] and we will put it right; you are welcome to do both. Use the same address to report a review you believe is fake or breaks these rules.
• Ratings. Averages and counts include only published reviews and are recalculated if one is removed.

How do you ask for reviews after delivery?

Ask every customer, with the same message, once the item has arrived, with nothing attached, and do not switch the request on and off (CMA208, paragraphs 4.4 and 4.5). Keep it plain: the ICO does not address review requests by name, but says a message with promotional material counts as direct marketing even when that is not its main purpose (ICO, Identify direct marketing, checked 9 November 2026). A bare request about their order, linking to the product page, is the safer form; one carrying “10% off your next order” is a marketing email and an incentive to disclose. For Google reviews, share Google’s review link or QR code; the customer must be signed in to a Google account.

Trades and services businesses lean on directory reviews too: see our guides to a trade website that takes bookings and selling services online. Any review you quote on your own site needs documentary evidence that it is genuine (CAP Code rule 3.47).

Where Orbit fits

On Orbit, product reviews come from the Product Reviews plugin in the plugin store: free, on every plan, from Solo at £25 a month (£19 a month billed yearly, ex VAT). It puts one to five stars, an optional title and the buyer’s own words on every product page. Guests can review, with a name that shows and an email that never does.

Every review starts Pending and stays off the storefront until you approve it in Reviews in your dashboard; reject keeps it in your list but off the page; delete removes it. The shopper is told the review will be visible after moderation, which is the pending message the CMA asks for. That queue is for spam and bots; every genuine review, two stars included, goes through. A two-star review you approve tells shoppers the five-star ones are real.

The ask goes in the order emails you already send: open the Order Shipped template, add a line asking for a review with a link to the product page, and every customer gets the same request. For an ask that goes out on its own, the Workflows plugin can send a templated email on a fulfilment trigger, and the Mailchimp and Omnisend sync plugins carry the ask into a newsletter. Your policy is a page in the page builder.

The Google Reviews element, a paid add-on priced on its listing, shows your Google Business Profile rating and up to five reviews on any page, refreshed nightly, unedited and in Google’s order; you choose how many to show, not which. If a critical review needs an answer, email the customer, whose address sits beside the review in your dashboard, and never offer anything to change it. Our notes on checkout quick wins and the best UK online shops show how mixed, visible reviews earn trust.

Read next: whether a small shop needs a loyalty scheme and rewriting your shop’s emails in your own voice.

Questions people ask about product reviews and the UK fake reviews ban

Are fake reviews illegal in the UK?

Yes. Since 6 April 2025, paragraph 13 of Schedule 20 to the DMCC Act 2024 has made fake reviews, hidden incentives, misleading publication of reviews and publishing reviews without reasonable and proportionate steps against fakes unfair in all circumstances. The CMA can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover.

Can I offer a discount or a free product for a review?

Under the Act, yes, if the review says prominently that it was incentivised and still reflects the customer’s genuine experience. A reward tied to five stars, or a refund to change a negative review, is banned, and Google allows no incentives at all. The simplest route for a small shop is no reward.

Can I delete a negative review from my own website?

Not because it is negative: the CMA’s guidance says removing a genuine negative review can mislead shoppers as much as publishing a fake positive one. You may refuse reviews that are abusive, about a different product or not genuine, if your published policy says so and applies to five-star reviews too.

Can I ask only my happy customers for a review?

No. Encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews is named in the CMA’s guidance as cherry-picking, and Google bans selectively soliciting positive reviews. Ask every customer the same way.

Do I need a reviews policy on my website?

If you show reviews, yes. The CMA says every publisher, even a small trader publishing only its own customers’ reviews, should have a published, plain-English policy that prohibits fake reviews and states its approach to incentivised ones.

Install Product Reviews during the 14-day free trial, no card required, publish the policy above as a page, add one line to your Order Shipped email, and approve every genuine review that comes in, whatever its stars.