The Amazon Vine program gives product testers free products that they can rate and then review on the online retailer’s platform. Customers often recognize reviews from Vine members because the reviews are particularly detailed and extensive. They are designed to be rated by users as either “helpful” or “not helpful” and serve as a guide before making a purchase.
The reviewers are not Amazon employees, but selected customers who are in the “Amazon Vine“-Club. In principle, it is therefore possible for every Amazon customer to receive free products and to rate them online.
Amazon Vine: Join by invitation only
You cannot enroll in Amazon’s Vine program on your own. Amazon customers are identified and invited after an internal selection process. The invitation depends on your previous reviews that you have written on Amazon and whether and how many other customers have rated them as “helpful”.
If you want to be invited by Amazon or have already been invited, the following is expected from your reviews:
- The review must be made within 30 days of receipt of the product.
- Published reviews should serve as a helpful guide before purchasing and should therefore be written as objectively as possible.
- The assessment may be positive, negative or neutral and should reflect your honest opinion.
- The more recent your review is, the more likely it is that Amazon will take notice of you. The same applies to the number of your ratings; the more you have reviewed, the greater the chance of becoming a product tester. An exact number that you need for an invitation is not known.
- If you receive products, you do not have to fear any further payment. Amazon will then tell you whether you ultimately have to send the product back.