Introduction: Amazon VINE plan to upgrade, help the rapid accumulation of new product evaluation
In today's increasingly fierce competition in e-commerce, the promotion and evaluation of new products has become a headache for many sellers. The VINE program officially launched by Amazon, with its unique evaluation mechanism, has been favored by Amazon sellers, especially some sellers with relatively excellent products themselves, often use VINE program to accumulate early evaluations of new products. However, due to the high threshold of use, merchants who need to register their brands can only use it. It is difficult for many small and medium-sized sellers to enjoy the advantages of new products brought by this plan. Now, the good news! Amazon announced an update to the VINE program, making it clear that it will relax the use requirements of the VINE program, add new sites, and provide more preferential policies. This is a noteworthy thing for Amazon sellers, including our POD clothing sellers, and this article will explain these changes in detail for you to better use VINE program to win real reviews for new products.
I. VINE plan update overview
Amazon has made a number of important updates to the VINE program, designed to allow more sellers to benefit. Here are the main changes:
1. Relax the use requirements
Starting in March 2025, the VINE program will no longer be limited to sellers who complete brand registration, but will be open to all Amazon sellers. This means that even white sellers who have not yet completed their brand registration can use the VINE program. Applicable sites include the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan eight sites. This is undoubtedly a huge positive news for small and medium-sized sellers, especially in the early stage of new product promotion, you can quickly accumulate comments through the VINE program.
2. New site usage
In addition to the original eight sites, VINE plans to add new “ Australia Station ” . However, it should be noted that at the current stage, the Australian station is only open to sellers who have completed brand registration, and other sellers are not available for the time being. This opens up new opportunities for sellers in more regions.
3. 75% off registration fee
For sellers who sign up for the Amazon Logistics New Arrivals Program, they can enjoy a 25% discount on the VINE program registration fee for up to 10 items. Applicable sites include the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan and Canada. Parent ASIN must register for the VINE program within 5-60 days of first entry into the Amazon FBA Operations Center, and must register more than 3 and less than 10 items. This preferential policy is suitable for new sellers who use Amazon FBA logistics, which can reduce promotion costs and improve the efficiency of new product evaluation.
4. Package can be upgraded flexibly
In the past, sellers could not change their stalls once they signed up for the VINE program. Now, sellers can upgrade flexibly from low to higher gear. For example, from “ Free file ” Or “ Low price range ” Upgrade to “ Original price file ” . Sellers can add more items to the same parent ASIN within the first 30 days of registering the number of items, allowing flexibility to adjust the stall. It should be noted that once upgraded, you cannot downgrade to low or free; The registration period is 90 days, and even if the product is fully claimed within 30 days, the seller can still retain the flexibility to adjust the time up to 30 days. In the charging model, when the number of registered goods ≥ 3, if at least one comment is received within 90 days, the corresponding fee will be charged after the first comment is generated; No comments are paid.
II. Advantages and Potential Problems of VINE Program
While the VINE program update provides more opportunities for sellers to be reviewed, there are still some potential issues to be aware of:
1. Product unclaimed or slow
In the VINE program, products are often received slowly, with no or few comments, which may delay the pace of new product promotion. Therefore, sellers need to pay close attention to the receipt of products and adjust their strategies in a timely manner.
2. Evaluation is out of control
Because reviews are independently written by buyers invited by Amazon, there may be bad reviews, which can easily have a negative impact on the promotion of new products. Sellers should analyze the content of reviews in a timely manner to reduce the impact of bad reviews.
3. High cost input
For small and medium-sized sellers, if the gear is blindly upgraded, it may not be proportional to the input and output. It is recommended that sellers with limited budgets start from the free stall, observe the product collection and evaluation feedback, and then decide whether to upgrade.
III. How to make full use of VINE program
In order to maximize the effectiveness of the VINE program, sellers should be prepared for the following before signing up:
1. Ensure product quality
Ensure that the product itself is attractive and market demand, which is the basis for obtaining good reviews.
2. Optimize the copy
High-quality product descriptions and pictures can attract more buyers' interest and improve the collection rate.
3. Timely follow-up
Check the review content regularly, respond to buyer's questions and feedback in a timely manner, and improve the user experience.
4. Flexible adjustment
According to the market feedback and receiving situation, flexibly adjust the promotion strategy and gear selection.
5. Analyze data
Through data analysis, understand which products are more popular, which aspects need to be improved, and constantly optimize the promotion effect.
Conclusion
The major update of Amazon VINE program has brought more opportunities and flexibility to small and medium-sized sellers. This series of moves is definitely beneficial to us POD clothing sellers. For example, before this, we may need to decide at the beginning which gear VINE program this clothing product needs to participate in. Misjudgment is bound to happen, there may be less or more, but now it is different, we can flexibly upgrade, then we can start from the free file at the beginning, all products can participate in the VINE plan, provide two free products, if the early sales or test results are good, we will increase the cost range of 3 to 10 pieces of 75 dollars. After March 2025, there will be a 30% discount in this section, and if the effect continues to improve, it can continue to rise, which greatly reduces the cost of participating in VINE program. Of course, the biggest change in this update is to relax the participation restrictions of VINE program, allowing small and medium-sized sellers without brands to join it. By relaxing usage requirements, adding new sites, offering reduced registration fees, and flexible package upgrades, Amazon sellers can more effectively leverage the VINE program to accumulate authentic reviews for new products. Of course, our Amazon POD clothing sellers also need to pay attention to potential problems and take appropriate measures to optimize the promotion effect.
FAQ (FAQs)
1. What is the VINE Plan?
VINE program is an evaluation program officially launched by Amazon, which provides support for new products to get real evaluation by inviting reputable Amazon buyers to evaluate products. As we all know, many cross-border e-commerce platforms will have certain support for new products to break zero, especially zero evaluation. VINE program is a support policy officially launched by Amazon. However, this policy is not completely free, but also has certain conditions and requirements, such as the need to have branded goods, which has been cancelled this update, at the same time, will charge a certain fee, this update has a certain discount, and finally, need to provide a certain number of free products, on the whole, similar to the previous Taobao free trial.
2. Who can use the VINE plan?
From March 2025, VINE program will be open to all Amazon sellers, no longer limited to sellers who have completed brand registration. Before that, only sellers who have completed brand registration can apply, and only new links can apply. In order to create new links, many Amazon sellers will choose to open VINE program, so that products can have early evaluation. However, because the buyers of the reviews are not controllable (some Amazon sellers will choose to intervene), if the product is not good enough, there will be bad reviews or lower than expected star reviews, so VINE program is still a certain risk.
3. What updates are coming to the VINE plan?
Major updates include relaxed usage requirements, the addition of an Australian site (this site is only open to brand registrants for the time being), a 75% discount on registration fees, and flexible upgrades to the package. Until March 2025, VINE will only be open to sellers who have registered their brand, and other sellers will not be able to use this program, and the Australian site will not be open to this program. As for the registration fee, before October 12, 2021, the program is free and only needs to provide a corresponding number of free products, but since then, the VINE program will start to charge, generally, according to the number of products provided by the range of charges, such as 2 pieces or less is free. 2-10 pieces will cost $75, after this update, this range will be discounted by 30%, that is, about $56.25, 10-30 pieces will be $200, no discount, at the same time, VINE program fees are charged based on reviews appear, if no reviews appear within 90 days, There are generally no VINE program fees.
4. How can I avoid potential problems in the VINE program?
Sellers should ensure product quality, optimize copywriting, timely follow up reviews, flexibly adjust strategies and conduct data analysis to reduce the impact of potential problems. User evaluation is very important for the conversion rate of products, and the purpose of Amazon sellers participating in VINE program is to obtain multiple high-quality evaluations, which is an official activity and legal and compliant. It is much lower than the risk of intervention, so in order to make the effect of this plan to achieve the best, ensure the quality of the product, optimize the copy, make the product meet the expectations of consumers, and even give rise to a sense of surprise, is the first thing to do, if there are negative comments later, positive response, and adjust the strategy, is also essential.
5. What sites does the VINE plan work for?
Available sites include the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Australia (open only to sellers who have completed brand registration), and Amazon may open other sites in the future, but it is important to note that VINE is only an official source of reviews during the launch, and it helps us get early reviews. In fact, it will also have some misleading information about our product positioning, for our POD clothing sellers, before the early test model is not over, try not to open the most high-end VINE plan, to avoid the evaluation information of the VINE plan in the number of sales is not enough, there is no normal sales evaluation, to our certain misleading.
