— Real customer reviews removed in error (AI Speed & Auction+) — requesting reinstatement

Shopify App Store
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Hi Shopify Partner Support,

We’re Arctic Grey, a Shopify Top/Platinum Partner, writing to formally flag a serious issue with the recent App Store review enforcement (review farming / incentivized reviews cleanup announced July 6, 2026). We believe your system has removed genuine, legitimate reviews from real, happy customers on two of our apps, and we’re requesting they be reinstated.

AI Speed AI Speed: Site Speed Optimizer - Boost speed and conversion rates with better Core Web Vitals | Shopify App Store
Our review count dropped from 37 to 17 — a loss of 20 reviews (54.1%) — with no notice explaining which specific reviews were removed or why.

Auction+ Auction+ | Automatic Payouts - Live auctions with payment holds. Winners pay automatically. | Shopify App Store
Auction+ launched May 8, 2026. We have real, direct relationships with the merchants using this app and know firsthand that genuine positive reviews from active customers are no longer reflected on the listing. This is not a case of incentivized or fake reviews — these are customers we work with day-to-day.

We support Shopify’s goal of removing fake and incentivized reviews, but this looks like a broad, automated removal with a real flaw: it’s taking down authentic reviews along with the bad ones, and it’s damaging both apps’ ranking and visibility.

We’re requesting:

  • Immediate manual review of both apps’ review history.
  • Reinstatement of any review confirmed to be from a real, verified customer.
  • A breakdown of which specific reviews were removed and why.
  • Confirmation of whether AI Speed and/or Auction+ were flagged for incentivized reviews, fake reviews, or both.

Given our standing as a Top Platinum Partner, we’d appreciate this being escalated for prompt manual review.

Happy to provide any documentation or customer confirmation needed.

Thank you,

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We’ve got many legit reviews taken down as well. Not even old ones. It hurts!

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Hey @Julian_Bischoff1 - thanks for sharing these details. I recognize how significant it is to see those customer reviews no longer reflected on the AI Speed and Auction+ listings.

The team has acknowledged your appeal and is looking into the reviews for both apps. The reviews were flagged following changes to the trust criteria used to evaluate reviews. They haven’t been permanently deleted, but some aren’t considered trusted at this time and may be published automatically as trust is established.

We won’t be able to provide a review-by-review breakdown of what was removed or why. The team is also examining the evaluation criteria in light of the appeals received, and those criteria may be adjusted.

I understand some of this context may not be the answer you’re looking for, but I’m doing my best to be transparent with you using the information I have available to me. You may want to speak with your Partner Manager directly for more context on this and I hope this helps.