This is really good info- a lot of people don't know about the no-selling and how strict that is, and I can't say how but I do know multiple people who lost out being in the Vine program for selling items on other market places, and some were marked or variations that can be pointed out. Vine looks like a free-for-all because people don't take the "no selling" part seriously and are clueless about the tax liabilities they rack up, and all that before they even realize how time consuming leaving the reviews is. This is a really good and balanced explanation, Part 1 & Part 2 combined. This channel is great for anyone new to Vine, how it's fun, but also how you didn't really hit the Jackpot like it sounds, either. Subscribed in case you do any more Vine videos. 👍
This series has been an excellently detailed and intellectual exploration of the subject matter. I have just been selected as a "Vine Voice" only days ago and out the gate I began ordering my limit of stuff daily. But for something like this, which is too good to be true I instinctively knew I had to seek out all that I can find about this situation in order to maximize this experience and not mess it up. You have done a fine job of covering many important aspects of this. I liked the one tip of finding private groups.
Thank you! I plan to highlight the groups more in another video, because as much fun as I'm having making these I really learned almost all of what I know from private groups. I'm not the expert--the collective knowledge of so many folks coming together to pool their knowledge is. So glad you found what you were looking for and congrats on the invite!
I had no idea there was a vine program and that it could be so life changing! It was interesting to hear some details of how it works. I'm so glad your family was able to get so many basics to ease things after years of struggle. I can think of a few other families I know that this would really help. Maybe someday! I'm going to listen to part two right now.
It's really been helpful in so many ways! If the families you speak of buy items off Amazon it never hurts to review it just in case that leads to a Vine invitation!
Hello Heidi, thank you for your videos. I watched them with great interest as I find myself in the same prick but for Amazon Germany. After reading a lot around and documenting myself I can definitely say that there is a BIG problematic with the tax system. One point of view is that those items have a "fair market value" and you need to be taxed as income tax based on this amount. But this is exactly the point which is absolutely senseless and I will put here all the reasons why: 1. If you do a job for someone and you receive as a payment for return of service an IPad, or if you do a job for someone and receive a lot of IPads or other goods as payment, it is important to note that there was a service and a payment in goods involved. In that case there would be an agreement from your side that you receive these goods as payment for your work. In that case I could understand the validity of an income tax. But in the case of Vine items to be tested this is not the case. I will explain below. 2. The item to be tested cannot be compared the same as the same item to be purchased. They cannot be considered as equivalent. Why? A purchased item has a guarantee, and you can also can get full monetary refunds if you choose not to keep it. This is not the case for a vine item. A vine item cannot be returned and has no guarantee. Also you can only claim it IF 6 months has passed and you were not requested to return it. Also you are not allowed to disclose or publish this item on any blog or website. All these restrictions definitely mean that a test product does not have the same market value as a purchased item. It is therefore a mistake from Amazon to claim that these products have the same "Fair Market Value" as a purchased item. Now the next point. 3. When I test a product I actually break it open and I subject it to all types of knocks and blows to check how good it actually is. I try to check the material, I scratch it etc. That is the whole point of testing. It is like if you give me a test car and I need to drive it and force it to the maximum to test it and am not allowed to sell it and I can only keep it if the seller does not request it within 6 months, it has no guarantee and the item cannot be returned, there is just no way that this item after 6 months and after being pushed to the max for testing be worth the same value as a newly purchased item which has a guarantee and which can be returned. This is just common sense. Next point. 4. If I test a product and it is NO GOOD. It is good for the dustbin and I dont want to keep it and I cannot return it. Why on earth should I pay 35% of its value when I dont even own it within 6 months and when I dont want to keep it? Next point. 5. There are items that are clearly overpriced. I make the test and I write that this product is overpriced. Again why should I pay 35% of the claimed value of an item that I cannot return and which I think is overpriced? Next point. 6. Most of the items on vine are from unknown brands.Hence after 6 months their value is just a few Euros that someone would be willing to pay on flee markets. They have a low resale value. Overall this whole thing makes no sense. 7. Those Fair market value prices are the original price the sellers would like to sell those items. They dont represent the actual value of a test product under those conditions. Also those fair market values have already a tax included in them. So how can I pay tax on something which is already taxed? Hence it is double taxed? If this applies, this can only apply for a case which I described in point 1. Which in the vine testing program clearly is not the case. 8. What about all items that get broken during the test phase? What about items you would not consider keeping? For me it looks like you are making me pay an expensive fee for testing an item. This is what it is. This is a 35% fee just for testing an item which is absurd. How can someone who buys the actual real product pay less tax? Instead of getting paid for testing you need to pay to test. How ridiculous is it that in the lucky case that you manage to sell an item lets say for 40% of its value, including additionally 20% as tax of that value additionally as VAT, this means the tax you paid is more than the amount you could hopefully get from selling it. In reality therefore you have been taxed 100% if not more. And they call this income tax?? This is absolute BS! 9. Most of the items have only between 0-50% of the value after 6 months after undergoing the tests and under the condition of no returns and no guarantee. There is also a big issue, the items were needed to have zero cost to the tester for the reviews to be properly legit. But if you need to pay a tax, this puts you in a pressure not to degrade the product either because you need to keep it in a good state because you paid taxes for it or you want to sell it to gain cash back. It makes no sense. 10.For the reviews to be truly fair the reviewer should have not have to pay anything. Hence whatever tax to be paid must have been paid by Amazon. The deal is that I receive a free item and I give a review in exchange. Hence it should be considered as a gift. Not the other way around, where I give a review and I get the item as a payment for my service. Also Amazon should claim the Fair Market Value of that gift to be much less than a purchased item because of all the attached conditions of receiving that gift. I believe that Amazon is missleading or misinforming and mostly missrepresenting the Fair Market Value of these items. In the case of Amazon.de they published the tax to be paid only after a year that the people had enrolled. These values are not Fair at all. They do not represent the real value and the authorities cannot force anyone to pay taxes for items they do not want to keep and cannot return.
I got invited in August of this year. There is a bug in the Amazon Vine Program that's preventing my reviews from being submitted. I emailed them and so far, nothing has been done about it. Ordered 19 products and reviewed 18. Also unable to order Amazon Vine Products.
Man, that really sucks. Please keep me updated. I wish I had a good solution for you but I have no idea as I haven't encountered that before. Anyone else have an idea?
What happened to me is, I normally put reviews on Amazon, especially if my experience with the item is different than other reviewers. Then earlier this year I got an email from Amazon to join the Vine program. I clicked it, and as soon as I got to a page that required my SSN, I stopped and closed the page. I did not sign up. Fast forward to November, I did a review for an item I bought and the stupid Vine symbol was next to my account name. I edited my review to say that I am not in the vine program, that I paid for the item and my review was not bias. So now I am trying to find out how to opt out, hence I found your RUclips videos.
It is considered taxable income if you go over a certain threshold, so I stay below that maxed amount so I'm not sent a W2 form at the end of the year, not worth it for me to pay for big items that are overpriced and pay tax on them! That being said, sounds like you were starving for daily essential items and that's why this was such a huge blessing and glad you could get things you needed for your family! I have been poor in the past, single mom and totally understand about things you just cannot afford to buy, it stinks! Glad your now doing well, you are so sweet and down to earth, love your vibe and may things continue to get even better and only up from here!
Hi Heidi, Can you name a few of the online groups of people who are amazon vine voices? I have been one since 10/31/2022. I would love to connect with some of them. Thank you so much Janet
Yes! There's a reddit group, discord group, two FB groups and a few different Good Reads groups. I did a video on them, links are in the description! ruclips.net/video/H2C_7u2Plog/видео.html
I got picked a few months ago out of the blue. I've never heard of the program and was suspicious that it was a scam 😂. I only had like 13 reviews I had written in 8 or 9 years. Turns out, they must have noticed a disgruntled review with a quick video clip that I did a review on. My biggest pet peeve of the vine program is the LACK OF RULES listed anywhere! I'm basically going in blind with a lot of stuff. And I tried asking a question to the vine admins about (if a person I did a poor review on due to a faulty product was allowed to contact me through the 3rd party safety email program) and it was like pulling teeth. I keep being given the sparse "rule book" or they completely misunderstood my question. And when I tried to reiterate the question, they got tired of me and said someone will contact you in 12 hours. That was near the beginning of the month. But mostly, I really like being a reviewer. I take a lot of pride in trying to fully use the products I pick and making sure I do pros and cons. I also pick things I want to use versus just getting it because I can.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Can you tell me approx how many products you had ordered before you got invited to Vine? I’m just trying to see if its worth it to buy and review products
I have a question you may know the answer to, Ive just agreed to be a vine reviewer, but keep getting an error, "There was a problem creating your request, Please choose another item" Is this something youve had? are we supposed to wait 24 hours before requesting products? or is it likely to be some other issue? PPS: i was ignoring the request from Amazon because i thought it was a scam, until i got the message again during a review. Great video by the way
I'm a vine member! I can say it's partialy addictive and other has made me miserable, because it kills out all my time reviewing something properly, and creates a hoarder style home, filled with too much junk, I gave to charity, friends, family free stuff, I never sold any item, I kept stuff I needed, but I could buy the stuff that I really wanted. I never did get a computer, a tv, a treadmill, portable aircon unit, the things I really need the most that I can't afford, instead you get things like dust bins, air fans, screw drivers, equipment, tapes, scissors, knives, nails that sort of thing, you can get anything with cheap junk really. It be lucky you can get anything decent. At the end of the day I was still miserable, and now I'm filled with junk and miserable at the same time. If I used that time constructively I could make money in a job that could buy me a computer, aircon unit, and treadmill with more money left over. I believe the phrase don't get attached to material objects comes into play here, things ruin people's purity, this is why I gave most of my stuff away to charity and that's the only thing I thank Vine for helping me help others. These days you have to order a certain amount and review upto 90% of all your items within a time limit, this video is 1 year old and the rules are new, you have to review I believe it was 100 items and upto 90% of them within 6 months, and you can only give things out or sell after 6 months of your review that has been published, not after writing your review, it has to get published then 6 months later you can do whatever you want with the item.
@Unit_104 Time killing, wasting time on doing reviews, making them as professional as possible, otherwise they will get rejected, making the amount of necessary prequistis to satisfy them or they demote you and eventually kick you off the program. Then there is also clutter in the house, after 6 months I give 90% of everything away, I haven't sold any, I give to charity which makes me happy, but the unpaid work I have to put in that time to do it makes me miserable. Also that clutter in the house itself makes me miserable seeing how much of a hoarder I've become because of it, and you know what there is a disease called FOMO Fear of missing out, if i stop doing it. What this FOMO does is keep me enrolled in the program, and the miserable rinse and repeats itself, if the program was more lenient, and less strict on us, such as stop rejecting reviews because I wanted it in my own words and the setting how I want, what I say, it's all controlled by Amazon Vine, you really have no say if you following their strict rules. They don't censor me most of the time if I bought the item, but getting it for free THEY CONTROL YOU and YOUR REVIEWS. :) There does that answer your question? Yep sadly this is the truth I'm a whistle blower right now. You think vine reviewers are telling the truth? Some of them are, but many of them just want to get it over with incase their reviews get taken down because it didn't meet a member or seller's views on the product. What is allowed through is based on who is evaluating your review, appealing it takes up too much time, and they still haven't got back to me, other times they will delete your review not tell you they have deleted it, and it stays offline forever gone, without your knowledge, making me think oh hey you know that 40 min review I did well it's not even online and they force you to resubmit, and other times products go away and you've just wasted your time making that video upload review and long paragraph... I think I could find some more miserable things about vine, it was okay for 1 year but now it#s my 3 years coming up and I have to s ay 99% of what they put up on vine I'm reviewing is just junk and think if they going to control us they may as well pay us £10,000 per month for doing 8 items per day.
I knew nothing about Vine until I got an invitation. I am looking into it because at first I thought it was a scam email. 😅. I recently signed up and starting to review some items. I did however shut off the green Vine User Review tag in the settings. It is a very nice group to be in. thanks for your info.
You are not the first to think that. 😆 Congrats on the invite! So turning off the green Vine user review tag indicator only turns off the Vine reviewer badge on non-vine reviews you write. Vine reviews are always going to indicate you received the product through the Vine program because federal law requires disclosure of any compensation for the review, including products. This actually something I've only recently realized a lot of people don't know, so I was already planning to do a video on it. Thanks for the reminder!
@@heidimull Yes I realize it only hides the fact that I am a Vines user in the product review section. For me personally I like having it not displayed with my reviews so it looks to others that it is just another review. From Amazon's point of view, yes they know it is a Vines review. 😉 Thanks Heidi.
I've gotten good stuff and bad stuff. I saw one of your other videos that said we are to pay taxes, or might have to pay taxes, on stuff under $600. I did not know this. I will tell my tax advisor, I might have to pay back taxes on Vine products. Not looking forward to this.
Oof, I'm sorry. I'm curious what your tax advisor will say, as I believe they're legally obligated to advise you on paying all taxes owed. However as others have pointed out income below the $600 mark is "under the table" so to speak, and if the IRS doesn't find out then there's nothing they can do about it. I'm thinking about doing another video diving more into depth about this subject highlighting the risks of not paying it if the IRS finds out one way or another. They don't just want backpay, they also add interest and fees and it can be hefty. Then again, if you are lower income they're less likely to audit and find out. It's a stressful game that I'd rather not play, so I do everything above board. But I also understand others doing what they have to for the sake of getting by. I feel I didn't give that subject quite enough time, thank you for showing me this.
My family buys stuff off Amazon sometimes mainly during Christmas time when we want something. So when we buy stuff it's like 1-3 items and I don't do Amazon reviews cause it's on my dad's Amazon account. But I have done reviews off other websites
Hello Heidi; Congrats on participating in the Vine program. While it is cool, like Christmas everyday but be ware of the total $$ you get "charged" or 'Taxable Value'. You'll get your 1099-NEC statement and it is effectively treated as income which goes towards your total taxable income. So while items are "free" you will effectively pay 38+% in taxes so plan ahead. 🙂
Right! I try to be very careful of what I pick to review, and I keep a running spreadsheet of costs and what I'll pay in taxes. It also helps for me to think of things like a "sale". Like oooo..... I saved 93% on that item I really could use!! 😎
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
This is really good info- a lot of people don't know about the no-selling and how strict that is, and I can't say how but I do know multiple people who lost out being in the Vine program for selling items on other market places, and some were marked or variations that can be pointed out. Vine looks like a free-for-all because people don't take the "no selling" part seriously and are clueless about the tax liabilities they rack up, and all that before they even realize how time consuming leaving the reviews is. This is a really good and balanced explanation, Part 1 & Part 2 combined. This channel is great for anyone new to Vine, how it's fun, but also how you didn't really hit the Jackpot like it sounds, either. Subscribed in case you do any more Vine videos. 👍
What was the email specifically? Just from amazon or did it say Vine in it? Thank you for all the details!!
This series has been an excellently detailed and intellectual exploration of the subject matter. I have just been selected as a "Vine Voice" only days ago and out the gate I began ordering my limit of stuff daily. But for something like this, which is too good to be true I instinctively knew I had to seek out all that I can find about this situation in order to maximize this experience and not mess it up. You have done a fine job of covering many important aspects of this. I liked the one tip of finding private groups.
Thank you! I plan to highlight the groups more in another video, because as much fun as I'm having making these I really learned almost all of what I know from private groups. I'm not the expert--the collective knowledge of so many folks coming together to pool their knowledge is. So glad you found what you were looking for and congrats on the invite!
I had no idea there was a vine program and that it could be so life changing! It was interesting to hear some details of how it works. I'm so glad your family was able to get so many basics to ease things after years of struggle. I can think of a few other families I know that this would really help. Maybe someday!
I'm going to listen to part two right now.
It's really been helpful in so many ways! If the families you speak of buy items off Amazon it never hurts to review it just in case that leads to a Vine invitation!
Thank you for sharing! Can’t wait for part 2! It is awesome how impactful the program can be for people who need it
It really is. I'm super grateful it exists and that we've had the chance to enjoy it thus far. ❤️
Hello Heidi, thank you for your videos. I watched them with great interest as I find myself in the same prick but for Amazon Germany.
After reading a lot around and documenting myself I can definitely say that there is a BIG problematic with the tax system. One point of view is that those items have a "fair market value" and you need to be taxed as income tax based on this amount. But this is exactly the point which is absolutely senseless and I will put here all the reasons why:
1. If you do a job for someone and you receive as a payment for return of service an IPad, or if you do a job for someone and receive a lot of IPads or other goods as payment, it is important to note that there was a service and a payment in goods involved. In that case there would be an agreement from your side that you receive these goods as payment for your work. In that case I could understand the validity of an income tax. But in the case of Vine items to be tested this is not the case. I will explain below.
2. The item to be tested cannot be compared the same as the same item to be purchased. They cannot be considered as equivalent. Why? A purchased item has a guarantee, and you can also can get full monetary refunds if you choose not to keep it. This is not the case for a vine item. A vine item cannot be returned and has no guarantee. Also you can only claim it IF 6 months has passed and you were not requested to return it. Also you are not allowed to disclose or publish this item on any blog or website. All these restrictions definitely mean that a test product does not have the same market value as a purchased item. It is therefore a mistake from Amazon to claim that these products have the same "Fair Market Value" as a purchased item. Now the next point.
3. When I test a product I actually break it open and I subject it to all types of knocks and blows to check how good it actually is. I try to check the material, I scratch it etc. That is the whole point of testing. It is like if you give me a test car and I need to drive it and force it to the maximum to test it and am not allowed to sell it and I can only keep it if the seller does not request it within 6 months, it has no guarantee and the item cannot be returned, there is just no way that this item after 6 months and after being pushed to the max for testing be worth the same value as a newly purchased item which has a guarantee and which can be returned. This is just common sense. Next point.
4. If I test a product and it is NO GOOD. It is good for the dustbin and I dont want to keep it and I cannot return it. Why on earth should I pay 35% of its value when I dont even own it within 6 months and when I dont want to keep it? Next point.
5. There are items that are clearly overpriced. I make the test and I write that this product is overpriced. Again why should I pay 35% of the claimed value of an item that I cannot return and which I think is overpriced? Next point.
6. Most of the items on vine are from unknown brands.Hence after 6 months their value is just a few Euros that someone would be willing to pay on flee markets. They have a low resale value. Overall this whole thing makes no sense.
7. Those Fair market value prices are the original price the sellers would like to sell those items. They dont represent the actual value of a test product under those conditions. Also those fair market values have already a tax included in them. So how can I pay tax on something which is already taxed? Hence it is double taxed? If this applies, this can only apply for a case which I described in point 1. Which in the vine testing program clearly is not the case.
8. What about all items that get broken during the test phase? What about items you would not consider keeping? For me it looks like you are making me pay an expensive fee for testing an item. This is what it is. This is a 35% fee just for testing an item which is absurd. How can someone who buys the actual real product pay less tax? Instead of getting paid for testing you need to pay to test. How ridiculous is it that in the lucky case that you manage to sell an item lets say for 40% of its value, including additionally 20% as tax of that value additionally as VAT, this means the tax you paid is more than the amount you could hopefully get from selling it. In reality therefore you have been taxed 100% if not more. And they call this income tax?? This is absolute BS!
9. Most of the items have only between 0-50% of the value after 6 months after undergoing the tests and under the condition of no returns and no guarantee. There is also a big issue, the items were needed to have zero cost to the tester for the reviews to be properly legit. But if you need to pay a tax, this puts you in a pressure not to degrade the product either because you need to keep it in a good state because you paid taxes for it or you want to sell it to gain cash back. It makes no sense.
10.For the reviews to be truly fair the reviewer should have not have to pay anything. Hence whatever tax to be paid must have been paid by Amazon. The deal is that I receive a free item and I give a review in exchange. Hence it should be considered as a gift. Not the other way around, where I give a review and I get the item as a payment for my service. Also Amazon should claim the Fair Market Value of that gift to be much less than a purchased item because of all the attached conditions of receiving that gift. I believe that Amazon is missleading or misinforming and mostly missrepresenting the Fair Market Value of these items. In the case of Amazon.de they published the tax to be paid only after a year that the people had enrolled. These values are not Fair at all. They do not represent the real value and the authorities cannot force anyone to pay taxes for items they do not want to keep and cannot return.
I got invited in August of this year. There is a bug in the Amazon Vine Program that's preventing my reviews from being submitted. I emailed them and so far, nothing has been done about it. Ordered 19 products and reviewed 18. Also unable to order Amazon Vine Products.
Man, that really sucks. Please keep me updated. I wish I had a good solution for you but I have no idea as I haven't encountered that before. Anyone else have an idea?
Delighted this happened for you. Thanks for sharing your experience. Best wishes
What happened to me is, I normally put reviews on Amazon, especially if my experience with the item is different than other reviewers. Then earlier this year I got an email from Amazon to join the Vine program. I clicked it, and as soon as I got to a page that required my SSN, I stopped and closed the page. I did not sign up. Fast forward to November, I did a review for an item I bought and the stupid Vine symbol was next to my account name. I edited my review to say that I am not in the vine program, that I paid for the item and my review was not bias. So now I am trying to find out how to opt out, hence I found your RUclips videos.
It is considered taxable income if you go over a certain threshold, so I stay below that maxed amount so I'm not sent a W2 form at the end of the year, not worth it for me to pay for big items that are overpriced and pay tax on them! That being said, sounds like you were starving for daily essential items and that's why this was such a huge blessing and glad you could get things you needed for your family! I have been poor in the past, single mom and totally understand about things you just cannot afford to buy, it stinks! Glad your now doing well, you are so sweet and down to earth, love your vibe and may things continue to get even better and only up from here!
Hi Heidi, Can you name a few of the online groups of people who are amazon vine voices? I have been one since 10/31/2022. I would love to connect with some of them. Thank you so much Janet
Yes! There's a reddit group, discord group, two FB groups and a few different Good Reads groups. I did a video on them, links are in the description! ruclips.net/video/H2C_7u2Plog/видео.html
I got picked a few months ago out of the blue. I've never heard of the program and was suspicious that it was a scam 😂. I only had like 13 reviews I had written in 8 or 9 years. Turns out, they must have noticed a disgruntled review with a quick video clip that I did a review on.
My biggest pet peeve of the vine program is the LACK OF RULES listed anywhere! I'm basically going in blind with a lot of stuff. And I tried asking a question to the vine admins about (if a person I did a poor review on due to a faulty product was allowed to contact me through the 3rd party safety email program) and it was like pulling teeth. I keep being given the sparse "rule book" or they completely misunderstood my question. And when I tried to reiterate the question, they got tired of me and said someone will contact you in 12 hours. That was near the beginning of the month.
But mostly, I really like being a reviewer. I take a lot of pride in trying to fully use the products I pick and making sure I do pros and cons. I also pick things I want to use versus just getting it because I can.
I thought it was a scam too, because it wasn't the usual Amazon URL.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Can you tell me approx how many products you had ordered before you got invited to Vine? I’m just trying to see if its worth it to buy and review products
I have a question you may know the answer to, Ive just agreed to be a vine reviewer, but keep getting an error, "There was a problem creating your request, Please choose another item" Is this something youve had? are we supposed to wait 24 hours before requesting products? or is it likely to be some other issue? PPS: i was ignoring the request from Amazon because i thought it was a scam, until i got the message again during a review. Great video by the way
I'm a vine member! I can say it's partialy addictive and other has made me miserable, because it kills out all my time reviewing something properly, and creates a hoarder style home, filled with too much junk, I gave to charity, friends, family free stuff, I never sold any item, I kept stuff I needed, but I could buy the stuff that I really wanted. I never did get a computer, a tv, a treadmill, portable aircon unit, the things I really need the most that I can't afford, instead you get things like dust bins, air fans, screw drivers, equipment, tapes, scissors, knives, nails that sort of thing, you can get anything with cheap junk really. It be lucky you can get anything decent.
At the end of the day I was still miserable, and now I'm filled with junk and miserable at the same time. If I used that time constructively I could make money in a job that could buy me a computer, aircon unit, and treadmill with more money left over. I believe the phrase don't get attached to material objects comes into play here, things ruin people's purity, this is why I gave most of my stuff away to charity and that's the only thing I thank Vine for helping me help others.
These days you have to order a certain amount and review upto 90% of all your items within a time limit, this video is 1 year old and the rules are new, you have to review I believe it was 100 items and upto 90% of them within 6 months, and you can only give things out or sell after 6 months of your review that has been published, not after writing your review, it has to get published then 6 months later you can do whatever you want with the item.
@Unit_104 Time killing, wasting time on doing reviews, making them as professional as possible, otherwise they will get rejected, making the amount of necessary prequistis to satisfy them or they demote you and eventually kick you off the program.
Then there is also clutter in the house, after 6 months I give 90% of everything away, I haven't sold any, I give to charity which makes me happy, but the unpaid work I have to put in that time to do it makes me miserable. Also that clutter in the house itself makes me miserable seeing how much of a hoarder I've become because of it, and you know what there is a disease called FOMO Fear of missing out, if i stop doing it.
What this FOMO does is keep me enrolled in the program, and the miserable rinse and repeats itself, if the program was more lenient, and less strict on us, such as stop rejecting reviews because I wanted it in my own words and the setting how I want, what I say, it's all controlled by Amazon Vine, you really have no say if you following their strict rules.
They don't censor me most of the time if I bought the item, but getting it for free THEY CONTROL YOU and YOUR REVIEWS. :) There does that answer your question? Yep sadly this is the truth I'm a whistle blower right now. You think vine reviewers are telling the truth? Some of them are, but many of them just want to get it over with incase their reviews get taken down because it didn't meet a member or seller's views on the product.
What is allowed through is based on who is evaluating your review, appealing it takes up too much time, and they still haven't got back to me, other times they will delete your review not tell you they have deleted it, and it stays offline forever gone, without your knowledge, making me think oh hey you know that 40 min review I did well it's not even online and they force you to resubmit, and other times products go away and you've just wasted your time making that video upload review and long paragraph...
I think I could find some more miserable things about vine, it was okay for 1 year but now it#s my 3 years coming up and I have to s ay 99% of what they put up on vine I'm reviewing is just junk and think if they going to control us they may as well pay us £10,000 per month for doing 8 items per day.
I knew nothing about Vine until I got an invitation. I am looking into it because at first I thought it was a scam email. 😅. I recently signed up and starting to review some items. I did however shut off the green Vine User Review tag in the settings. It is a very nice group to be in. thanks for your info.
You are not the first to think that. 😆 Congrats on the invite!
So turning off the green Vine user review tag indicator only turns off the Vine reviewer badge on non-vine reviews you write. Vine reviews are always going to indicate you received the product through the Vine program because federal law requires disclosure of any compensation for the review, including products.
This actually something I've only recently realized a lot of people don't know, so I was already planning to do a video on it. Thanks for the reminder!
@@heidimull Yes I realize it only hides the fact that I am a Vines user in the product review section. For me personally I like having it not displayed with my reviews so it looks to others that it is just another review. From Amazon's point of view, yes they know it is a Vines review. 😉 Thanks Heidi.
@@kevink1214 so long as you're aware that all Vine reviews will show to regular customers as a Vine review!
I've gotten good stuff and bad stuff. I saw one of your other videos that said we are to pay taxes, or might have to pay taxes, on stuff under $600. I did not know this. I will tell my tax advisor, I might have to pay back taxes on Vine products. Not looking forward to this.
Oof, I'm sorry. I'm curious what your tax advisor will say, as I believe they're legally obligated to advise you on paying all taxes owed. However as others have pointed out income below the $600 mark is "under the table" so to speak, and if the IRS doesn't find out then there's nothing they can do about it.
I'm thinking about doing another video diving more into depth about this subject highlighting the risks of not paying it if the IRS finds out one way or another. They don't just want backpay, they also add interest and fees and it can be hefty. Then again, if you are lower income they're less likely to audit and find out. It's a stressful game that I'd rather not play, so I do everything above board. But I also understand others doing what they have to for the sake of getting by. I feel I didn't give that subject quite enough time, thank you for showing me this.
My family buys stuff off Amazon sometimes mainly during Christmas time when we want something. So when we buy stuff it's like 1-3 items and I don't do Amazon reviews cause it's on my dad's Amazon account. But I have done reviews off other websites
Hello Heidi; Congrats on participating in the Vine program. While it is cool, like Christmas everyday but be ware of the total $$ you get "charged" or 'Taxable Value'. You'll get your 1099-NEC statement and it is effectively treated as income which goes towards your total taxable income. So while items are "free" you will effectively pay 38+% in taxes so plan ahead. 🙂
Right! I try to be very careful of what I pick to review, and I keep a running spreadsheet of costs and what I'll pay in taxes. It also helps for me to think of things like a "sale". Like oooo..... I saved 93% on that item I really could use!! 😎