I Spent 30 Days on Amazon Vine. This is What I Wish They Told Me.
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- This video just talks about my experiences as a "Vine Voice" in the Amazon Vine program. The program offers free merchandise in exchange for reviews, but is it too good to be true? Hear about my experiences and thoughts on continuing in the program.
i'm a viner as well and am so far enjoying it. I luckily am really into skincare and it was some of the first things I selected, all skincare products are $0.00 taxable income because you have to use them up so you can't resell them. Because I ordered skincare right off the bat I frequently get skin care on my for you page so I get lots of products I can review for $0.00 taxable value. I've been impressed too with some of the brands- Kiehls, Caudalie, Sol de Janeiro, Innisfree- lots of good skin care brands (I never see these brands on the additional items page- only on the for you page). I haven't had to buy my own skincare all year. In addition to skincare products I've been able to update a lot of things in my apartment- sur la table brand silverware, new rugs, a countertop juicer machine, etc. I really can't complain as i only select things I want or need. If you order something that comes in broken or you don't like you can still return it within 30 days and it won't count against you. I think whatever you select initially helps set you up for the products that are shown to you on your for you page.
It does seem like a worthwhile program in some niche product categories, but for general reviewers and sellers hoping to get reviews, I'm skeptical there's reciprocal value. But actually very interesting to hear it's working out for you, keep it up!
@@MattRamseyTube some other things I’ve noticed when I see other viners review products- they do really in depth reviews and include photos…. The consensus in Reddit seems to be you might be kicked out of the program if you don’t… when I started I fully expected to get kicked out after my initial 6 months because I wasn’t doing long reviews - literally two to four sentences and only posted three pictures…. I never had a review rejected and was upgraded to gold….. I don’t know if I will retain gold but I don’t stress out about it…. I have a full time job so don’t stress out about vine reviews and even if they don’t renew me I would be happy with the time I had in the program…..
@@559mile You are actually doing Vine right, most Amazon customers don't want to read hugely in-depth reviews unless the product is complicated or expensive or both. And the Redditors in the groups on Amazon Vine forget that the real audience for the reviews is the 3rd party sellers who pay Amazon to get reviews so they can get their product served 1st in search results, be the top product in a category or get designated an 'Amazon's Choice', the Vine review is secondarily for the actual Amazon customers. You have to balance honesty with a potentially upset 3rd party seller who didn't get a 4 star or higher review or didn't get a review with a video or photos (not required & since all that equipment costs money & since Amazon isn't giving me that for free, I just do written reviews) but it is on 3rd party sellers to not put garbage items into Vine in the 1st place (& a significant number of 3rd party sellers do this so that's 100% within their control & on them)
Also to just merely stay in Vine, you only have to review 60% of the items you select (which can be none for weeks or months on end) & spend $50 per year with Amazon (not in the form of an Amazon Gift Card, use your credit card or bank account or one of those pre-paid credit card gift cards as your form of payment). The 'must review at least 80 items & must have 90% of your turned in reviews accepted & approved' rule is just for getting into or staying in the Gold tier (which gets you 8 selections per day instead of 3 per day & items valued at $100+ in addition to all the $0-$99.99 items). Gold may not matter to you if you plan on not buying much at all on Amazon or not buying expensive items all that often.
From what I saw of Matt's stats, he'll pass his evaluation as a Silver member just fine even if he doesn't ever take out another item to review for the rest of this period (6 months). And he could let it lapse in the 2nd 6 month period if he wants to.
Same, I love skincare & hair & nails lol! Lucky for me that's usually the 0 ETV! I'm a stylist, so, all of these things are right up my ally lol! I'm not interested in getting profit from this, I'm interested in saving some money & getting to try some new brands that I might not have otherwise & using my knowledge as a cosmetologist to help others in their purchasing, etc. I've gotten hair tools, face creams, shavers/clippers, face wipes & towels for 0 that I now don't have to buy, all sorts of things, even an AWESOME name brand Harry Potter Bath set, full sized, in a really cool display case (I'm keeping this awesome item lol), full birthday gift spa sets that, in 6 months I can gift to some of my nieces & nephews if I want to ~ this is great! I'm having a blast with vine. I'm not going to stress myself out trying to resell anything. Most of it I get for myself, family or some items I will be purchasing again in the future I like them so much (That is, if I ever run out of the 0 ETV things I keep getting lol)!
I was thinking if anything, I might donate some of the wigs & hair tools & clippers to my local domestic abuse center, I think some of the people there would love to have some of these things! The bummer is, there's so many viners using the program as a business (no hate, just saying), that the people who are trying to use it as this guy does, won't have a chance. The good stuff he would want will be gone almost as soon as it populates.
I've been in Vine for a few years and you can't get the full idea in 30 days. Yes, most of the time it's "weird" items and junk, but good stuff pops up as well. Also, the 6-month thing is only for selling or gifting. You can throw away any item the day you receive it, or any time after. I've been able to get name-brand food and household products that have a $0 tax liability and has saved us quite a bit of money. I can't remember the last time I've had to actually buy things like laundry detergent, name brand shampoo, and things like that.
Matt - thank you the great info! You are one of the few people that speak honestly about the down side of the program, other videos say "Why Amazon sent me 60,000 dollars of products free"
I almost exclusively use the search feature. As you said it is WISE to buy ONLY what you were already are planning on buying. I have a list, my shopping list, really :-) I add to it all the time, then when I find an item it gets crossed off. As you remind people - There IS A TAX obligation.
Matt - 2 things - you can contact Amazon and they will remove those items that 'disappear' since it seems like you will be withdrawing from the program - that info is more for your viewers 🙂
Second If you are in the U.S. Target stores accepts all those plastic mailing bags, also many grocery stores do. Sometimes it is hard to find exactly were, but typically it is in the front of the store.
As a fellow silver-level Vine participant, I can agree with everything you said. After using search terms to make it easier to find things I might actually be interested in, I did manage to find about 25 items that I have now received and largely reviewed (I haven't yet used a few, and I don't feel like I should review anything I haven't legitimately used). However, it has become VERY difficult to find anything new to order that I want. Loads of crap I can't imagine anyone going onto Vine to look for. And since I'm trying to stay under the $600/year limit (after which I will be taxed), I've gotten very choosy. I also don't like that you can't return things you don't like. For instance, I ordered a piece of clothing I just didn't like, but within the program there's no way to return it, and it will stay on my list of orders and count in the value of my orders. After the initial fun wears off, this program loses its appeal.
Kinda how I feel, thanks for sharing!
I'd like to point out, that you may DISPOSE of the item at ANY time you want to. You simply may not TRANSFER ownership for 6 mo's.
Also, you do NOT need to make a video, nor take a picture: ever. Not required for reviews. Mine are 100% text.
Also, you do not need to keep "using it" in the sense that you have to frequently order things. I'm gold level and as you stated, you need to do 80 items over 6 months. You do not need to do any set amount per day, per week, per month. It's voluntary. Nothing happens if you don't except they'll send you an email saying hey what's up?
Also, ALL of the Amazon envelopes ARE recyclable. The paper ones, just remove the labels and recycle with cardboard. The plastic bubble ones? Remove the labels and return them to your Grocery Store lobby where they take their plastic bags for recycling. A lot of people do not know this.
Been a voice for a month myself. Taxes suck, although for my tax bracket and being a hobbyist I think I only have to pay 15.3%
If I had to warn anyone about anything outside the obvious tax responsibility, it would be that this is counted as income and can hurt people on SSI/SSDI and food stamps, etc.
Vine income is Earned Income, so definitely it figures in for initial and continuing eligibility for state benefits.
Well done. Informative & entertaining. You did it so I don't have to.
Thanks. No cost to try it but, in my opinion, not much benefit either.
@@MattRamseyTube It's best to think of Vine as a (maybe) deeply discounted stuff program where instead of paying Amazon you pay the IRS & other state & local tax authorities.
Do they have food items because I think that would be super ideal to review.
Sort of. There are a lot of teas, coffees & non alcoholic drinks, there are a lot of cake decorating items (like edible glitters & sprinkles for cakes, cupcakes & donuts, also food colorings) more rarely there are spices & seasonings but anything else edible is super rare & disappears within seconds.
Yes. There are tons of food items, but there are over 20,000 vine reviewers in the US, and each item on vine only has a max of 30 (most have 1-2 available), so when food comes up, if you're not refreshing the page at the exact second that the food is posted, you aren't getting it.
@@ekat1 True food literally goes in seconds, this morning I saw a kilogram (2.2 pound) package of coconut flour (use it in baking it is keto & gluten free) & it was gone in 90 seconds.
Must be a bronze tier cause platinum knows not to talk about stuff prohibited by the contract you know "inner workings". Vine ain't for everyone, I wouldn't know though I'm definently not platinum tier. Not cool talking about a program I'm definently not a member of and love more than the air I breath.