INTRODUCTION:
If you have come across this article, you may have just been invited to join Amazon Vine, or recently started using it daily. If so, there is a lot you will want to learn and know before you start going crazy ordering stuff. And there are a lot of tips and tricks for searching and finding worthwhile items, even completely tax free items.
In this post I am going to introduce and explain much about getting started with and using Amazon Vine daily. Be sure to check out the companion video of The Best Tax Free Items on Amazon Vine. There are a lot of them, and many of these items will be worthwhile for a lot of users. Here is the link to that video:
I am a long time Amazon Associate, which is the affiliate program, and a longtime, successful Amazon KDP Author, offering Canon and Nikon e-book camera guides (which you can find here: https://amzn.to/3CL1fz9). Though I don’t believe those programs had anything to do with me being invited to Vine. For many years, I have often written detailed reviews, both good and bad, sometimes with photos and videos. Some of my detailed reviews have been liked dozens or hundreds of times. So eventually, I must have hit a threshold where Amazon noticed, and I was invited to join Amazon Vine.
Unfortunately I jumped right in without reading much and knowing about the three item per day limit or the ETV taxable amounts. But luckily I discovered these things quickly. A couple things I suggest is to fully read the Vine agreement and resources page, join some Vine Facebook Groups, and join the Vine Discord page. And read through this article to learn all the ins and outs, potential pitfalls and errors, and tips and tricks!
FINDING ITEMS:
As you probably know, you will get to select three items a day, at least as long as you are a Silver status member. As you continue, you will need to order and review a certain number of items in order to remain a Vine member, and to get promoted to the next Gold tier where you can order 8 items, including items over $100 value.
As you may have discovered, searching through each page and each category will eat up way too much of your time, so you will quickly need to develop a strategy that limits the daily cost of time, effort, and distraction. You may first want to search through some of the categories you are interested in under the Additional Items group, to first get a feel for what kinds of items are available. Or for an item you are planning to buy, do a search for it in the Additional Items group. Once you have a list of items or keywords that you are interested in, do a search for each one, on the Additional Items page, and then save all those searches in one bookmark folder. Then you can “open all tabs” from that folder, and quickly click through each tab with your search terms, to see if anything new has appeared.
On the Vine Discord page, you can view the feed to get a feel for what kinds of items are available, or to grab things as they become available. Scroll though the recent items a couple times throughout the day, and order the items you want if they are still available, or make note of what you might want if you missed it and add it to your search terms.
To help you locate and choose items, you can also make use of the Amazon Vine Helper extension for Google Chrome, which enables you to highlight new items, display the ETV, and hide items you don’t want to keep seeing.
In order not to have a huge tax burden at the end of the year, you may want to focus on $0 ETV items, which are tax free, and thus truly free, and will not count in your annual taxable amount. There are numerous worthwhile $0 ETV items, and I have created a separate video that goes through all of the free, $0 ETV items that I have ordered or discovered:
These items include lots of medical items, food related items, makeup and body related items, knee braces and elbow braces, equipment for elderly people like toilet rails, baby items including carriers, baby gates, and car seat covers, and some pet items like poop bags and nail trimmers. And believe it or not, there are a lot of adult items and sex toys on Vine, and many of them are $0 ETV, including vibrators, dildoes, lube, and bondage gear. There are many, many more $0 ETV items that I cover In my $0 ETV Free Vine Items video. You can find many of these types of $0 ETV items in the Health and Household, and the Beauty and Personal Care categories of the Additional Items tab.
Be careful, though – for some items that are typically $0 ETV, sometimes a similar item is not $0, and it may have a very expensive ETV. So be very careful and check the ETV amount before ordering. For example, some of the arm braces, or bathroom scales, or elderly equipment, or baby items that look like ones you may have ordered for free before, are not actually $0 ETV, and they can be very pricey. If you accidentally order one, cancel it right away.
PRODUCTS to AVOID:
Based on user experience, there are some products that it may be best to avoid on Vine, for safety reasons. These include products that plug in and use electricity, such as power strips, charging blocks, cords or cables, and even lamps and such. These types of products are often not UL Listed, or properly certified to be safe, and people have found that these types of items become excessively hot and possibly dangerous when plugged in. You may also want to avoid certain types of off-brand supplements, herbal products, balms, teas, food, or items such as kid’s makeup kits. These items often don’t list the ingredients, so you have no idea what you are ingesting or putting on your skin. There are also many baby products such as swings, slings, seat belt adjusters, etc. that are not certified in any way to be safe. These types of products are probably not worth the risk to the safety of an infant or child. I’ve made the mistake of ordering these types of products in the heat of excitement, only to soon regret it, especially when they arrive and no ingredients or safety standards are listed. So they will just end up in the trash.
ORDERING:
So to continue describing the ordering process, when you click on the “See Details” icon to view and order a specific item, be sure and check the size, the color, and most importantly the ETV tax value. Some items are grossly overpriced as far as the ETV, and you may not want to order it. Some items may be of only one size, and you cannot select the size. Be sure to check in the description, as the size may be an XXL.
Be sure and always click See More and scroll down, because some items, even ones you may not expect, offer you a size, color, or variation choice. You will want to select the desired size or color, otherwise you will get the default one, which may be extra large or small, or an undesirable color. Sometimes an item has several variations, and they may be listed by a code or number, and you may need to go to the product page and confirm which variation or which item you want to order. For example, a Vine ordering page for a wig or a tattoo set may actually have a pull down menu to select from many different wigs or tattoo sets. Once when I ordered ear plugs, there was an option to order 10 or to order 100, either one for $0 ETV, so why not get 100!
As soon as you order, click on your order tab, and confirm the ETV amount, to make sure you got a $0 ETV if that is what you expect, or make sure the ETV is not absurdly high. It will be shown under the Fair Market Value column.
And once you have ordered your three items for the day, try to close all the Vine windows and Discord page, and avoid looking at it for the rest of the day. It is tempting to see what you may have missed, but that just leads to frustration and regret. It is always a risk to pass up a certain item in order to wait for something better that may or may not appear later in the day, so you need to carefully weigh the personal value of an item now vs. possibly missing out on a better, more desired item later in the day. For example, you should probably pass on a tempting item that is only worth $6 or $9, if you are really waiting for a $50 item that you can get for $0 ETV. The desired item may not appear that day or the next day, but on the day that it does appear, you will want to be ready for it.
REVIEWS:
You will need to order 80 items, and review 90% of them, in order to be upgraded to Gold status after six months. You will be writing numerous reviews, perhaps some of very personal or potentially embarrassing items, so you can edit your profile name to anything you want, and you can make sure your reviews and information are not shown on your public profile page. This will not affect your Amazon name for ordering, etc, just the name associated with your reviews and ratings.
Vine encourages you to write thorough, honest reviews, as well as to include photos and videos. You will see that some members do this, and other just write a quick but informative review. I’m not sure if Vine actually checks up on the length and content of your reviews. They do approve each review, and some have complained about how their reviews get rejected. I believe that it could be an automated review process, as I can’t imagine an actual person is reading and approving each review. I have written over 400 Vine reviews, and haven’t yet had a single one rejected.
Once you start ordering three items a day, your review list will start to get long, so you need to stay on top of the reviews. Some items may require you to use it over time to give an honest review, but since you need to stay on top of the reviews, this isn’t always feasible. If you aren’t using it over time, you can still honestly review an item by describing its components, options, material, quality, comfort, etc. I suggest keeping your pending review list down to 2 or 3 pages, otherwise you will have a lot of work to catch up.
Sometimes when you go to write a review, you will see that you have already written one for a variation of that item. For example, you ordered the same brand of knee braces in different sizes or colors. When this happens, just contact Vine to remove the item from your review list. Use the Contact Us icon on the Vine page. Do not contact regular Amazon Customer service, always contact Vine Customer Service for Vine related issues. Explain in a clear and simple email that this item is a size or color variation of an item you already reviewed, so please remove it from your review list. You should usually get a response and have it removed in a day or two. These items will still be in your order list, but they will be listed as Cancelled in your tax spreadsheet. Vine asks that you not order multiple variations of an item. However, I have ordered countless ankle braces, in various sizes and colors, and successfully had them removed from my review list, and haven’t been kicked off Vine. But this leads us to cancelled items.
CANCELLED ITEMS:
With many desirable items, you have to move quickly and order it right away. You barely have time to go check the size chart on the product page, or verify exactly what it is. When you come back to the Vine page to order it, it may be gone. So that may cause you to order things quickly without fully knowing the details. Or sometimes you may order an item and immediately discover it wasn’t really what you thought it would be, or it was the wrong size, or it won’t fit your computer or your car, or it was a mistake on your part. When this happens, you should contact Vine right away and cancel it. Or you may be able to quickly go to your Amazon order page and cancel it.
The item will remain on your order list, but if you check your tax spreadsheet, you should see that it is cancelled, and the amount removed. Be sure and check the spreadsheet and confirm. When you cancel an item, you will not get that pick back for the day. If that was your third pick of the day, you will not get that third selection back, and you will be done choosing items that day. Apparently if you cancel too many items, you may get kicked off of Vine, so be careful about ordering and cancelling.
In order to be ready to order any desirable item, perhaps make a handy list of your sizes, in inches, centimeters, shoe size, etc. For example, your waist and body measurement sizes for clothes, your arm or calf sizes for compression braces. Then quickly go to the product page and determine the size. The size chart is often one of the product images. You may want to be careful about buying expensive items that require the correct size, however, because you will not be able to return or exchange them. You can try contacting the seller, but most often they will not respond or they will not exchange the item. Amazon will not exchange the item or accept a return, since it is a Vine item.
DEFECTIVE or LOST ITEMS:
Sometimes items get lost in shipment, get damaged in shipment, or are defective or missing pieces in the box. Or sometimes the order simply gets cancelled because the seller really didn’t have enough of them in stock to send you. This all happens relatively often if you are ordering three items a day. When any of this happens, contact Vine and have them remove the item from your Tax list. DO NOT, under any circumstances, write a review of a lost, damaged, or defective item. Once you write a review, or once 30 days has passed I believe, Vine WILL NOT remove that item from your tax list, and you will be paying taxes on it. Be sure to check the Vine tax spreadsheet and make sure it was cancelled.
If an item is lost, damaged, or defective, Amazon will not replace it. It was a limited Vine item provided by the seller, and so Amazon will not do anything about it. Tough luck. It happens more than you would like, and usually with something you really wanted or needed.
TAXES:
As I have been explaining, each item has an Estimated Taxable Value, or ETV. When you click on a product to order it, be sure and check the ETV amount. At the end of the year, Amazon will send you and the IRS a tax form that lists this amount as income. You will need to add this amount to your income amount on your tax return, and pay taxes on it. The amount of tax you pay may range from perhaps 15% to 25%, depending on your situation. So every time you order an item on Vine, assume that you will be paying 25% of the ETV that is listed, as taxes. These items are not free. You are getting them for perhaps 75% off. That is why you need to be careful about what you order, and what the ETV amount is.
Be sure to conside that even if you are getting the item for 75% off, is the item really worth it? For example when I order anything that is electronics related, such as an Arduino board or accessory, I will be paying for it later with my taxes. But the 25% cost to me is approximately the same price or more, for that same item at AliExpress. So is it really worth it for me to buy this item from Vine? If I order it from AliExpress, I can carefully select the exact item I want, I can take my time and make sure it is what I want, and I can order the quantity I want. As tempting as it is to get these items from Vine, even with the 75% discount, it often isn’t really worth it.
This applies to a lot of other items. Everything under the sun is available on AliExpress, often with free shipping if you get more than $10 worth of stuff. For example, all the cheap lingerie that is shown on Vine, you can find the exact same thing on AliExpress for much less. Just copy the image of the item, do a Google image search, and you will see the exact item listed from 10 different sellers on AliExpress. Now, AliExpress items have about 2 weeks shipping time, but I have found them to be very dependable, and have never had any problem with refunds when there is an issue. Keep in mind, you don’t want to buy something from AliExpress that you may have to physically return, since that could cost a lot, so be sure of the size you need etc. But buying things like electronic components, various craft items, small kid’s items, or even some clothing or lingerie, all of which costs only a few dollars and aren’t a major loss if you accidentally ordered the wrong option or wrong size, can be worth it.
As with most all independent contractors, there is a $600 mark which triggers the tax form that Amazon will send to you and send to the IRS. If your ETV at the end of the year is under $600, Amazon will not send out that tax form. However, that means you are responsible for including the amount on your taxes.
There are several videos and articles explaining why and how Vine members should not have to be paying taxes on these items. There are many reasons for that. One is that these items come from the sellers, not from Amazon. Amazon is the warehouse and shipping middle-man. So why are they sending you a tax form acting like it was their item? They are perhaps merely covering themselves, with some boilerplate words and forms. Also some argue that the item or the item’s value is used up in the review process. The whole point of the item is that it is sent to you in exchange for a review. So these items aren’t being sent to you in your everyday life, they are sent to you in your capacity as a reviewer. So the entire amount can be deducted as an expense, zeroing out the ETV amount.
Some of these people have discussed this with the IRS, and there is no clear answer, because this is such a weird, unique situation and relationship. But some have been advised by the IRS that they can zero out the amount as expenses. Take all of that advice at your own risk. It may be best just to pay the taxes on it, if you don’t want to argue about it with the IRS or get audited and possibly pay fines and interest. Here are a couple videos and an article which explain their approach to taxes:
Another video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWiIiqOVBFg
Article:
When paying the annual taxes, some include the amount as business income, or personal income, or hobby income. It is up to your and your financial advisors to figure out how to do this.
Personally I agree that Amazon should not be sending Vine members a tax form, based on the fact that these items come from the sellers, not Amazon – among other reasons. But that is a matter for the IRS to investigate and determine, and I don’t expect that to ever happen.
A big issue I have with the Vine program is that Amazon passes all the cost, all the expense, to the sellers and the Vine reviewers. Amazon accepts none of the cost, and yet they profit from it. The Vine reviewer pays a cost of time, energy, stress, and taxes. The Vine sellers pay a couple hundred dollars to join Vine. Then they pay, I believe, when any individual item gets a review. You can look at the Vine Seller signup to see all the costs to the sellers. So Amazon takes money from the sellers, and they get the huge benefit of Vine member’s reviews, which cost members a lot of time and effort. And Amazon passes the tax expense to the Vine reviewers. As all good capitalists do, they have socialized the costs, and privatized the profit. It is quite a scheme for them.
CONCLUSION:
In conclusion, is Amazon Vine worth it? Should I be wasting my time with this? Do I need any of this stuff? Yes, sort of. The heating pads and elbow braces and kinesiology tape could definitely come in handy some day. I use most the things that I ordered that have tax amounts, that I actually needed and searched for – like a dash cam, car sun screens, kitchen stuff, electronics stuff, hose repair, and other household things. Some of the tax free but valuable things like blood pressure monitors and electronic scales are nice to have.
Most of the items are not junk, as some claim they are. Sure, most of it comes from China, but most of it is decent quality. Except for the hair trimmers and Swiffer refills, which work but are pretty cheapo. However, many of the $0 ETV items turn out to be stuff that will just sit in the closet until I may or may not need it someday.
But now I also have lots of items I can give away to friends and family, after the six month holding period where you must keep the item. Like the nice toilet rails and walkers and shower seats for elderly family members, bathroom and kitchen scales for everyone, elbow braces and ankle braces and foot rollers and blood pressure monitors for everyone. A family member tested much of the makeup for me, and she will appreciate getting it all after the 6 month period. My kid appreciates most all the various fun things I get for them.
But is it worth the time, the distraction, the stress, the daily hunting, the daily tracking of shipments and tax values, the emails to Vine to cancel lost or defective items, the infinite number of boxes and plastic bubble envelopes that must be recycled or discarded, the cost to the planet for every step of the process? Probably not.
And then there is the tax cost. Sure you intend to only order things which you really need. But nearly every Vine video on YouTube will attest to how that tax number gets quite large before they realize it. Since it counts as income, it will raise your annual income, which may cause a major issue for those getting benefits or applying for a loan, etc.
You can stick to the tax free items, but after about 6 months, you have likely grabbed most everything you wanted, and are now just getting multiple copies of things. So I don’t know what to say. It can be a distracting addiction, and it probably would be best if I could just step away. I am up for my promotion to Gold level soon, so I will get that far, and then see how it goes…
Do you have any questions or comments? Be sure to leave them here. And be sure to check out the companion video of The Best Tax Free Items on Amazon Vine.
There are a lot of $0 ETV items that appear each day, and many of these items will be worthwhile for a lot of users. And with patience and searching and time, I assure you that you can eventually grab many of them.
And be sure to check out my e-book camera guides for Canon and Nikon mirrorless cameras, available on Amazon:
https://amzn.to/3CL1fz9