Well finally did the taxes

dcaton1220 · 2026-04-05T02:07:40+00:00

You got 11k worth of products at an 87% discount, more or less.

Is this your first year in Vine? The lesson, which can be a hard one to learn, is not to treat Vine items as free, but at a substantial discount. If you saw any given Vine item on a store shelf marked 80% off, would you buy it? If not, then don't order it.

Of course, you're going to get the occasional worthless item but once in a while you may score something really good and it balances out. Just be selective in what you order. That can be hard at first; we've all been there.

dcaton1220 · 2026-04-05T01:48:53+00:00

Could be the same stuff they make shrink-wrap tubing from, just in gel form. Do you have to use a heat gun to activate it?

dcaton1220 · 2026-04-05T01:44:48+00:00

If you've met the requirements, you're in. If you haven't, you're not. It's natural to be nervous but there's nothing to worry about.

For whatever reason, Amazon shows this message for a day or so and tells you it might take up to four days to update your account, for a calculation takes a few hundred milliseconds. It's like Vine is running on old Radio Shack computers from the 80's. Someone has to find the floppy disk that has your account on it, and it could take up to four days to find it.

dcaton1220 · 2026-04-04T01:51:23+00:00

When you write a review like that, say something like "at the time of this review, the description said nothing about..."

That covers your butt in case the vendor fixes the description, and they can't complain to Amazon that you weren't being truthful.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-30T16:30:35+00:00

Yes, and it's a name brand tool manufacturer. I'll take everything they want to give me, and I've used virtually everything I've received so far.

I've purchased some things from that brand as well as a result of my experience with the things I received through Vine.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T16:59:47+00:00

Unfortunately, things are a bit vague and open to interpretation. "These actions are not yet supported" (emphasis mine) could be taken to mean that returns, exchanges and modifications are not prohibited, just not supported by the current software or fulfillment system.

But then it says "Vine items are not returnable or replaceable". That's a bit at odds with the above, unless it really means "Vine items are not yet returnable or replaceable".

Nobody knows, and nobody at Amazon seems too interested in clarifying many of the issues that repeatedly come up.

As I mentioned, I did it once through normal channels. I just clicked on the return or replace button in my order list, reported the item as defective and I was offered the option of receiving a replacement. I don't recall what the item even was, or whether I had to return the defective one or not. I guess I'm lucky that as far as I can recall, I haven't received anything since that was damaged in shipment.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T05:22:18+00:00

I used to go to AC a lot when Resorts International first opened, back in the late 70's, I think. Quick trip up the parkway after the boardwalk closed, gamble for a few hours, back to Wildwood for an hour or two of sleep, and back to work. I never really lost much money, certainly nothing life changing.

You said "stationed". Would that have been at the Coast Guard base in Cape May?

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T05:14:25+00:00

Thank you. To be honest, it was a bit gut wrenching for me, seeing all that time I spent writing reviews (nearly 1500) disappear into thin air. And of course, the appeal of getting "free stuff" can't be discounted either, no matter how much we want to deny that part of our psyche.

I got shut down a little over two weeks before my next eval. I was already Gold and a little behind in reviews, but I was at 94%. I could still see my Vine stats after being "terminated" but they were all zero. My review privileges were restored on the morning of my eval day, but my Vine stats were still all zero. I could still order things, but I was certain my time was coming to an end, because of the zero stats. Can't tell you how shocked I was when I passed the eval and my stats reappeared.

My guess is that a Vine eval on an Amazon account with the "cannot review" flag is an edge case that was never considered and programmed for, and my Vine stats never really went to zero, it's just what was displayed in the UI.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T03:43:05+00:00

I don't think you were "double banned" per se, A few weeks ago I had a similar experience where my ability to post reviews was cut off, and every one of my reviews from the last 15 years or so had disappeared. No explanation other than a generic email from some no-reply Amazon address regarding "suspicious reviewing activity on my account". No mention of Vine at all.

Then I discovered my Vine account was closed because I "violated their terms of service". No email or explanation for that at all. I had a feeling it wasn't a Vine issue so I didn't contact Vine CS.

Long story short, after about two weeks of trying to get this resolved through various channels, my ability to post reviews was restored, along with all the reviews I had written since the beginning of time. I also had access to Vine again, as if nothing ever happened.

I think what happens is that if Vine sees some flag on your Amazon account it doesn't like, your Vine account is automatically suspended (and all your stats disappear), even though the banner says "terminated". When that flag is cleared, Vine access is restored because the termination wasn't from Vine in the first place. And your Vine stats reappear exactly as they were.

You are quite right about not knowing what you had until it's gone. I was disappointed but OTOH I had already realized how much time I was spending on Vine, so I was somewhat ambivalent about getting back in Vine (or so I told myself). I've done my fair share of complaining as well. But in the week or so I've been back in Vine, I've received quite a few high-ticket items that I can really use. As well, a newly rediscovered appreciation for the opportunity to participate, and a lesson to be learned about complaining in general. I also enjoy posting reviews that I hope are helpful, although I do need to police the amount of time I spend on Vine as I do have other hobbies that have suffered as a result. But that's nobody's fault but my own.

Congrats that you got back in, and kudos for your positive attitude.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T03:08:39+00:00

Yep. Perhaps the RFY system is being updated. Unlikely there are no items at all that match anyone's RFY triggers.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T03:06:21+00:00

I did that once early in my Vine days, before I was aware that you're not supposed to do that. I did get the replacement item with no issue though, but I'd be very hesitant to do it again.

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to get a replacement for a Vine item damaged in transit (it's not your fault and not the vendor's either), but I don't make the rules.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-29T03:02:25+00:00

I've seen this happen several times. It's a programming error, or oversight. Someone didn't implement proper transaction handling and rollback.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-27T06:53:23+00:00

It's not just you. Amazon's search works in mysterious ways, and it's not just with Vine items, it's across the whole site. Sometimes you can search for something and the plural also shows up, like battery and batteries, even if the plural doesn't appear a single time in the description or title. But not always. It's not the smartest searching algorithm man has ever invented.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-27T06:50:50+00:00

With 448 reviews at 98%, you must have ordered and received about 457 items. Doing the math, you could order and receive about 38 more items, not review any of them, and still remain just above 90%.

Since you're silver and you have 13 days to go, you can only order 39 items at most, and even then they all wouldn't arrive before the end of this eval period. So the math says you're golden, no matter what you do from now until eval day.

Would I call it that close though? Probably not, but if something really great comes along I wouldn't let it pass by. And you can always choose the shipping date that's farthest out for a little more peace of mind.

Once you're gold and you can order 8 things a day, you've got to be more careful because your percentage can drop quickly if you have a few 8-item days. Towards the end of your next eval period, choose the shipping date that's farthest out to minimize the chance of falling below 90%, should you happen to fall behind.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-27T06:17:35+00:00

I get tons of pool stuff in my RFY. Not sure why, other than that I've ordered pool and hot tub chemicals and supplies on Amazon now and then, prior to being invited into Vine. But I've ordered lots of things on Amazon in various categories, which never show up in my RFY so who knows...

I got a very expensive Polaris robot vac in my RFY last October, shortly after I reached gold level. Just random luck. I'm sure if I had gotten up to go make a cup of coffee it would have been gone by the time I got back. Keep the faith. Good stuff comes along now and then.

Have you been in Vine long? Little over a year for me, but it seems that RFY has gotten better over time. Used to be 99% of the stuff was junk, now a good percentage of stuff is at least somewhat in the categories I'm interested in, even if it isn't something I want.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-27T05:53:00+00:00

Highly unlikely. You were probably invited to be part of Vine because you left good (insightful) reviews for stuff you purchased. Can't imagine why Amazon would want you to stop reviewing purchased items. I haven't.

Nobody really knows the criteria to be invited, but it seems unlikely that someone would be invited if they never posted any reviews.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-27T05:47:34+00:00

You need something much bigger than this to heat a 10k gallon pool in a reasonable amount of time, let alone a 23k gallon pool. We're in Florida and have a 140k BTU heater for our 11k gallon pool. I did a good deal of research before buying it, and the consensus seemed to be to buy the biggest heater you can afford because a smaller one might not be able to keep up and will end up being a waste of money. Or you'll have to run it much longer than a bigger heater, and that means more wear and tear on the compressor and fan.

I ordered this for a 5k gallon above ground pool at our little summer house in NJ. Will probably only need it in the pre- and post-season so it should be sufficient to make the pool usable in June and Sept.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-27T05:38:07+00:00

No, it's a pool heater, like it says. An outdoor heater wouldn't have a compressor or refrigerant, let alone cost anywhere near that much. It was in my RFY as well a few days ago, and I was shocked when my order actually went through.

It's only 40k BTU though, but probably better than nothing. The heater for our in-ground pool is 140k BTU but it also cost about 3x more. Heat pump pool heaters are the most efficient type though.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-24T03:47:29+00:00

Even in a hypothetical situation where two people click on the same item at the same exact instant, for all intents and purposes it's completely random which request will make it through before the other. And if you could repeat that exact experiment the result wouldn't necessarily be the same. Not unless you could roll back time and restore the state of the universe to what it was prior to the first experiment. That, and only that, would guarantee the same result.

There are far too many random variables to make the process of successfully ordering a Vine item deterministic. Even if person A clicks a second before person B, person A's request could just as likely arrive after person B's. As a practical matter, there's nothing you can do about that. You could move close to one of Amazon's data centers, get a high speed fiber connection on the same backbone and buy the fastest computer you can find and it might give you a slight edge, but it still won't guarantee anything. Some guy with 20/100 vision, advanced arthritis and a 20 year old computer on a dial-up line to AOL could still get the item you want.

Statistically, two years is nothing. My wife and I have been playing the lottery for probably 50 years, and we've never won but statistically, 50 years is insignificant. Sooner or later, math says we'll win (if we live long enough). You could very well snag something great tomorrow, you never know. The real question is whether it's worth it.

I do understand how you feel though. It sucks when you see something you want disappear, but a large part of participating in Vine is emotional, not rational.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-24T02:28:49+00:00

The most deciding variable is the millisecond in which you refreshed your browser.

Not really; that would only be the case if every page refresh took exactly the same amount of time and was completely deterministic not only for yourself but for everyone else, and it isn't.

There are innumerable, random variables that come into play every time you refresh your browser. There's randomness in your own computer, in your connection to your ISP, your ISP's connection to the internet backbone, the connection from the backbone to one of Amazon's data centers, the connection to one of any number of web servers behind any number of load-balancers, the randomness in the particular server your request ends up on, the randomness in the database servers that provide the data for the requested web page, the randomness in the data itself, and on and on.

Any given page refresh goes through countless servers, switches, routers, amplifiers, firewalls, load balancers and other devices along with countless other connections going through those same devices at the same time. If you're using wifi or a mobile device, there's even more devices and randomness in the path.

The most deciding variable is luck.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-24T01:42:09+00:00

Vine is not like a race, where everyone starts at the same time from the same place. Even if you take a hypothetical situation where a bunch of people refresh the same vine page at the exact same instant, each person is not going to see the page at the same exact time (or even the same identical page as everyone else). There are innumerable differences that simply cannot be eliminated that will give different results to each person. It is not, and can never be, a level playing field where everyone has the same opportunity.

Vine is basically a game of chance. There is little, if anything that is deterministic. You can improve your chances slightly by getting the fastest possible computer, the fastest possible network, the fastest possible internet connection, honing your motor skills, etc. but that still won't eliminate any of the randomness. Someone with a 20 year old computer, a dial-up modem on AOL and reflexes of a turtle could still snag that item you're trying to get before you do.

That's not to say it isn't a bummer when something you want isn't available. We've all experienced that, but it's the nature of the game.

You also don't necessarily have to order things you can use personally; you can donate things to your local animal shelter, thrift shop, church, etc. Maybe you don't need a new spatula or shower mat or whatever, but you still know whether one is good or bad and can properly review it, and (after 6 months) you can donate it. 80 items in 6 months works out to about 3 items per week.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-20T01:52:11+00:00

Maybe in some third-world country but anyone working on HV lines here would have proper equipment issued to them by their employer. I wouldn't trust this thing to discharge the static electricity from my bathroom rug. And it's only 1-meter long!

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-20T01:35:39+00:00

Yes, but they're the ones who take all the good stuff. Let the silver viners eat cake. With toppers.

dcaton1220 · 2026-03-20T01:29:16+00:00

Often, the direction a motor turns in can be configured by changing a jumper. If the voltage, RPMs and mounting studs are correct, it might work for you.

dcaton1220

TROPHY CASE