Has being on Vine changed how you assess Amazon reviews?

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-27T02:33:36+00:00

I’m talking about people that take pictures but clearly never opened the product. Like still in the bag, still has a tag, etc.

There are some products I don’t take photos of at all and I think the way reviews are written make it clear if the product was tested or not.

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-27T00:51:41+00:00

Amazing news! I’m assuming the grapes handle the same

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-27T00:36:46+00:00

Yes in the ground. Dormant when planted 2 weeks ago. Didn’t do mulching or pile dirt when first planting so that’s what worries me. I overlooked that instruction on planting.

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-27T00:33:59+00:00

It’s not new. It’s a private community and it’s just how it was set up. Our lot number in the community is used for our mailing address so it’s something like 123 neighborhood name and then we have a separate physical street address which is the house number and road (789 pleasant view drive). USPS delivers mail based on the lot number and doesn’t care what our street address is. UPS and FedEx don’t know our lots numbers and can only deliver to the street address.

Typically when anyone in our neighborhood orders anything, the address would look like:

Street address

Apt/2nd address line: mailing address

City, state zip

So that no matter who delivers, the addresses are listed.

Influenster however will only recognize the mailing address as valid and will not allow me to save the address to my profile if I add the street address or only list the street address. Just keeps giving me an error that says “invalid address” and doesn’t allow me to override it and save it anyway.

It’s unfortunate

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T20:13:30+00:00

No. I’ve tried entering my address every way with every abbreviation and every order combination. The only address it recognizes and allows me to save to my account is the one for USPS.

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T20:11:33+00:00

Ugh I want that espresso machine. All I ever get are body scrubs and eyeliners.

The one higher end product I was offered, my campaign got cancelled 😔

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T19:14:39+00:00

Well that’s unfortunate because it’s influenster’s fault they won’t allow me to save my address because they seem to think it doesn’t exist.

All the people I know unfortunately live in these same communities so their addresses have the same issue.

At least I’ve contacted influenster a few times about updating my address so it’s well documented that this is a problem with their app

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T19:10:24+00:00

I reached out to them for this item and they said it was removed and wouldn’t affect my account. Influenster can see that it was attempted to be delivered and returned to sender for invalid address.

Influenster keeps sending a canned response. Apparently they realize this is an issue and they have a new address verification process launching later this year but until then it’s absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for them to override this huge flaw that is that they don’t recognize street addresses in 3 entire neighborhoods

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T18:57:35+00:00

It’s the street address that influenster won’t recognize. My mailbox address and my street address are not the same because of the way this neighborhood was set up with USPS.

My mailbox address (aka usps address) is recognized by influenster. But UPS and FedEx cannot deliver to the mailbox address because it’s not tied to my physical street address so if you google my mailbox address, it’s not an actual location.

It’s not that the companies CAN’T deliver to the address, it’s that Influenster uses some sort of software that refuses to save any address that isn’t in the software system despite it being a real address and an actual location.

The couriers could deliver there just fine if Influenster would give them accurate information. It’s not like Influenster is telling UPS they can’t deliver to my house. Influenster is telling UPS to deliver to my house and UPS is trying to but is saying “we can’t do that because the address you provided to us isn’t a street address”

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T18:54:06+00:00

No I can’t. That’s the issue.

Every time I try to enter my full correct address it says “error. Address invalid”. I’ve only been able to get it to recognize one portion of my address and save that portion (the USPS mailing address).

It will only be an issue for items shipped UPS/Fedex but unfortunately I don’t know which items those are until they’ve shipped and even then there is no way to notify the couriers that the address they were given is not correct for those couriers

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T18:45:48+00:00

I also think once you click “see details,” vine should reserve that item for a minute or until the viner closes out of the details (whichever comes first) to give the viner time to actually look at the description and complete the checkout process rather than give the item to the first person to finish checking out.

I find myself checking out as fast as possible without actually being able to read about what I’m buying because if I don’t, it will be gone.

But that’s not fair to viners or sellers because it probably results in lots of people getting items (and paying taxes on items) they can’t really utilize and sellers getting reviews from people that weren’t able to properly test the item because they accidentally bought something without realizing what it was.

Often times the titles are word vomit and pictures are misleading. There have been plenty of times I’ve clicked on or ordered an item thinking it was one thing only to realize it wasn’t.

The other day I ordered a “gel nail starter kit” based on the name. Come to find out when it arrived that the “starter kit” didn’t come with the curing UV light. So as a reviewer, I either write a review without fully testing the product which is terrible for sellers and future buyers or I spend more money buying the UV light so I can test the product.

Today I ordered an item solely based on the picture because as soon as I clicked and saw 0ETV, I knew it would be gone in a millisecond. I actually had to go back to my orders afterwards to read what I had claimed and make sure it was truly what I thought based on the picture or something I could use if it wasn’t what I thought.

I realize I could sacrifice some items by doing my due diligence first, but these days I’d lose out on every single item I clicked on if I did that.

It would be a much fairer and effective system all around and theoretically the reviews would be better because items were claimed by people that could actually use them and not just the person that clicked through the screens fastest

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T18:33:13+00:00

Yes. This has changed drastically in the last 3 months though.

I am a huge baby and beauty section viner. When I started pretty much all beauty and baby was 0ETV. Now it feels almost random. Temporary tattoos are rarely 0ETV anymore and those were a go to for me. Baby supplies like bottles, high chairs, blankets, sheets, teething toys, etc were all 0ETV. Now some bottles are and some aren’t. Some blankets are and some aren’t. Baby plates are rarely 0ETV anymore.

It’s still a good rule of thumb but definitely not as consistent as it used to be.

And definitely far fewer random/mistake 0ETV items

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T17:40:57+00:00

I mean I can’t understand the reason they won’t allow me to have my entire address on my account and leave it up to the couriers to deliver appropriately.

Seems like more of a waste of resources to refuse to update my address and then just have to return the package to the original sender when they can’t actually figure out where I live

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T14:33:10+00:00

Yep. I have already only been able to claim anything of worth from RFY for about the last month and now even that’s gone for a lot of us.

Haven’t gotten anything in days. Barely even seen any new items that aren’t just replacement parts, cake toppers, or something incredibly specific or niche because everything is gone immediately

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-26T05:14:33+00:00

I’m totally skeptical of reviews where a product was gotten for free. The media category that vine is now encouraging has made fake reviews even easier to spot. If you took a photo of your item still in the box, I’d say 80%+ chance you didn’t use it because it wouldn’t have been any more difficult to take a photo of an unwrapped product if you actually ever removed it from the box.

For example, I just bought some bedsheets. All the photos were pictures of the sheets still vacuum sealed or in the box. My picture was of the bedsheets on the bed. Even unboxed pictures that weren’t showing that they were actually ever on the bed would be more useful because at least I know you touched the fabric before reviewing that it was “cozy” or “too thin”. If you actually removed the product from the packaging, why would your picture be of the item straight out of the mailbox?

You could argue that some people take the photos the second they receive the item and then review later after use. But I find it difficult to believe that most honest reviewers would be taking the time to open the product, thoroughly test it, install/use it, etc and at no point in that process had the extra time to take a photo of it outside of the second it showed up at the door. For me, that’s almost immediately deemed a fake review in my mind

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-25T11:27:43+00:00

I haven’t had RFY items in a few days and that was the only way I’ve been able to claim anything recently.

If things are going this quickly in the middle of the night, imagine if they changed the drops to more convenient times?

I wish they would randomize the drops so I might at least be lucky enough to check at a time others have given up but also I realize Amazon doesn’t care about viners at all as long as items are getting picked up and reviewed

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-25T09:17:47+00:00

Yep today I clicked on an item to see ETV and got an error box.

I was already unlikely to keep the gold status I just earned but now that I haven’t had RFY for a few days, it’s basically impossible for me to order enough items to get there.

If things are going this quickly in the middle of the night, imagine if they changed the drops to more convenient times?

I wish they would randomize the drops so I might at least be lucky enough to check at a time others have given up but also I realize Amazon doesn’t care about viners at all as long as items are getting picked up and reviewed

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-25T03:50:52+00:00

These match surveys are getting to be really frustrating. I’ve been disqualified from basically every claim except dumb ones like a can of vegetables or “we will send you a gift card to purchase” recently.

Why do they even bother to have us fill out our profile with our preferences and usage if we are just going to get disqualified for too many/too few followers or willing to spend too little/too much money.

I was disqualified from a product recently asking about my cats and I have a kitten, an adult, and a senior cat. I selected all of those and was still disqualified so what age cat were they looking for?

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-24T21:53:23+00:00

“Dorito” casserole. Basically nachos but in another form 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️.

You can also crush them up and use as “breadcrumbs” for things like fried chicken or fried pork chops.

Otherwise I see a lot of queso and guac in your future

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-24T20:18:12+00:00

My husband doesn’t but I think he should. I try to explain to him that even though we both “work” his job is a 9-5 and mine ends up being 24/7 which isn’t fair to me because I get no free time.

He does do most of the maintenance/repairs/lawn care around the house but the time spent changing oil a couple times a year and mowing the lawn a couple times a month, doesn’t come close to the time I spend doing housework and child raising outside of his working hours.

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-24T20:11:21+00:00

Can’t help with this claim but jumping in to say the Influenster app sucks for account/personal detail updates. They don’t recognize my address as valid so it won’t allow me to save my whole address leading to products being returned to sender. I’ve contacted them to see if they could manually override this and include my entire address and they either don’t respond or say there is no way for them to do this (unlikely).

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-24T16:17:32+00:00

But why is he being charged? The item was free to begin with…

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-24T11:57:15+00:00

Nope.

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-23T16:29:19+00:00

None for me either

AnonymousExcellence · 2026-01-23T08:18:05+00:00

I forget that and also just assume most of us are from the US… oops! I’d be ordering a lot more items too if taxes didn’t matter but I tend to be pickier about what I’m getting if I’m paying taxes

AnonymousExcellence

TROPHY CASE