Insider Truths About The Amazon Vine Program | Money Struggle Success
Insider Truths About The Amazon Vine Program
Here are a few truth bombs that I have experienced since being a part of the Amazon Vine Program for a little over a year.
I personally never thought I would be in a program like this, and initially, I was thrilled because I've always wanted to review products for fun to help others see something and know about it before making that purchase.
My backstory is I am a content creator already, and I do this for multiple Brands all over the world, but having the ability to do it for Amazon strictly was very enticing, especially with them pushing the word free all over the place.
Now, some who have been a part of the program may push back and say well, when you get into the program, they make it known you have to pay taxes.
This is true, but what is also true is when they invite you to the Vine program, you only see the welcome page of the Vine website for everybody to see, and the word free is mentioned multiple times and fails to mention that you will have to pay taxes on anything that you choose to review.
Amazon Vine Experience
Truth bomb #1
To elaborate on why they may use the word free with their initial advertising to pull you in when they send you that invite, to me, it's like a play on words, and it's kind of true, but then it's not.
So, when you are presented with all of the available products in the Vine Program, there is no cost to purchase it out of pocket initially.
This is where the free comes in, which makes the products free and not a lie on their website.
However, as soon as you click the button to choose that product, Amazon sends you, which is most times the exact price of the product being so currently on the amazon.com website, to an ETV (estimated taxable value) bucket where you would need to pay taxes per Amazon.
I am still trying to find answers on how this is accurate based upon how this voluntary program works with being obligated to pay taxes on promotional products deemed (in my view) as a gift from the seller on Amazon.
Truth bomb # 2
The Vine Program is separate from the normal amazon.com website.
This means you cannot just go on amazon.com and choose any product to review. You are limited by the products submitted to the Vine Program from current sellers on Amazon to help their listings get traction and more sales from customers.
I do not know why, but I thought in my head I could go to Amazon and just type in something I always wanted to try out and review the product as a Vine reviewer. That definitely is not the case.
Truth bomb # 3
Once you are accepted into the program, you are only able to order products under $100.
This wasn't always the case years ago, but as always, depending upon who was in the program during those earlier times, rules, changes, and requirements were created due to things those people did and Amazon didn't like.
Once you go through a couple of months as a lower-level reviewer and they see that you are performing to their liking, they'll give you access to Gold status, which allows you to order any item at any amount.
You really can get an item on the Vine Program for over $1,000. I've done it.
Truth bomb # 4
Vine can put you in jail or time out! It's not a real jail, but a system lockout if they find that you need to perform to their standards as an Amazon Vine reviewer.
This isn't long-term, but they do allow you to get into good standings by reviewing products, although it's not a requirement to do so. ( isn't that weird)
Truth bomb # 5
If you are treating Vine as a hobby, you still need to keep track of the products you received and their ETV amount because there will be times when a product arrives broken, missing from the box, or just doesn't work for you to provide a review.
In this scenario, you will need to contact Amazon to have them remove that and remove the amount from your ETV bucket.
Trusting Amazon to keep the amount of money in your ETV balance accurate will make you pay more tax time than having your own records to prove you had items removed, which lowers your ETV and saves you money down the road.
* This video breaks down my personal thoughts and opinions and how I choose to move forward with the Vine Program (until I am told otherwise) with the help of IRS professionals and other tax professionals.
Truth bomb # 6
When doing reviews for the products and the Vine Program, you have the authority to be as honest as possible, whether good or bad.
What Amazon needs to mention is that sellers of those products who receive a bad review will contact you in the messages about their review.
They also don't tell you they monitor activity within your messages and can kick you out if they feel it is too high.
Crazy right!
I came across a few people who told their story in a Reddit forum and was shocked and also upset as they never engaged with those sellers, but because the sellers kept emailing them in their Amazon accounts, it looked bad for that Vine reviewer, and Amazon removed them from the program.
REMEMBER
Now, you have to remember that the Vine Program is 100% Amazon's, and they can do what they want even if we don't like it.
Amazon is shady and hypocritical, but they can do that because this is their program.
Amazon 100% makes it clear that the seller should never reach out to the Vine reviewers, not for our personal safety as they claim, but Amazon wants to keep getting paid that $200 or however much that each seller must pay in order to get their products into the Vine Program to help their listing.
If a seller reaches out to a Vine reviewer directly, they don't need Amazon, and they don't have to pay Amazon, and that's a No-No because Amazon wants that money.
Rightfully so as a business, but we, as Vine reviewers, could still review these products without Amazon, but then it would fall into the waters of breaking their terms of service of reviewing products for some sort of compensation, although that's exactly what Amazon is doing.
Like I said, they are hypocrites.
Truth bomb # 7
You thought about giving something you found on the Vine Program to a family member or a friend or even selling it; that is not possible, at least for the first six months.
In typical confusing Amazon fashion, they have created language in their terms of service regarding depending upon who is actually the owners of these products, whether it's Amazon or a typical seller, the timing could be shorter or longer.
Amazon would not know if you did this before 6 months, but you want to keep it in mind.
Truth bomb # 8
Ensure your Amazon badge is on so that amazon.com does not block you from making reviews as an Amazon Vine reviewer.
Let me explain. If you were a customer and you made a purchase and decided to review that product, you would just have your name and the actual comment listed on the product.
Bad actors in the past have abused this and used different types of services to flood Amazon listings to better themselves, so Amazon cracks down on this, looks at people who submit mass reviews, doesn't ask questions, and automatically blocks you.
The Vine badge is a toggle button in your account that will inform Amazon that you are a part of the Vine Program, allowing them to overlook the influx of comments you will submit for the products you choose to review.
Again, I have found people who have not done this, and they have been kicked out of the program. It took them months to actually find the right person to help them get back into the program.
I'm still amazed they got back into the program because Amazon is a circle of confusion.
That's all I have right now.
When I find more things worth sharing, I'll update this list of Truth bombs so that we all can be knowledgeable while being a reviewer for the Vine program.
