Well, today, I learned something new about Amazon. My daughter, Robin (my source for all things Amazon) came over to visit us today, and when the conversation got around to Amazon (it always seems to do that) she asked me if I knew about Amazon Vine. She said that when you write reviews on items that you got from Amazon they rate you on your reviews, and also you get rated by other people. You have probably noticed those little questions "was this review helpful?" . I have answered sometimes when I thought it was a helpful review and answered something I wanted to know about the item; but never gave it a thought otherwise. Apparently, when you get enough of those good ratings, Amazon invites you to join Vine as a special product rater. While you don't make any money doing this, Amazon does send you products to try out and write a review about. I think that it would be great to try out some of these new items (some can't even be bought at a store yet) and see how well you like them. I don't know how expensive of items they send you; but even if they are cheaper things, I think it is an excellent idea, and I am starting to write reviews for all of the things that I have bought on Amazon. You can also write reviews on other items that you have or know about, even if you did not get the product from Amazon. I have no idea how long it takes to get enough likes to become a Vine member; but I am sure sure going to try. For more information, check out the Vine link. http://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help
I have seen those reveiws on products I have used those reviews to decide if I wanted to purchase a product. It is encouraging to know that these reviews come from real people and not just some one trying to get a commission on a product if it sells.
I never knew that such a thing existed. I'm going to have to start replying to people's online questions I guess - I like free stuff!
I have found a lot of those reviews helpful but never heard of Amazon Vine. It sounds worthwhile to start reviewing products from Amazon and other places. Let us know if you get invited to Amazon Vine and how many likes it took !