Amazon Vine Products Are a Hit or Miss

 

I still consider myself a newish Amazon Vine Voice reviewer because I've only been with the program for about two years. However, in those two years, the number of products I have personally come across that looked very questionable upon inspection, from the actual product listing to getting validated by other Vine reviewers, makes me question the worthiness of the program sometimes.

I find many individuals who have been with the program for over ten years and who were once a part of the 100% free club who have vouched that the product selections have been going downhill since the beginning of the program's inception.  Like many other things, Amazon always changes, and sometimes it goes in a roller coaster state, but the Vine program products seem to be going in a downward spiral.  

From my own experience, I have only come across two handfuls of well-known brands on the Amazon platform being offered in the Vine program.  I must admit that I do understand that I am not always offered every product that may be from top-quality sellers here on Amazon due to my selections and the way in which the algorithm views the products that should be provided to me. Still, I have seen many people talk about this way before I ever came to the conclusion that there is no type of oversight for the products being offered to Vine voices.

This became true once I understood how a seller is able to get their products on to Vine.  Amazon does no vetting and allows anyone that has a brand to be  apart of the vine program as long as they pay their fee.  For Amazon, this is brilliant because no matter what, they're getting paid upfront. 

However, since the Vine Voices are now being taxed on a percentage of every product being offered depending upon the category that they are in, we all are subject to paying on items that are 100% not worth our money from the beginning.  If you were a regular Amazon customer, you could return the product, but you are not giving that option as a Vine voice.

In my latest video, I talk about my experience trying to get the system to offer me the product that I want versus random things that I would never buy.  I go into detail on how I did this because now I am getting more of what I want and less of things I would never purchase on Amazon.

 

This is why I stressed the video on how to lower your ETV. Many times, people are still reviewing broken products that are not up to their satisfaction and/or are just complete junk, and they are still paying an ETV on that product.  

Nowhere does Amazon specify that you can get these products removed if the product is not up to expectations and is completely broken.  People are losing money left and right by being a part of this program because they find it valuable, but they're just not able to use it to their advantage to ensure they are not wasting their money while participating.

My disapproval of the number of horrible products being offered on the Amazon Vine program does not take away from my true belief that this program is viable for anyone who is invited to join. This is true because I have learned to put in time and effort to make the program work for my benefit and know how I can always come out on top when things do not go my way versus being stuck with the tax bill that I am not happy with.

Everyone has the option to leave the program at any time, but just because someone has a negative thought about how something is being done does not mean they should leave the program.  It is a hope and a possible better future for the Amazon Vine program to offer more quality products so the money we are spending is not wasted.  

The future of the Vine program is a blur, but I'm waiting to see what happens.