Reviews are crucial to deciding where to shop and what to buy, especially when browsing items online. With over 12 million products for sale, Amazon has a huge variety of reviews that can help shoppers make smart buying decisions.
If you’ve ever looked into leaving reviews on Amazon, you may have come across something called Vine Voices. So what is Amazon Vine and how can you get involved? I found all these answers and more below!
What Is Amazon Vine In [currentyear]?
Amazon Vine is an internal service where manufacturers provide products to review, with Amazon collecting a fee before passing the products onto experienced reviewers who must publish their honest feedback. This invitation-only program is designed to provide valuable reviews about new products so Amazon shoppers can decide what to buy.
If you want to know all about Amazon Vine, including product and review requirements, keep reading this handy guide for more information.
How Does Amazon Vine Work?
Amazon Vine provides quality reviews to give customers helpful and honest feedback from unbiased opinions.
The program was introduced in 2007 to give retailers the chance to start out strong with honest reviews on their new products, which in turn assists shoppers with their purchasing decisions.
Amazon Vine asks trusted reviewers to be part of the Vine Voices program, where they get to share their likes and dislikes about pre-release or brand new products.
Companies like these Vine reviews because they are honest and trustworthy, while customers appreciate the heads up on new items.
Also, a signature green stripe is used to distinguish an Amazon Vine review from regular customer feedback, so shoppers know they can truly trust this feedback as fair and accurate with full transparency.
Vine reviewers assist other Amazon shoppers in making informed buying decisions through independent reviews, which cannot be changed by the vendor.
Even Amazon itself does not change Vine reviews, so long as they respect Amazon posting guidelines.
How Do Sellers Sign Up For Amazon Vine?
Once sellers are approved through the Amazon Brand Registry, they will get to see and use Amazon Vine for relevant reviews.
This option will appear within the advertising tab on Seller Central, and eligible sellers can enroll and make offers straight away.
Essentially, these offers include the new product information and what reviewers will receive, whether it’s a limited edition or a full suite of products.
From there, Vine Voices members can view these details and request a unit for review and feedback.
Amazon sellers are charged for Vine enrollments after the first Vine review is published on the product listing page.
Keep in mind there are enrollment requirements and criteria for which products can be reviewed through Amazon Vine, which Amazon outlines for sellers on the official page.
For example, products must be Fulfilled by Amazon to be eligible for Vine reviews, as this protects the seller’s identity and integrity.
Also, products with more than 30 reviews already will not be accepted to Amazon Vine, as the program is designed for new products without a lot of reviews.
How Are Amazon Vine Reviewers Selected?
Reviewer rank is key to the ongoing success of Amazon Vine, as only the best and most trusted reviews can get involved.
Amazon invites reviewers to join the program based on their ranking, which reflects how helpful their reviews are to fellow customers.
Vine Voices members need to have an established history of leaving reviews on products they purchased and used.
Whether it’s good or bad, Amazon wants to see quality reviews before inviting someone to join the exclusive Vine program.
Once selected to the program, Vine reviewers receive free products as submitted by participating merchants, and then leave an independent review, which cannot be influenced by the vendor in any way.
If you want to get into this invitation-only program, keep in mind helpful reviews and genuine interest in relevant products help you stand out.
By writing consistent customer reviews and becoming a reputable resource for reviews on specific types of products, you are more likely to score an invite to Vine Voices.
What Are Amazon Vine Rules?
To better understand Amazon Vine and how it works, it helps to know what criteria sellers must meet to be eligible for the program.
For example, sellers must have a registered brand with the Amazon Brand Registry, as well as available inventory and a relevant product image and description.
Also, sellers must have a product in new condition that’s ready to buy and can be fulfilled by Amazon, plus no more than 30 reviews on the product page.
In addition to this criteria, it’s important to remember that Vine Voices are not limited to purely positive reviews.
Participants are encouraged to leave their honest feedback, both the good and the bad, which other customers can evaluate for helpfulness just like with other Amazon reviews.
Vine Voices members are not paid for their participation and reviews of pre-release or new products, and they will not be penalized for leaving a negative review.
There is no contact between vendors and Vine Voices members, as participating sellers cannot choose who will review their goods.
Vendors are not permitted to edit any Vine reviews, which helps maintain the integrity of this review program, whether the feedback is positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle.
What matters most is detailed, objective reviews that inform and ultimately inspire Amazon shoppers.
To know more, you can also read our posts on what are Amazon warehouse deals, what is Amazon 4-star, and are Amazon reviews fake.
Conclusion
Amazon Vine has provided a reliable internal review service on the leading e-commerce site since 2007.
This program allows retailers to receive unbiased, honest feedback from trusted reviewers, typically for newly released products that don’t have a lot of reviews to start with.
Amazon Vine vendors pay a fee and provide products to vetted reviewers in exchange for a detailed review, which is a requirement for Vine Voices participants.
Customers benefit from these detailed, independent reviews while merchants appreciate the feedback, too.
Remember, Amazon Vine welcomes both positive and negative reviews, so long as they are honest and meet posting guidelines.
So next time you’re shopping on Amazon, make sure you scroll down to the reviews and look for the green stripe signifying a Vine review. You can even vote on how helpful each Vine review is, just like you’d do for any review on Amazon.
If you want to increase your chances of being invited to review products as part of the Amazon Vine program, then make sure to leave an honest review for everything you buy from Amazon. The more reviews you leave and the higher your ranking, the better.
