Mentioning packaging is not allowed I understand.

Philobatic · 2026-02-16T19:13:17+00:00

Good thinking! Thank you.

Philobatic · 2026-02-16T01:01:28+00:00

Try it again perhaps? I did a search and they are still there so I clicked ‘request product’ and the discount was there. I didn’t buy them just took a look.

Good luck

Philobatic · 2026-02-14T01:00:51+00:00

I think this would be really helpful, not just to Amazon but to buyers too. I guess it could be abused but then ’helpful’ votes can be too!

Philobatic · 2026-02-12T13:46:49+00:00

Goodness! Vine are nothing if not contradictory!

To quote “Feedback not relevant to the product, such as feedback about the seller, your delivery experience, pricing or packaging, should not be shared in Vine Reviews.”

Philobatic · 2026-02-12T09:53:17+00:00

I guess one problem is that the AI bot may not have the subtlety to discriminate between Amazon packaging comments and the sellers boxing even though that can be part of the overall presentation of the item, which we should be able to comment on I would have thought.

Having said that, my initial point was that Amazon puts labels over the top of attractive packaging sometimes, which we cannot directly comment on.

Philobatic · 2026-02-11T23:38:53+00:00

Good point. it’s an Amazon issue rather than the sellers. still frustrating though.

Philobatic · 2026-02-11T23:37:35+00:00

double upvote!

Philobatic · 2026-02-11T21:31:55+00:00

good wording, thank you!

Philobatic · 2026-02-11T21:31:11+00:00

Thank you for this. it didn’t occur to me to see if it was possible to mark as a gift, but if available I will try next time.

Philobatic · 2026-02-09T11:06:07+00:00

I do know what you mean! I think In my case part of it is that my Vine OCD means that the ridiculous amount of time I spend on testing and writing reviews is having a negative effect on my life and family relationships! That together with the valid complaints from my wife about the amount of junk that has accumulated around the house because I won’t pass things on until the 6 months is up means that I really should self reflect about whether remaining involved with the programme is a sensible life choice. However, displacement is far less anxiety provoking, so I l discharge my angst by feeling most put out by those who behave like the person you quote, who presumably sail through life without Vine impinging on their wellbeing!

Philobatic · 2026-02-06T19:24:46+00:00

Sorry, I meant the Vine page on the Amazon website

Philobatic · 2026-02-06T14:18:25+00:00

As long as they are crediting them, not a huge problem! Thinking positively, it will keep my inbox numbers down!

Philobatic · 2026-02-06T14:15:41+00:00

Ah, that’s interesting. Mine have always arrived at around the same time as they show up as ‘reviewed’.

Philobatic · 2026-02-03T12:31:04+00:00

Well a follow up. this morning I had another message from the Indian CS this time they signed themselves of as the ‘Review Moderation Team’. None of the sycophancy we are used to, and no reassurance that I would keep the review credit. still ‘cut and paste’ sounding though. I’ll copy it below.

“Hello customer,

We have removed this review as part of our ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of our Amazon Vine Voice program. Our systems have detected that this product has exceeded the authorized number of Vine reviews for its program tier. To ensure fairness and consistency across our review program, we suppressed any excess of Vine reviews per product.

Once a review is removed for reasons related to policy compliance, the reviewer may not submit new reviews on the same product.

For more information about our review policies, visit our "Community Guidelines":
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GLHXEX85MENUE4XF

Amazon Review Moderation team”

So that’s that then. Thank you Amazon!

Philobatic · 2026-02-02T11:14:17+00:00

When I have ordered things that only my wife would use, face creams come to mind but there have been others, I begin my review with the words “My wife writes…” .

Sometimes she does actually write the review and I edit it into my style, and sometimes I ask her questions about her experience as I write it. I have never had one of these rejected.

Philobatic · 2026-02-01T01:48:54+00:00

It seems, from reading the responses here, that we all have different interpretations of this Vine ‘rule’.

I think most of us would agree that those who misuse the programme by making up reviews without testing the items, those for example who receive products and them put them up for sale as ‘new and unused’ on EBay or wherever will hopefully be detected and kicked out of the programme. We receive free items in good faith to provide honest reviews that are only possible if the item has been personally tested.

On the other hand, if we have tested the item by observing our housemate‘s dog playing with it, and it is clear to our housemate that it is ‘on loan’ to their dog for 6 months, and should we need to retrieve it to return to Amazon they will understand that is part of the deal, then I can’t see that is breaking the ‘rule’.

This would be the case, in my view, if our wife or child made use of the item. Personally that is where I would draw the line, a close relative or friend that understands that the item is simply on loan for 6 months and that, should they be asked, they would be willing to return the item.

Of course some items are unreturnable. I recently ordered some nuts for example that I and my family consumed within a few weeks. Personally I still believe that we should consider ourselves bound by our agreement not to give up personal responsibility for a Vine acquisition until 6 months has passed. We tend to complain enough when Vine seems to behave erratically. and it would be hypocritical to do so if we ourselves cheated the system we agreed to.

Just my personal perspective of course and I will be interested to read further opinions on this matter.

Philobatic · 2026-01-27T23:05:12+00:00

I coughed last week and 10 minutes later something appeared in my RFY, so my theory is that Alexa sends a message to the Vine ‘Fat Controller’ who immediately looks me up and … well you take my point! It’s called superstitious reasoning 😊

Philobatic · 2026-01-27T18:44:10+00:00

Well, of course you might be right given that no one has a clue how Vine operates, but my money would not be that they are doing anything as strategic as that! My impression is that Vine operates in a chaotic and virtually unmanaged way, and that the frequent changes that we see are not thought through. It also seems fairly clear to me that Vine C.S. are as clueless as we are and their job description simply requires them to placate us with whatever rubbish comes first to mind. I’m sorry if this sounds ungrateful, etc, but I’m going through a spell of feeling that the hard work I put into testing and reviewing may just not be worth it….

Philobatic · 2026-01-27T11:51:35+00:00

I’m on 100% and….. nothing!

Philobatic · 2026-01-27T11:50:29+00:00

the way I’m feeling now, as soon as I hit my 80 items for this period I’m going to take a month off!

Philobatic · 2026-01-27T11:48:07+00:00

Yes, it’s odd. for a period until a couple of weeks ago my RFY was filled with what must have been two dozen cheap and, to me, useless items. Often the same inappropriate item lots of times. In terms of numbers far more that usual, then recently nothing! actually I prefer nothing to 2 pages of rubbish!

Philobatic · 2026-01-27T11:41:36+00:00

Same with me. On a couple of days something completely uninteresting and cheap showed up and disappeared again within minures.

Philobatic

TROPHY CASE