As is well known, the Vine program is an official evaluation program launched by Amazon, which invites reputable Amazon buyers to evaluate products and provides support for new products to receive genuine reviews. Therefore, the VINE program has always been the top priority strategy for many Amazon sellers when promoting new products.
However, due to the threshold of Vine program, there are not many sellers who use and discuss it. In order to enable more sellers to use Vine, Amazon announced a major update to its Vine plan yesterday. Sellers who plan to launch new products in 2025 must have a detailed understanding of the following changes.
Vine Plan 4 Updates
1、 Relax usage requirements
Starting from March 2025, Vine plans to be open to all Amazon sellers, no longer limited to those who have completed brand registration. This change means that even white label sellers who have not yet completed brand registration can use the Vine program. The applicable sites include eight major sites in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Japan.
This is undoubtedly a significant benefit for small and medium-sized sellers, especially those who have not completed brand registration, and have also used the Vine program to accumulate reviews for new products in the early stages.
2、 Add new site usage
Vine plans to add an "Australian site" to its website, but it should be noted that at this stage, the Australian site is only open to sellers who have completed brand registration, and other sellers are temporarily unable to use it.
3、 Vine Plan Registration Fee 25% off
Amazon sellers who register for the Amazon Logistics new product warehousing discount program can enjoy a 75% discount on the Vine program registration fee for up to 10 items in Amazon FBA Logistics new selection.
Applicable sites include: USA, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, all of which can currently enjoy this discount.
However, the parent ASIN must register for the Vine program within 5-60 days after the first entry into the Amazon Fulfillment (FBA) operations center, and the number of registered items must be greater than 3 and less than 10.
This preferential policy is suitable for new sellers who use Amazon FBA logistics, which can reduce promotion costs while improving the efficiency of obtaining new product reviews.
4、 Vine plan package can be upgraded
Previously, once Vine was registered, sellers were unable to change gears. After this update, sellers can flexibly upgrade from lower gear to higher gear: they can upgrade from "free gear" and "low price gear" to higher gear.
Sellers can add more products to the same parent ASIN within the first 30 days of registering the number of items, thus flexibly upgrading the level, such as upgrading from "free level" to "low price level" or "original price level".
Sellers need to pay attention to:
1. Once the gear is upgraded, it cannot be downgraded to a lower or free gear;
2. The registration period is 90 days, and even if the product is fully claimed within 30 days, the seller can still retain a flexible adjustment time of up to 30 days;
3. In terms of payment mode, if the number of registered products is ≥ 3 and at least 1 comment is received within 90 days, corresponding fees will be charged after the first comment is generated; If there are no comments, no payment is required.
Although the update to the Vine program provides sellers with more opportunities to receive reviews, there are still some potential issues to be aware of:
1. Product unclaimed or slow to collect
Vine plans often experience slow product acquisition, no or few reviews, which may delay the pace of new product promotion.
2. Uncontrollable evaluation
Due to the fact that reviews are independently written by buyers invited by Amazon, there may be negative reviews that could have a negative impact on new product promotion.
3. High end seats require significant investment
For small and medium-sized sellers, blindly upgrading gears may result in a mismatch between input and output.
However, overall, this update is still beneficial for sellers. For sellers with limited budgets, Xiaojiang suggests that they can register for a free tier of 0-2 items without paying any fees, and observe product collection and feedback. If the collection rate and evaluation quality are good, it can be upgraded to a higher level to increase the number of promoted products.
In addition, it is recommended that sellers register for the Vine program while ensuring product quality and copywriting quality, to ensure that the product itself is attractive and in line with market demand. For the generated comments, it is necessary to analyze the content in a timely manner to reduce the impact caused by negative reviews.