The Australian rules on review incentives, in plain English
Free coffee for a review? The ACCC and Google both have opinions, and they are not the same.
· 6 min read
Two separate rulebooks apply and people conflate them. Google's policies govern what can stay on your profile. Australian Consumer Law governs what you can say and do commercially.
Google prohibits incentivised reviews outright — offering anything of value in exchange for a review can get reviews stripped and, in bad cases, your profile flagged. That covers discounts, entry to a draw, and a free coffee.
The ACCC's concern is different: reviews that mislead consumers. Filtering out negatives, writing your own, paying for favourable ones, or gating your request so only happy customers ever see it can all be misleading conduct.
What is safe: asking everyone, asking neutrally, making it easy, and not caring what they write. Which is also, conveniently, what works.
