Are Amazon Vine Reviews Genuine?

Amazon Vine is a service for Amazon’s “most trusted” reviewers – a sort of club for top reviewers. These reviewers are called Vine Voices and they get new and pre-release items to review and to keep. So that is a good benefit.

A Vine review on a product is identified with a green stripe. Amazon invites customers to become Vine Voices based on their reviewer rank, which is a reflection of the quality and helpfulness of their reviews as judged by other Amazon customers. Amazon provides Vine members with free products that have been submitted to the programme by participating vendors.

Amazon say that Vine reviews are the independent opinions of the Vine Voices as the vendor cannot influence, modify or edit the reviews. Amazon does not modify or edit Vine reviews, as long as they comply with the posting guidelines. Amazon Vine is an invitation-only programme. Customers who consistently write helpful reviews and develop a reputation for expertise in specific product categories are most likely to be invited into the programme.

  1. Are Vine Voices expected to write only positive reviews?

No. We welcome honest opinion about the product – positive or negative. Of course Vine reviews must conform to all our posting guidelines. Customers can vote on the helpfulness of Vine reviews just like they can for any other review.

  1. Are Vine Voices paid for writing reviews or pressured to write favourable reviews?

No. Voices are not paid to participate in the programme and write reviews

All Vine products are submitted by vendors to Amazon, and distributed by Amazon to the Vine Voices. Vendors have no contact with the Vine Voices, and have no influence over which Vine Voices will review their products.

You have to conclude that Amazon Vine reviews are genuine and as they are written by the ‘best’ reviewers, you may want to check their reviews (where available) before purchasing relevant items.

Do leave a comment on this post if you are a Vine Voice or if you have opinions on this matter – click on the post title then scroll down to leave your comment.

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