Launched in 2007,[1][2] Amazon Vine is an internal service of Amazon.com that allows manufacturers and publishers to receive reviews for their products on Amazon.[3][4][5] Companies pay a fee to Amazon and provide products for review. The products are then passed to Amazon reviewers, who can publish a review. Reviews are not required on any particular item, although Vine members are expected to review most items received. Past and present participating companies include Logitech, HarperCollins, Philips, Samsung, Bose, Sony, Tefal, Microsoft, Breville, Bosch, Garmin, Dyson, Remington, Case Logic, Creative, Braun, Sennheiser, Olympus, LG, Black & Decker, Acer and Walker Books.[6][7] Reception for the program has been mixed with some people criticizing the program's use of non-professional reviewers while others cited this as a benefit.[8][9] The Vine program operates independently on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk,[10] Amazon.fr,[11] Amazon.de,[12] Amazon.ca[13] and Amazon.es.[14]
Membership[edit]Vine members (known as "Vine Voices") are selected from the Amazon reviewer base, with the site stating that the selection criteria are "based on the trust [the members] earned in the Amazon community for writing accurate and insightful reviews".[15] Previously, there were two Vine newsletters every month from which the Vine Voices could select items to review. The first newsletter appeared on the third Thursday of the month, and the second appeared on the fourth Thursday. Leftover articles from these newsletters went to the "Last Harvest" list, where Vine members could choose unlimited products.
Products ailable for review originally included essentially any item that was ailable for sale on Amazon.[16] In return for products received, members were required to post a review within 30 days of delivery.[15] Members were not allowed to sell or give away products received.[17]
The Vine process changed in October 2016. Vine members can voluntarily check the website for a changing array of items and select an unlimited number of items to review from both their targeted Vine offers or from "Vine for All". This change was in response to increased vendor interest in this program.[18] Another member change was Amazon ending all customer online discussion boards, including the ones that previously existed for Amazon Vine program members, in October 2017.[19]
In 2023 the program changed to classify members into silver or gold tiers. The silver tier allows members to request up to three items per day from products valued at $100 or less. To be upgraded to the Gold tier, members must review at least 80 Vine items and 90% of their Vine orders within the six month evaluation period set by Amazon. Gold tier members can request up to eight items per day from products of any value. To remain in this tier, they must review at least 80 Vine items and 90% of their Vine orders within the six month evaluation period set by Amazon.
Beginning July 1, 2015, Vine members in the USA are required to provide tax identification numbers to Amazon before receiving any new materials to review. Amazon uses the estimated tax value (ETV) of products as non-cash, taxable payments to Vine Voices for their services. Ownership of each Vine third-party product transfers to the respective Vine Voice immediately upon the order date, and it is then that the ETV applies for tax purposes. For tax purposes, Amazon issues a 1099 to Vine members. Although included in the Vine Voices list of transferred items, consumable items, such as food, vitamins, and makeup, are valued at $0 and thus he no ETV for the reviewer.[20][21]
Criticism[edit]The program has been met with criticism over the program's lack of transparency and the professionalism of its reviewers.[22] Kristen McLean, formerly of the Association of Booksellers for Children, commented that Amazon did not initially disclose that publishers paid to he their products included in the Vine program and that "Amazon is not specific about how many people are in the program, how they're chosen."[5] The program also initially met criticism over the visibility of the reviews, with librarian Elizabeth Bird (author and Top 500 Amazon Reviewer) commenting that her reviews were sometimes "shuffled off to the side" while Vine reviews were more prominently and visibly placed.[23] Bird further commented that some of the reviewers were choosing and criticizing books that they were "not the best representative readers for" and that this highlighted the difference between lay readers and professional reviewers, that latter of who would be more able to "give insightful commentary and acknowledge a book's intended audience".[23]
References[edit] ^ "Amazon Vine and Early Reviewers". Library Thing. Archived from the original on 6 July 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ "Amazon Offers Early Galleys, Online Payments". GalleyCat. Archived from the original on 4 May 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ "What is Amazon Vine?". Amazon Vine. Retrieved 3 July 2014. ^ "Amazon's Army". The New York Times. 9 October 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2013. ^ a b "Vetting Vine Voices". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ "Publishers grasp Amazon's Vine". Bookseller. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ "Like Writing? Here's How to Get Free Products from Amazon Vine". Skint Dad. 23 February 2018. Retrieved 2018-02-23. ^ "More online shoppers take the word of anonymous product reviewers". Seattle PI. 22 December 2008. Retrieved 24 February 2013. ^ "Los mil comentaristas de Amazon". El País. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2013. ^ "What is Amazon Vine?". Amazon Vine. Retrieved 1 July 2014. ^ "Qu'est ce que le Club des Testeurs Amazon?". Amazon Vine. Retrieved 1 July 2014. ^ "Was ist Amazon Vine?". Amazon Vine. Retrieved 1 July 2014. ^ "Amazon.ca Help". www.amazon.ca. Retrieved 2016-11-02. ^ "Amazon.es Help". www.amazon.es. Retrieved 2022-01-07. ^ a b "What is Amazon Vine™?". Amazon Vine. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ "Like Writing? Here's How to Get Free Products from Amazon". Skint Dad. 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2018-02-23. ^ "Amazon updates Vine participation agreement". ZD Net. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ "Amazon Sign In". Amazon. ^ "Site Features - Amazon Customer Service". Amazon. ^ "Vine Tax Information". Amazon. 2016. ^ "Vine Voices Participation Agreement". Amazon. 2016. ^ "The Double Life Of Betsy Bird". Forbes. Retrieved 23 February 2013. ^ a b Bird, Elizabeth (28 October 2009). "Said I heard it through the Amazon VINE™". School Library Journal. Retrieved 23 February 2013. vteAmazonPeopleCurrent Jeff Bezos (Founder and Executive Chairman) Andy Jassy (President and CEO) Werner Vogels (CTO) Former Rick Dalzell Paul Dis Tony Hsieh Christopher North Ram Shriram Tom Szkutak Brian Valentine Facilities List of Amazon locations Doppler Day 1 HQ2 Principal Place Spheres Bellevue 600 Products andservicesSubsidiaries AbeBooks Amazon Games Double Helix Games Amazon Lab126 Amazon Pharmacy PillPack Amazon Robotics Amazon University Esports Annapurna Labs Audible Blink Home Body Labs BookFinder Fresh Goodreads Goodreads Choice Awards Graphiq IMDb Box Office Mojo IMDbPro Kuiper Systems One Medical Ring Neighbors Shopbop Twitch IGDB Woot.com Zappos Zoox Cloudcomputing Web Services AMI Amazon Aurora Beanstalk CloudFront DynamoDB EBS EC2 EFS ElastiCache EMR Glacier Glue Lambda Lightsail MTurk Neptune Product Advertising API RDS Redshift Rekognition Route 53 S3 SageMaker SES SNS SimpleDB SQS VPC Services Amazon.com China Alexa Appstore Digital Game Store Fire OS Kindle Store Luna Payments Prime Amazon miniTV MX Player Key Prime Music Prime Now Prime Pantry Prime Video Sports Marketplace Music (Wondery) Silk Wireless Devices Astro Echo Show Echo Buds Fire Fire HD Fire HDX Fire TV Stick Kindle Technology 1-Click Amazon One Dynamo Obidos Lumberyard Media Amazon Games Amazon Publishing Breakthrough Novel Award Best Books of the Year Amazon MGM Studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer United Artists Orion Pictures American International Pictures MGM+ Kindle Direct Publishing YES Network (15%) Retail Amazon Fresh Amazon Go Whole Foods Market Logistics Amazon Freight Amazon Air Amazon Prime Air Former 43 Things A9.com Askville Alexa Internet Amapedia Amazon Books Amazon Clinic Amie Street (Songza) Book Depository CDNow ComiXology Dash buttons Dash wand Diapers.com Digital Photography Review Drive Endless.com Fire Phone Freevee Lexcycle Liquista LivingSocial LoveFilm MGM Holdings Mobipocket PlanetAll Reflexive Entertainment Sellaband Shelfari Souq.com TenMarks Treasure Truck Withoutabox Litigation Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon.com, Inc. v. Barnesandnoble.com, Inc. Amazon.com Inc v Canada (Commissioner of Patents) FTC v. Amazon Other Amazon Light ASIN Community Banana Stand Criticism (tax) Fishbowl History of Amazon LibraryThing List of Amazon brands List of Amazon products and services List of mergers and acquisitions by Amazon Locker MacKenzie Scott Statistically improbable phrase Vine Worker organization List of fatalities Edwardsville Amazon warehouse collapse Unions Congress of Essential Workers Amazon Labor Union Amazon worker organization 2024 strike Category