- Joined
- Dec 7, 2021
- Messages
- 342
As a Prime subscriber I have found increasing use of the Amazon site for many of my purchases. I generally write product reviews for most of my purchases. These are honest summaries of what’s good and bad and sometimes just irksome about the product. My Amazon reviews get noticed and are often marked as “helpful“.
Amazon has a program for selected custimers called Vine Voices. I was recently invited by Amazon to join the Vine voices program. Amazon selects and recruits the Vine Voices members, you can’t volunteer or opt in to it. The + hook for the program is new Vine members can select up to three items per day (from a list) that cost less then $100 per item ($300/day) that will be sent to their home for free. It is theirs to keep. The - catch is that the Vine member is asked to use the product and leave reviews of at least half of the “free“ items sent to him/her. Amazon tags reviews left by Vine members reviewing free stuff right in the review. A Vine member reviewing something he purchases is still tagged as a Vine reviewer but without the disclaimer that the item was given to him/her for free.
Of course the IRS has noticed this and requires Amazon to send the recipient of these “free“ items a 1099-NEC once the total Fair Market Value of the freebies excends $600 for the tax year. Apparently food and some other baby and some health care items are assigned a FMV of $0 dollars and all books are FMV’d at 99 cents. So essentially you get the item to keep and the cost is the taxes you will have to pay on its FMV. So assuming you are in a 20% tax bracket means that a $100 item will cost you $20, payable to the IRS at tax time.
Are there any Amazon Vine Voices members here? I like to hear of your experiences with the program, the good, bad and the ugly.
Amazon has a program for selected custimers called Vine Voices. I was recently invited by Amazon to join the Vine voices program. Amazon selects and recruits the Vine Voices members, you can’t volunteer or opt in to it. The + hook for the program is new Vine members can select up to three items per day (from a list) that cost less then $100 per item ($300/day) that will be sent to their home for free. It is theirs to keep. The - catch is that the Vine member is asked to use the product and leave reviews of at least half of the “free“ items sent to him/her. Amazon tags reviews left by Vine members reviewing free stuff right in the review. A Vine member reviewing something he purchases is still tagged as a Vine reviewer but without the disclaimer that the item was given to him/her for free.
Of course the IRS has noticed this and requires Amazon to send the recipient of these “free“ items a 1099-NEC once the total Fair Market Value of the freebies excends $600 for the tax year. Apparently food and some other baby and some health care items are assigned a FMV of $0 dollars and all books are FMV’d at 99 cents. So essentially you get the item to keep and the cost is the taxes you will have to pay on its FMV. So assuming you are in a 20% tax bracket means that a $100 item will cost you $20, payable to the IRS at tax time.
Are there any Amazon Vine Voices members here? I like to hear of your experiences with the program, the good, bad and the ugly.