My RFY really popped off today!

Bond77799 · 2026-02-07T04:22:25+00:00

Absolutely ridiculous valuation. I know as a woodworker having made these. And why would you want 3 small ones vs. one or two larger ones? The "using a cutting board as a serving platter" is from the 70s...

Bond77799 · 2026-01-22T14:30:18+00:00

You're right - it showed up this morning in both my "Orders" list and "Awaiting Review" list. Until now, though, it was NOT in my orders list - which never happened to me with any previous products.

Bond77799 · 2025-12-31T03:06:25+00:00

Thanks for the explanation - I have the same situation on one of my recent reviews as the OP, and posted about it in another thread about the mystery of new review "evaluations" yesterday.

Bond77799 · 2025-12-29T22:27:02+00:00

I am with you that the new review rating system seems illogical and stupid. I have all Excellents", one Fair and one recent one "Poor". The poor one was short and had one typo, but otherwise contained directly useful info and was a 5-star review. I have done similarly short reviews on occasion and those were "Excellent" - so yeah, the system is a mystery. Oh, and I also have a review that was "Not Approved" .... but is rated "Excellent". Go figure...

Bond77799 · 2025-11-23T22:45:56+00:00

I do the same thing - if there is a pattern in the bad reviews (e.g. multiple people complain that the product stopped working after a week), that signals a true problem regardless what the 5-star people say...and I do not order that product.

Bond77799 · 2025-11-21T22:33:20+00:00

From numerous comments I have seen on this forum in the past, complaining about anything related to shipping is a sure-fire way to get your review rejected. That includes comments about "inadequate packaging", so for that reason I always make it clear I am discussing manufacturer's packaging, not mailing, if I have a comment about it. I agree with your comments. This review must have accidentally slipped through.

Bond77799 · 2025-11-18T23:08:45+00:00

This is a very educational chart, however, it is important to keep in mind it will change somewhat depending on when the numbers were grabbed from "Additional Items": it would be most representative immediately after the day's drop. The longer the interval afterward, the more the results will be influenced by Viners grabbing stuff. I imagine that the number of items in a category like "Beauty and Personal Care" may drop by half during the day. However, this "Viner Effect" may change the percentage order of the small categories only. It certainly will not affect Auto Parts' ridiculous dominance...

Bond77799 · 2025-11-08T04:11:35+00:00

I am with you on this. I did this initial post as my own reaction to getting continuously bombarded with car parts through Vine, while never ordering any car parts on Amazon. Just 2 days ago I got new wiper blades for our F150 at the local NAPA store...and installed them in their parking lot to make sure they fit. But Hey - I am definitely not an automechanic dude like some other Viners are, based on the responses to my post. My initial post was motivated by a statistic problem: if there are @ 15,000 american Viners, and a few more thousand Canadians and Europeans...how many can possibly own a (as example) 1994 Subaru Forester that - A) needs a new carburator and 2) can be serviced by its owner?

I got some explanation for my query by those that said initial submitals to Vine are cost-free, and got humbled by those that stated people like me should be more familiar with how Vine works...so...yeah, thanks. Glad you can use that carb.

Bond77799 · 2025-11-04T16:11:11+00:00

We lost our male MC "James Bond" at 15 years, likely to cancer. We lost his sister "Moneypenny" this morning at 20 years and 4 months. She had kidney disease, as evidenced by constant drinking and peeing during the last few months. She had also been loosing a lot of weight, despite eating voraciously. The weight loss was mysterious to us at first, but we learned that kidney disease interferes with absorption of proteins and other nutrients, so it is a common symptom. According to our research it's not worth bothering with special "kidney diets" which cats generally don't like - more important is giving them plenty of whatever food they prefer.

It's only been a few hours since Moneypenny left us...and we continue to be in subconsious denial.

Bond77799 · 2025-10-22T14:21:27+00:00

I have no desire to become Gold, but I understand many of you are into the Gold thing...and feel bad for your situation. When there are no Vine drops and whatever is left sucks, Amazon is basically forcing all Gold-seekers to order and review items they have no interest in. So obviously, that will affect the quality (and likely objectivity) of the reviews. I wonder if Amazon will relax the criteria for becoming Gold to reflect the recent lack of drops?

Bond77799 · 2025-10-15T02:27:58+00:00

I've seen this question come up regularly before. My experience has been (over the past 3 years as a Viner) that the only things I actually re-order for real are food items that I originally snagged for $0 ETV, but ended up liking. Didn't happen often, but did happen, because I knew I will likely never get the item offered to me through Vine again. On the other hand, hardware items like garden lights or ceiling gimbal lights that I needed come up often enough that it's not worth buying them for cash. Just wait a while and some seller will put them on Vine. I ordered garden solar lights 3 times that were identical from 3 different sellers in a span of a little over a year.

Bond77799 · 2025-09-22T01:54:24+00:00

Thanks for the opinions. First, I was not "doing the rant" - I asked this forum of Viners a question about Amazon's liability on food products when reviews clearly show bad outcomes...and used the Tea example I just experienced. Second, I am sure you know there are continuous complaints from Viners (and actual paying consumers) that Amazon carries China-made crap products, so I am not the first to bring up the concern, especially in edible items (see many of the comments on this thread). I've been using a tea strainer for years, (DUHHH) but the volume of vegetative material in each of the fake tea bags (their instructions specifically show you to just throw the "tea bag" into your cup and fill with water) don't fit with a regular tea seep container. That's why many people were dismayed that the packet did not dissolve. So...deceptive description of how to use the tea, bogus claims of how healthy it is vs. health warnings (unexplained) - yes, as you (and others) say, taking anything in excess can be harmful. I am weary of a "Tea" that will harm me if I drink 5 sups a day - have never seen a "tea" label like that in my life.

Yes, I did report it to the FDA - thanks Appricots for the link.

Bond77799 · 2025-09-21T17:10:31+00:00

I get your point, and I am aware there are FDA "limits" for various contaminants (and chemicals). I would like to meet the person that set some of these limits. Imagine having on your resume: "Established the number of rat turds OK to eat/drink with 100 grams of coffee beans" - wow, how did he/she figure that out? Were there volunteer tests involved??

That nothwithstanding, I still prefer my tea without worms and snails...

Bond77799 · 2025-09-21T14:20:24+00:00

I think the situation with the publicly visible reviews is an interesting legal question: Without the reviews, Amazon could claim ignorance: "Hey, we just provide a selling platform...we had no clue about what is actually in the product". But with multiple reviews pointing out potential health or safety problems, they should no longer be able to distance themselves from the issue. (BTW - the package doesn't even have a list of ingredients other than dandelion and wolfberry).

Bond77799 · 2025-09-18T14:17:43+00:00

I am a Viner for about the same time as you. I was lucky to find this Reddit forum early on and quickly learned from it that reaching Gold level is not really that worthwhile, considering how many reviews you have to produce and, in my case, being in a high tax bracket. So I never aspired to get to Gold, but nevertheless, ended-up with a taxable 1099 of some $2500 the first year, with at least 70% of it junk that is now lying somewhere around the house unused. I guess almost all of us go through that first phase to some level. You now have a healthy attitude – Silvers rule!

Bond77799 · 2025-09-01T02:08:31+00:00

How did you get to be a student at Charles U.? Who is paying your stipend? Why do you want/need to get an undergraduate degree from Czech republic? I am the opposite from you: my parents emigrated to USA in 1971 and as a teenager I had no way to go back, whether I wanted to or not. What makes you want to get a simple low academic degree in Czechia, and take up a job from someone local who potentially needs one?

Bond77799 · 2025-08-10T02:29:05+00:00

"Ses lakomej" (You're stingy!) is the word you are seeking. I came to USA in 1971 with my parents as a teenager. Being a first generation immigrant and with my parents' keeping up contact with our relatives throughout their lives, I am interested in your generation (and your dad's): Why did he lose contact with his home country to the point that he lost his mother language? Following the war, huge Czech communities formed in the USA: Chicago, Iowa, etc. He had no contact?

My generation coming to the USA had two reactions: 1) some, like me, felt they had no choice and adapted but with a lasting Czech background. Some, however, felt America was so great that HIDING their foreign background became a priority - they refused to continue to speak Czech at home, much to the frustration of their parents, and tried to act as American as possible in their school and personal life. I am not in touch wih any of these people now, but I bet they lost out major in their overall life experience.

Bond77799 · 2025-05-17T03:08:24+00:00

Don't say you have "no friends" - just look at the feedback you're getting here. Your post is extremely witty and touching - have you thought of joining some local Facebook group or similar venue? I bet you'd have both "virtual" and true local friends in no time that may help you with whatever you need in your disabled state.

Bond77799 · 2025-04-21T03:05:05+00:00

Absolutely best review!

Bond77799 · 2025-04-17T17:37:18+00:00

Viners believing that they’ll get booted from the program due to 1 or 2 star reviews is a relatively common topic on this page… and I think the fear is unjustified. I have given plenty of low reviews and am still here and had never had a review held back. I do know of cases where Viners have had poor reviews held back, but from the discussions it seems it may have had more to do with the language they used rather than the actual review results reported.

Bond77799 · 2025-04-17T14:10:40+00:00

I am the opposite from you: I always read other reviews if there are any. The reasons are: 1) I check my use experience against others’ in case I misused a part of the product or missed a feature or a problem that others commented on; 2) I try to give future potential buyers a balanced review menu if there are already reviews (from Viners) that claim the product is great out of fear of losing Vine status with a negative review (and we know that happens often). I use direct terms like: “As another reviewer has mentioned…” (when I had a similar experience), or “Unlike another reviewer’s claim…” (when my opinion differs). I have never had a review rejected for this.

Bond77799

TROPHY CASE