You can offer a small reward for a review, but only if it is for any honest review regardless of the rating, and you disclose it. You cannot pay for a positive review, and you cannot ask only your happy customers, which is called review gating and is now flatly illegal. A federal FTC rule that took effect in 2024 banned fake and incentivized-positive reviews, undisclosed insider reviews, and review suppression, with civil penalties up to $53,088 per violation for knowing violators. Reviews are one of the best free ways to win trade work, so here is the exact line between smart and illegal.
The rule, in one line
The FTC's fake-review rule (16 CFR Part 465) took effect October 21, 2024, and it turns deceptive review practices into violations with real financial penalties: up to $53,088 per violation in 2026 for a knowing violator. It codifies what used to be guidance, so the practices below are not just frowned on now, they are illegal.
What is banned now
- Fake or AI-generated reviews. You cannot create, buy, or post reviews from people who did not use your service or do not exist.
- Buying positive reviews. Offering a gift card, discount, or cash in exchange for a good review is illegal, even if you never say the words "positive only."
- Undisclosed insider reviews. An employee, manager, or immediate family member who reviews your business must clearly disclose the relationship.
- Fake "independent" review sites. You cannot run a supposedly neutral review site that actually exists to promote your own business.
- Suppressing reviews with threats. Using legal threats, intimidation, or false accusations to force a negative review down is banned.
- Hiding the negatives while implying you show them all. Filtering out bad reviews while presenting the rest as the full picture is banned.
- Buying fake followers or views for commercial purposes.
Review gating is the trap that catches good contractors
Review gating means pre-screening customers, usually by sending a satisfaction survey first and only steering the happy ones to Google or your public profile. It feels like smart marketing, but it is now explicitly illegal under the FTC rule, and it already violated Google's own policies. The problem is that it manipulates what the public sees, making your rating look better than the honest set of experiences. Ask everyone the same way, or do not ask at all.
What you can still do
- Ask all your customers for reviews. There is no restriction on asking, as long as you ask everyone and not just the ones you expect to be pleased.
- Offer an unconditional, disclosed incentive. A discount or gift card is fine if it is available for any honest review at any rating, and you disclose that you offered it.
- Respond to negative reviews politely and factually. Answering a bad review well often does more for you than getting it removed would.
- Display a curated "best reviews" section, as long as you do not represent it as the complete set of your reviews.
The habit that keeps you clean
Ask every customer the same way, do not gate, never pay for stars, disclose any reward and any insider relationship, and never threaten a reviewer. A steady stream of honest reviews, good and occasionally bad, is more convincing to the next customer anyway, and it keeps you the right side of a rule with five-figure penalties.
Common questions
Is it legal to give a customer a discount for leaving a review?
Yes, but only if the reward is for any honest review, whatever star rating they give, and you disclose that you offered it. The moment the discount is tied to a positive or five-star review, it becomes an illegal purchased review under the FTC rule. So "leave us a review for $10 off" is fine if any rating qualifies; "leave us a five-star review for $10 off" is not.
Can I ask only my satisfied customers to leave a review?
No. Cherry-picking who you ask, or screening customers with a survey first and only sending the happy ones to public review sites, is review gating, and it is now explicitly illegal under the FTC rule as well as against Google's own policies. You can ask for reviews all you want, but you have to ask everyone the same way, not just the ones you expect to be positive.
Can my employees or family post reviews of my business?
Only if they clearly disclose their relationship to the business in the review. An undisclosed review from an employee, manager, or immediate family member is banned under the FTC rule because it misleads readers into thinking it is an independent customer. Train anyone connected to your business to say so plainly if they post about it.
Can I get a bad review taken down?
You can respond to it politely and factually, and you can report a review that genuinely breaks a platform's rules, but you cannot use legal threats, intimidation, or false accusations to force a reviewer to remove an honest negative review. That is review suppression, which the FTC rule specifically prohibits. Answering a bad review well often does more good than getting it removed anyway.
Can I show only my best reviews on my website?
Yes, you can display a curated "best reviews" section, as long as you do not represent it as the complete set of your reviews. What you cannot do is imply those are all the reviews you have received while quietly filtering out the negative ones. The line is honesty about what the reader is looking at: a highlight reel is fine, a fake "all reviews" is not.
The honest bit
- The $53,088 per-violation figure is current for 2026 and set by federal law. Verify it at ftc.gov, along with the rule's current scope.
- The rule is federal and nationwide, but some states add their own consumer-protection rules, and review platforms like Google set policies that can be stricter than the law. Check Working in Your State and the platform's own terms.
- This is general guidance, not legal advice.
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