Amazon Vine: how the program actually works

Amazon Vine is the program through which Amazon provides free products to a small number of selected reviewers, in exchange for a review published on the product page. Those reviews appear with a "Vine Customer Review" label, which tells shoppers the item was received free of charge.

The program runs on most Amazon marketplaces, including amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon.es and amazon.it. The core rules are similar from one country to the next, but thresholds, wording and tax reporting differ, and they have changed several times since the program launched. Keep one reflex: the authoritative source is the Vine help page on your own marketplace, not a blog post or a forum comment.

Who decides who takes part

Vine is invitation only. There is no application form, and no third party can enroll you. Amazon selects accounts based on how helpful their existing reviews are, which in practice means the "helpful" votes other shoppers leave on your past reviews. An account that posts a high volume of reviews nobody finds useful is no better placed than any other.

We cover what actually weighs in that selection, and what is folklore, in how to get invited to Amazon Vine.

How items are offered

Once you are a member, you get access to a dedicated catalog, separate from the regular store. Items are grouped into several streams: personalised recommendations, a stream open to all members, and depending on the marketplace a last-chance stream of items nobody has claimed.

Three characteristics of that catalog explain most of the frustration new members feel:

• Stock is single-unit. Each item is usually offered as one single unit for every member in the stream.
• There is no queue. Whoever confirms the order first gets the item. Everyone else watches it disappear.
• The catalog changes constantly. New items appear throughout the day, with no announced schedule and no notification.

It is the combination of all three that makes sought-after items effectively unreachable if you check the catalog twice a day. We break the arithmetic down in why Vine items disappear within seconds.

ETV, the most misunderstood part

Every item carries an Estimated Taxable Value, or ETV. It is the value Amazon records for the item you received. It is shown next to each item and accumulates in your annual summary.

Your cumulative ETV is the figure you may have to report. How, and whether, depends entirely on where you live and on your personal situation: see ETV and taxes for the mechanism and where to find authoritative answers.

What you commit to in return

The item is not a no-strings gift. By ordering, you agree to publish a review within a set period, and to maintain a sufficient review rate across all your orders. Members who leave too many items unreviewed lose access to the program.

The required rate and the deadline are shown in your Vine account, and both have been revised more than once across marketplaces. Do not rely on a number you read elsewhere, check your own. Practical details are in review requirements.

Finally, the review has to be honest. Nothing requires you to give five stars, and a program producing only glowing reviews would be worthless to shoppers. A well-argued negative review is entirely legitimate and will not get you removed.

Tiers

Members are split into tiers that determine how many items and what kind of items you can access. Moving up depends on the number of reviews published and on meeting your obligations. Thresholds vary by marketplace: see Silver and Gold tiers.