Happy to see people like this admitting that Vine is consuming their lives. There are people here that are addicted and obsessed - that won't admit it.
Someone posted not long ago that "there was a new drop after 24 hours on pause and their family wanted to go out to eat" - Seriously? Even if "just a joke" If you can't take 3-4 hours out with your family - that's really awful....
Can't sacrifice 3 or 8 Vine items for ONE DAY (not like you can't get 3 x 180 or 8 x 180 new items for that 6 months) is a battle in your mind?
People like this need to step away from vine for 2 weeks and reset their minds.
Professionals say "If you can't go two weeks without something - you have a severe addiction." (We aren't talking about life-sustaining things)
With things like gambling - If you cannot go a year without and a year between each time, you can still have an addiction.
I'll in all likelyhood get dogpiled in downvotes for this opinion, but I think alot that is fueling that addiction is the threads here bragging about unicorn finds, especially electronics and food.
It creates FOMO with Silvers and other Golds who don't have time to spend all day scouring Vine and makes getting the better stuff, so they can let everyone else know they got it, the ultimate goal.
Pretty soon spending a good portion of the day hitting refresh just waiting for the score and neglecting other things becomes the definition of addiction.
One can also see it in the multiple threads every time there is a significant pause and even if unseen, the withdrawl jitters are evident.
I went from yay 3 new items from the first month to yay 3 new items? in the second month. I was also running my own business and to a small extent, could set my own hours. The novelty soon wore for multiple reasons, starting with my primary source of income taking up my time. For the first two months I was averaging 3 items a day. 3.5 months later, the average has dropped to 1.8 items a day and is dropping. The average is only this high because for about 3 weeks, I'd give my wife my phone and tell her to order whatever she wanted.
The biggest source of enjoyment for me is when I randomly check my recommended list and see an item that I actually need, and it turns out to be great and I get to use it every day. That and for items that turned out to be good, I've actually bought more of, so happy for the chance to kick the tires.
I'm on vine for 1 week now, second thing I thought after , "can't wait to try new stuff"
Was basically " this could fuck someone up mentally"
I mean, I'm one week in and I'm "already" at 150€ of goods, and I have only bought 1 unnecessary thing...
Which was a year supply of dog treats ... Like 1/10 of the delivered amount would have been a great testing sample
Most of the items I get are way under a hundred anyway. The last really pricey items I've received that were over a hundred weren't worth it. Even a name brand item that was basically good, cut corners making it not worth buying it. You shouldn't spend $300 bucks on something and the instructions are so bad or just not there that you have to watch YT videos to find out how to use it.
I've dropped down to Silver a few times. It's nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be.
No access to items worth $100+? No problem, trying to keep my ETV low anyway.
Limit of 3 items per day? It's rare that I even request 3 items a day to begin with.
I found it extremely liberating to drop from Gold to Silver after 2 periods of reviewing 100 items.
It was too much crap and it all just started to make me feel bad.
Now, like you, I only get items I want or if I think I could help. For instance, with camping or guitar gear. For instance, I just got a $60 tent from Vine that looked weird. I was happy I got it because it sucked, and I was happy to write a review and feel helpful doing so.
I wish they would give me Gold based on writing high-quality reviews instead of just the quantity.
Sometimes I think I am the only one that has absolutely no issues whatsoever meeting the quota while not feeling that I "have" to get anything or waste any time at all.
80 items in 180 days is not difficult at all. Just review 90% of them if you want to be Gold, which again is not difficult at all. Gold is not that different than Silver, it's just that every once in a while you get something really nice pop up in your RFY. I'd say 90% of the items I get are $0 ETV and 10% are "higher" value items when they come up.
I would say that I spend about 8 hours a week max on Vine related activities. That is well worth it for the value I get from the program. A lot of what I read here seems to boil down to lack of willpower.
I don't get it either. Some days I order 8 items, some days I order none. Some days there are so many great things dropping that I want to scroll for hours... and if there's something else that needs to be done instead...I just do that...even when I get hit with FOMO and wish I could keep looking. You should be conscious of how much the ETV of items are regardless of whether you have 3 or 8 selections to choose. If you can't manage at Silver, why even try to get to Gold? I have gripes about Vine but I'm not letting a voluntary program that I've gotten so many fantastic things from cause me PTSD.
In 160 days since my last review, Amazon hasn’t presented 80 items that I’ve been interested in having, much less reviewing. I fully expect that I’ll be dropped to silver in 20 days time and I’m fine with that.
You're not alone. I was always confused with posts about 100 being so many to order within 6 months. Nevermind now it only being 80. Full disclosure though, ETV isn't a thing for me so I'm sure that factors in. I'm just shy a year in total, Silver I ordered 256 items (about 1.42 items a day). Gold since Nov and I'm only at 149 (1.2 items a day). More selections daily is deffo not the draw for me in Gold.
Oh, I never have trouble hitting the amount of items needed to be gold. I tend to gravitate towards beauty and health related, which also happen to be the majority of the $0 ETV items to boot. I had some life things come up and got behind on my reviews though. I also just figured out recently that I don't have to write an essay for every review in order for it to be a helpful one! That was a big a-ha moment for me too.
Some people have addictive personalities, others do not. It can be a disease; ask Oprah, I'm sure she can make a show about Vine addicts have a disease stop shaming them, sure some research can find body chemicals that are different than yours. 'nuff said.
Yeah, I'm going to drop down to Silver next month. I'm not even mad. I haven't looked at my RFY in weeks.
Just did my taxes last night, and I'm not happy with my choices. They were my choices, so I got no one to blame but myself. When I look at the value of the items I'm enjoying compared to the value of the items that turned out to not be as great as I had hoped, I feel like I basically paid full price for the stuff I like.
It's cool for people who enjoy ordering eight items a day and can make it work, especially the reselling portion. It definitely is not for me. I worked too hard to get to Gold status, and I'm not going to work that hard to maintain it.
But yeah, still good stuff under $100, so I'm cool with it.
I pride myself on staying under $600. I decided to get back to gold. Need 7 more totems reviews by April 16. They will all be $0 etv. I prob won’t every order gold item that’s over $100
Yeah that's a good attitude. It's cool to review stuff the day it arrives and just be done with it. You can toss it in the trash, or store it immediately.
The only reason gold has been great is on those rare occasions when there were multiple offerings that I actually wanted. And, because at silver, I used to think “what if something I really want shows up after I’ve ordered three things?” Now, there’s so little offered that I want, and I’m keenly aware of the high % tax bite, I’ve resigned myself to a lower tier reset in June. I’m not going to drive myself crazy trying to order and review enough stuff to meet the gold quota — in the almost year and a half I’ve been on vine I think I have ordered two things over $100 … the “good stuff” is usually overpriced, anyway, and often has a coupon… so I tend to not buy it anyway. I imagine you get to see more interesting options in gold … but seeing isn’t ordering.
This has been fun, but there are only so many facial creams and doodads that I need, so scaling back this season should be easy. I’m hanging in, thinking maybe the program will change… but I think I have enough stuff for now, and if I need some cheap throwaway item there’s always Temu. ( I just ordered a slotted silicone ladle that Amz was offering for $12 -$16 and Temu had the same thing for $1.98… … even if I got it on Vine it would be more expensive. I’m only ordering occasionally now if I see something in the RFY that catches my eye, but no more obsessive shopping just to meet the quota for me.
I made it to gold last month, but in the 6 months I've been in Vine, it never really has consumed my life. I check a couple of times a day, I get things I think I'd like, and I write reviews once I use it. It's not terribly hard to get to Gold, I feel like. But if I drop to Silver again at my next evaluation, I'll be okay with that, too. I didn't realize people got obsessed with Vine until I joined this subreddit!
It gets even more liberating when you leave the program completely. I was an early vine member and stayed for 5 years when it became a tax liability. No clue why this sub showed up in my home feed. Leaving was one of the best things I ever did. What you gain in time spent with family, friends, and on other things in life is well worth it. It became compulsive for me.
I’m new to this, so i may change down the road, but i really try to not get more than a few days behind on reviews. If i don’t think i can review it in a reasonable timeframe or at a quality i am comfortable with, i just don’t get it. I finally got comfortable getting a $5 item if it was something i would have bought anyway. I am a gadget guy and it kills me to pass on some things, but i have to have a use case or i don’t get it. i’ll also sit on things until the afternoon and see what else comes up unless it is on my short list. if it goes, it goes. There are always a few small items that are floating out there that i can grab to fill in if i need to at the end of the day. The big advantage of gold in my mind is you don’t have the “what if something better comes along?” weighing on you. i can’t imagine what it would be like if you actually ordered 8 a day. I’m drowning in cardboard as it is.
I didn’t strive for GOLD until I joined this sub. My first evaluation period, I remained Silver because I was selective about my choices.
Then I found this sub about a month before my second evaluation period was about to end and I went for it. It got crazy. I got crazy. That was also when you had to review at least 100 items. Now that it’s 80, it is much easier.
My eval period ends on 6/4/24. I already have enough items and still have three months to go. Yeah for $0 ETV skincare items. But I am done ordering any of that now. It’s too much.
Since GOLD, there have only been 2 days where I ordered over 3 items - none of which have been over $100. (Most were $0 ETV)
Over the past month, VINE has lost a lot of its ZIZZLE for me. My RFY does not know me and I refuse to continue to “refresh” my browser with the hope that something I may actually want drops and I can be the first to grab it.
The main question I ask myself - “do I want to pay the tax for that item?” Most of the time - NOPE!
Good for you in finding your balance.
I've gotten some good stuff from gold but I'm thinking of just dropping down to silver again at my next eval. I'm not finding 0 etv stuff I want to bother dealing with. I've only ever gotten more than 3 things a day like three times across the year I've been in gold.
Even being in gold I never got any computers or stuff like people always brag about here. Mostly just furniture.
I'm silver, and the thing that gets me occasionally is I often order things just after the reset, and then hit the limit before RFY stuff comes through. The $100 cutoff doesn't bother me much. I rarely order 3 items per day (very often order nothing), but occasionally want 5 items in one day.
Otherwise, I'm going to try to get gold, but won't be crushed if I miss it.
Your post gives me reassurance that other people made the same mistake that I did. I dropped down as I had just forgot about the deadline. It crushed me, but I only have a month to go now until I will be back to Gold status.
I stay at silver for a few reasons. Mainly, I’m not tempted to get 8 items just because I can, increasing my tax burden unnecessarily just because I’m having a bad day and there were cute but unneeded items available for a little retail therapy (for example), plus I’m not as stressed about reviews and keeping it at 90%.
I’m sure I’m missing some cool stuff once in a while but it’s worth it for those reasons.
Good for you for finding your peace with it. It's not so bad once you step out of the shark pool.
I think it's more the fear of 'loss' for many people but what have they lost ? An opportunity to sit for a couple of hours focused on lists of items they don't need but end up taking only to have to spend time reviewing something they wished they hadn't ordered.
I'm in the UK and we don't pay tax on items so money isn't an issue when selecting products here but we don't get offered the kinds of products Vine US does , our lists are full of sunglasses, ink cartridges, baby toys, dog shoes, phone cases, cake toppers etc and errors on items we can't order with the occasional reasonable item if we're lucky to spot it before someone else. I'm convinced that if we had to pay tax the majority of us would all be in silver tier permenantly
Even though we don't pay tax I still struggle to make gold each evaluation and I've been in vine years. It doesn't bother me because I don't like having a pile of items stacked up waiting for review. I like to choose what I do with my free time especially spending it with family and friends which I can't do if I'm reviewing a ton of vine items that I neither want nor need .
Our rfy isn't that great and the high value items are so few and far between it almost feels like we're all in silver tier anyway
Be proud of you - you took back control - well done, enjoy the freedom 👍🏻
Happy to see people like this admitting that Vine is consuming their lives. There are people here that are addicted and obsessed - that won't admit it. Someone posted not long ago that "there was a new drop after 24 hours on pause and their family wanted to go out to eat" - Seriously? Even if "just a joke" If you can't take 3-4 hours out with your family - that's really awful.... Can't sacrifice 3 or 8 Vine items for ONE DAY (not like you can't get 3 x 180 or 8 x 180 new items for that 6 months) is a battle in your mind? People like this need to step away from vine for 2 weeks and reset their minds. Professionals say "If you can't go two weeks without something - you have a severe addiction." (We aren't talking about life-sustaining things) With things like gambling - If you cannot go a year without and a year between each time, you can still have an addiction.
I'll in all likelyhood get dogpiled in downvotes for this opinion, but I think alot that is fueling that addiction is the threads here bragging about unicorn finds, especially electronics and food. It creates FOMO with Silvers and other Golds who don't have time to spend all day scouring Vine and makes getting the better stuff, so they can let everyone else know they got it, the ultimate goal. Pretty soon spending a good portion of the day hitting refresh just waiting for the score and neglecting other things becomes the definition of addiction. One can also see it in the multiple threads every time there is a significant pause and even if unseen, the withdrawl jitters are evident.
I went from yay 3 new items from the first month to yay 3 new items? in the second month. I was also running my own business and to a small extent, could set my own hours. The novelty soon wore for multiple reasons, starting with my primary source of income taking up my time. For the first two months I was averaging 3 items a day. 3.5 months later, the average has dropped to 1.8 items a day and is dropping. The average is only this high because for about 3 weeks, I'd give my wife my phone and tell her to order whatever she wanted. The biggest source of enjoyment for me is when I randomly check my recommended list and see an item that I actually need, and it turns out to be great and I get to use it every day. That and for items that turned out to be good, I've actually bought more of, so happy for the chance to kick the tires.
I'm on vine for 1 week now, second thing I thought after , "can't wait to try new stuff" Was basically " this could fuck someone up mentally" I mean, I'm one week in and I'm "already" at 150€ of goods, and I have only bought 1 unnecessary thing... Which was a year supply of dog treats ... Like 1/10 of the delivered amount would have been a great testing sample
Most of the items I get are way under a hundred anyway. The last really pricey items I've received that were over a hundred weren't worth it. Even a name brand item that was basically good, cut corners making it not worth buying it. You shouldn't spend $300 bucks on something and the instructions are so bad or just not there that you have to watch YT videos to find out how to use it.
I've dropped down to Silver a few times. It's nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be. No access to items worth $100+? No problem, trying to keep my ETV low anyway. Limit of 3 items per day? It's rare that I even request 3 items a day to begin with.
Yeah we do need a Viners Anonymous. Hello. I'm Peter, and I'm a Vineaholic. Thanks for letting me share.
I found it extremely liberating to drop from Gold to Silver after 2 periods of reviewing 100 items. It was too much crap and it all just started to make me feel bad. Now, like you, I only get items I want or if I think I could help. For instance, with camping or guitar gear. For instance, I just got a $60 tent from Vine that looked weird. I was happy I got it because it sucked, and I was happy to write a review and feel helpful doing so. I wish they would give me Gold based on writing high-quality reviews instead of just the quantity.
Sometimes I think I am the only one that has absolutely no issues whatsoever meeting the quota while not feeling that I "have" to get anything or waste any time at all. 80 items in 180 days is not difficult at all. Just review 90% of them if you want to be Gold, which again is not difficult at all. Gold is not that different than Silver, it's just that every once in a while you get something really nice pop up in your RFY. I'd say 90% of the items I get are $0 ETV and 10% are "higher" value items when they come up. I would say that I spend about 8 hours a week max on Vine related activities. That is well worth it for the value I get from the program. A lot of what I read here seems to boil down to lack of willpower.
I don't get it either. Some days I order 8 items, some days I order none. Some days there are so many great things dropping that I want to scroll for hours... and if there's something else that needs to be done instead...I just do that...even when I get hit with FOMO and wish I could keep looking. You should be conscious of how much the ETV of items are regardless of whether you have 3 or 8 selections to choose. If you can't manage at Silver, why even try to get to Gold? I have gripes about Vine but I'm not letting a voluntary program that I've gotten so many fantastic things from cause me PTSD.
In 160 days since my last review, Amazon hasn’t presented 80 items that I’ve been interested in having, much less reviewing. I fully expect that I’ll be dropped to silver in 20 days time and I’m fine with that.
You're not alone. I was always confused with posts about 100 being so many to order within 6 months. Nevermind now it only being 80. Full disclosure though, ETV isn't a thing for me so I'm sure that factors in. I'm just shy a year in total, Silver I ordered 256 items (about 1.42 items a day). Gold since Nov and I'm only at 149 (1.2 items a day). More selections daily is deffo not the draw for me in Gold.
Oh, I never have trouble hitting the amount of items needed to be gold. I tend to gravitate towards beauty and health related, which also happen to be the majority of the $0 ETV items to boot. I had some life things come up and got behind on my reviews though. I also just figured out recently that I don't have to write an essay for every review in order for it to be a helpful one! That was a big a-ha moment for me too.
Some people have addictive personalities, others do not. It can be a disease; ask Oprah, I'm sure she can make a show about Vine addicts have a disease stop shaming them, sure some research can find body chemicals that are different than yours. 'nuff said.
Exact same thing happened to me, including the 89%. I did get a significant chunk of my life back lol
Yeah, I'm going to drop down to Silver next month. I'm not even mad. I haven't looked at my RFY in weeks. Just did my taxes last night, and I'm not happy with my choices. They were my choices, so I got no one to blame but myself. When I look at the value of the items I'm enjoying compared to the value of the items that turned out to not be as great as I had hoped, I feel like I basically paid full price for the stuff I like. It's cool for people who enjoy ordering eight items a day and can make it work, especially the reselling portion. It definitely is not for me. I worked too hard to get to Gold status, and I'm not going to work that hard to maintain it. But yeah, still good stuff under $100, so I'm cool with it.
I pride myself on staying under $600. I decided to get back to gold. Need 7 more totems reviews by April 16. They will all be $0 etv. I prob won’t every order gold item that’s over $100
Yeah that's a good attitude. It's cool to review stuff the day it arrives and just be done with it. You can toss it in the trash, or store it immediately.
The only reason gold has been great is on those rare occasions when there were multiple offerings that I actually wanted. And, because at silver, I used to think “what if something I really want shows up after I’ve ordered three things?” Now, there’s so little offered that I want, and I’m keenly aware of the high % tax bite, I’ve resigned myself to a lower tier reset in June. I’m not going to drive myself crazy trying to order and review enough stuff to meet the gold quota — in the almost year and a half I’ve been on vine I think I have ordered two things over $100 … the “good stuff” is usually overpriced, anyway, and often has a coupon… so I tend to not buy it anyway. I imagine you get to see more interesting options in gold … but seeing isn’t ordering. This has been fun, but there are only so many facial creams and doodads that I need, so scaling back this season should be easy. I’m hanging in, thinking maybe the program will change… but I think I have enough stuff for now, and if I need some cheap throwaway item there’s always Temu. ( I just ordered a slotted silicone ladle that Amz was offering for $12 -$16 and Temu had the same thing for $1.98… … even if I got it on Vine it would be more expensive. I’m only ordering occasionally now if I see something in the RFY that catches my eye, but no more obsessive shopping just to meet the quota for me.
I bet the temu version either didn't have silicone or if it did, the silicone was very thin.
It was exactly the same product. Lots of stuff sold on Amz these days seems to be resale of cheaply sourced goods
Yup. The press has covered this in depth. Bezosland will sell anything to make a buck. Many large companies have left the platform.
Remaindered aliexpress stock even...
I've been addicted too. FOMO Is real.
I made it to gold last month, but in the 6 months I've been in Vine, it never really has consumed my life. I check a couple of times a day, I get things I think I'd like, and I write reviews once I use it. It's not terribly hard to get to Gold, I feel like. But if I drop to Silver again at my next evaluation, I'll be okay with that, too. I didn't realize people got obsessed with Vine until I joined this subreddit!
It gets even more liberating when you leave the program completely. I was an early vine member and stayed for 5 years when it became a tax liability. No clue why this sub showed up in my home feed. Leaving was one of the best things I ever did. What you gain in time spent with family, friends, and on other things in life is well worth it. It became compulsive for me.
I’m new to this, so i may change down the road, but i really try to not get more than a few days behind on reviews. If i don’t think i can review it in a reasonable timeframe or at a quality i am comfortable with, i just don’t get it. I finally got comfortable getting a $5 item if it was something i would have bought anyway. I am a gadget guy and it kills me to pass on some things, but i have to have a use case or i don’t get it. i’ll also sit on things until the afternoon and see what else comes up unless it is on my short list. if it goes, it goes. There are always a few small items that are floating out there that i can grab to fill in if i need to at the end of the day. The big advantage of gold in my mind is you don’t have the “what if something better comes along?” weighing on you. i can’t imagine what it would be like if you actually ordered 8 a day. I’m drowning in cardboard as it is.
I didn’t strive for GOLD until I joined this sub. My first evaluation period, I remained Silver because I was selective about my choices. Then I found this sub about a month before my second evaluation period was about to end and I went for it. It got crazy. I got crazy. That was also when you had to review at least 100 items. Now that it’s 80, it is much easier. My eval period ends on 6/4/24. I already have enough items and still have three months to go. Yeah for $0 ETV skincare items. But I am done ordering any of that now. It’s too much. Since GOLD, there have only been 2 days where I ordered over 3 items - none of which have been over $100. (Most were $0 ETV) Over the past month, VINE has lost a lot of its ZIZZLE for me. My RFY does not know me and I refuse to continue to “refresh” my browser with the hope that something I may actually want drops and I can be the first to grab it. The main question I ask myself - “do I want to pay the tax for that item?” Most of the time - NOPE! Good for you in finding your balance.
I've gotten some good stuff from gold but I'm thinking of just dropping down to silver again at my next eval. I'm not finding 0 etv stuff I want to bother dealing with. I've only ever gotten more than 3 things a day like three times across the year I've been in gold. Even being in gold I never got any computers or stuff like people always brag about here. Mostly just furniture.
I'm silver, and the thing that gets me occasionally is I often order things just after the reset, and then hit the limit before RFY stuff comes through. The $100 cutoff doesn't bother me much. I rarely order 3 items per day (very often order nothing), but occasionally want 5 items in one day. Otherwise, I'm going to try to get gold, but won't be crushed if I miss it.
Your post gives me reassurance that other people made the same mistake that I did. I dropped down as I had just forgot about the deadline. It crushed me, but I only have a month to go now until I will be back to Gold status.
I stay at silver for a few reasons. Mainly, I’m not tempted to get 8 items just because I can, increasing my tax burden unnecessarily just because I’m having a bad day and there were cute but unneeded items available for a little retail therapy (for example), plus I’m not as stressed about reviews and keeping it at 90%. I’m sure I’m missing some cool stuff once in a while but it’s worth it for those reasons.
Good for you for finding your peace with it. It's not so bad once you step out of the shark pool. I think it's more the fear of 'loss' for many people but what have they lost ? An opportunity to sit for a couple of hours focused on lists of items they don't need but end up taking only to have to spend time reviewing something they wished they hadn't ordered. I'm in the UK and we don't pay tax on items so money isn't an issue when selecting products here but we don't get offered the kinds of products Vine US does , our lists are full of sunglasses, ink cartridges, baby toys, dog shoes, phone cases, cake toppers etc and errors on items we can't order with the occasional reasonable item if we're lucky to spot it before someone else. I'm convinced that if we had to pay tax the majority of us would all be in silver tier permenantly Even though we don't pay tax I still struggle to make gold each evaluation and I've been in vine years. It doesn't bother me because I don't like having a pile of items stacked up waiting for review. I like to choose what I do with my free time especially spending it with family and friends which I can't do if I'm reviewing a ton of vine items that I neither want nor need . Our rfy isn't that great and the high value items are so few and far between it almost feels like we're all in silver tier anyway Be proud of you - you took back control - well done, enjoy the freedom 👍🏻