u/NaturalSpecialist5

Hey everyone! I wanted to share a classic example of an over-inflated listing full of red flags. If you're new to Vine or trying to protect your tax burden, always scroll past the shiny main photo and check the fine print!

💎

Here is what jumps out immediately on this "18K Gold Birthstone Necklace":

❌ The $120 Price Tag: $119.99 for a basic birthstone pendant from an unknown seller is wildly inflated.

❌ Broken Listing Specs: Under the "Features & Specs" section for the December option, the seller lists Color: A12-December, but the table explicitly claims

Gem Type: No Gemstone,

Material: Base, and

Metal Type: base.

The product title claims "18K Gold," but their own spec sheet admits it's cheap base metal with no stone.

❌ Photoshopped CAD Renders: The main image is just a digital mock-up, and the lifestyle photo uses a completely different shade of blue than the isolated product shot. They just photoshopped a single template image for every month.

❌ December Birthstone Confusion: They're listing a generic bright blue stone for December. December actually has four recognized stones: Turquoise, Blue Topaz, Tanzanite, and Blue Zircon. Zircon can have a brilliant electric blue-green flash (similar to fluorite or that beautiful greenish-blue color on my mom's small childhood ring from the late '40s!). Instead, these sellers just toss in cheap, mismatched blue glass or cubic zirconia for both March and December.

Reading through Discord and Reddit threads has saved me so much headache on things like this. Always check the item details table before you hit request!

What are the biggest red flags that make you skip a listing immediately?

I know we've all seen the posts here complaining about other reviewers, and I've never felt the need to make an entire thread about it until now.

This is really about saving customers time. I appreciate that someone went out of their way to explain their thought process, but nobody buying a Halloween garland wants to scroll through paragraphs explaining what three stars means to them. It clutters the listing and adds zero value for the buyer.

Being honest about the product is awesome, but leave out the extra fluff. This isn't a job and nobody is getting a BA in Vine, even if that would be an interesting degree.

I was super excited tonight when a few cheap but zero ETV showed up! Rarely happens for me.

I am really into cooking healthier meals with all my spices lately, and this spice blend is a great one to be adventurous with.

That being said, the delivery date is one of those "wait a month or so and we'll send it when we feel like it" dates.

Or the product isn't ready yet.

Arriving Aug 13- Sep11.

So my evaluation is coming up August 23rd. Since some people have mentioned their eval was one to two weeks earlier than it should have been, I'm even more concerned about an order that I can't review. ( I meant to say 32 days in my title)

As much as I would love this spice, is it better to skip it at this point?

I also asked Google about it and this was the suggestion:

It hurts your review percentage: Every single item you request immediately adds to your total order count. Since this spice will not arrive until September, you cannot review it before your evaluation date in 32 days. That means it sits in your queue as an unreviewed order and pulls your percentage down right when you need it high.

Before anyone jumps in to tell me how algorithms work, I already know how this happened, but seeing it land in RFY in real time is still wild. The pipeline between Facebook browsing and Vine RFY is out of control.

I looked at a GLP1 ad on Facebook, went through their intake process, and got slammed with four emails yesterday from them. I blocked them, and boom: a peptide case drops straight into my feed without me ever typing a single word into Amazon search.

I did some digging into how this cross-platform tracking actually connects, and here is what is happening:

1. Device Advertising IDs

Your phone uses a unique identifier (like an Android Advertising ID or Apple IDFA). When you view or interact with an ad on Facebook or visit a site with a tracking pixel, data networks log that interest to your phone's ad profile. Amazon ingests third party behavioral data to help populate recommendations.

2. Hashed Email Syncing

Even if you block or delete incoming emails, interacting with a merchant's page logs your contact info. Ad platforms use cryptographic hashing to match your activity across apps. If the same email or phone number is linked to your Facebook and your primary shopping accounts, ad networks bridge the gap automatically.

3. Security vs. Ad Targeting

The masked item details in seller emails are meant to prevent phishing scams and stop bad actors from reading sensitive order details in transit. That security system is entirely separate from the advertising algorithm, which thrives on cross site data collection to predict what products to serve up next.

This doesn't just happen via FB either.

I decided to stop ordering since my ETV is getting a little higher than I'm comfortable with. It's not extremely high, just my personal preference.

Focusing on finishing reviews.

As of late, my RFY seems to be making that decision much, much easier 😆

Let's see your RFY!

I'm reposting this because I inadvertently included a screenshot that had personal information in it w/o realizing it at the time.

I've been a loyal customer of Amazon Prime for years. I place orders all the time, or at least I used to but going forward I will not.

Today I was going over a few items I wanted to purchase and I always - without fail - read reviews starting with negative ones so I can make informed purchases. Amazon won't let me do that anymore and no one there is willing to tell me why.

I am now being forced to ask permission for the right to read all reviews. I am now being forced to wait and in the meantime I cannot in good conscience buy anything until Amazon decides to let me make informed decisions on buying anything there.

This is like censorship but only in reverse. Has anyone out there there experienced this issue? Why would Amazon do that to their customers? It is bad for business. I gave up Prime today right after my attempt to get the truth about this issue from an Amazon rep failed miserably (this was in the Amazon app).

Amazon refused to answer me on Facebook w/o my having to jump through hoops on that platform. I tried to file yet another complaint against them on the Better Business Bureau website but the BBB refused to let me submit it because I had filed with them against Amazon in the past. I can't get help anywhere and am at a loss as to why this is happening.

I really need to be able to order from them but they are being dishonest af. Please help. Tx.

Which one of you lucky cukes grabbed this?

I found this bit of info while checking in on some old Discord notifications.

​The text that accompanied this image is below. Has anyone come across this?

​For context, starting July 30th, 2026, Amazon’s "New Selection Program" is giving qualifying third-party sellers a $75 credit for the Vine middle tier enrollment fee. Since the middle tier covers 3 to 10 units, this entirely wipes out their upfront enrollment cost for listing more than the usual 2 items.

Since a lot of sellers currently stick to the free 2-unit limit to avoid fees, this promo means we might see an influx of items offering 10 units instead of just 2.

Do you think this will noticeably change the variety or volume in our queues once the promo begins?

"Good news: starting July 30th, Amazon has a new promotion for 'new selection' items (basically sellers who have a decent score in their system, or new sellers, when enrolling new items they have not sold before) and in it is a Vine credit for the middle tier. So we may see more items enrolled with 10 units rather than the free 2 item tier"

😢

When I see AI reviews, it sometimes makes me wonder if I pretended to sound like AI, would they notice?

Obviously Amazon doesn't care.

I have actually tried it, it's called writing advertising fluff. We're not here to sell the product, just review it.

But in all seriousness, it never bothered me until recently for some reason and I think it's due to the influx of AI. Which is now considered AI fatigue.

It's a nice, glowing review, but at least add some of your own actual thoughts.

Also, I have never used the word "uncoiling" before.

( "Taking up too much Real estate" is an AI dead ringer ).

Because if you're here, I'm going to need photos of your cat and not just that AI orange cat enjoying her extreme Facial high.

So freaking high 🥴

As a Vine Voice, this going off 49 times a week might get us banned from the neighborhood 😆

Not Quite Homelander Cat, but close.

Notice in the second photo how the sign is larger.

I asked AI to clear up what exactly the wording says in the AI photo, by the boxes.

AI did, then AI laughed at AI.

​

"Blucking Missal to DUMPRTERS or TRASH RECEPTACLES"

​

"BURICKING ENTHANCE to Building..."

"INPROPHEGEY Parked"

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"Notabile NOT IN ACCEPTABLE CONDITION"

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"TO BEING TOWED RO BOOTED TO YOUR EXPENSE"

[removed]

Coins? Seconds? Cats? Oatmeal Cream Pies? RHCP songs? Men??!

​

This is why you should always read the description clearly prior to ordering.

I will wear my stupid hat proudly amongst my plants this summer.

​

I really want to dig up my gold marker and sneak in the word year, but that would make it worse.

Lesson learned.

"simply removing it from its box and charging"

I love when an AI review that hasn't been edited to sound human is posted.

Along with the manufacturer's photo.

Makes me feel warm fuzzies.

Mmmm yes! 🤗

​

Do you have a favorite fake review ?

I noticed over the weekend while I was shopping around for a few products that the reviews on the Amazon App are now shoved into a tight, little scroll box.

Instead of the nice page below, they are hiding a majority of the reviews.

It's an extra step to view, which we all know most consumers won't bother with.

So negative reviews mostly won't be seen.

I find this to pretty deceitful on Amazon's part, but then, it's Amazon.

This is the same format that TEMU used and then Amazon adopted for their HAUL, which is where a good majority of items in Vine go ( from what I've seen ).

At this point our reviews really don't matter. The stars only show so much. This pushes out the garbage products to make the giant more money.

And as a consumer, this is not only frustrating, it's another step towards cancelling.

Now that's a selling point for my generation.

I have a lot of mix CDs I made in the 90s, and I don't want them going into the wrong hands.

There's also my wedding DVD. Can it handle it?

I'll never know, I'm sticking with my old Walmart shredder.

Sarcasm aside, this is a very nice piece of equipment, I assume. I hope it goes into someone else's RYF eventually.

No 0 ETV.

Vine is on fire tonight.