Amazon Vine rules: what the agreement actually says

You'll see Vine sold as early reviews with Amazon's blessing, and the reviews part is real. What nobody mentions is the agreement you click through to get them. Amazon promises you almost nothing in it, and says so in plain language.

What Vine costs

• Up to 2 units — $0.
• 3–10 units — $75. Elsewhere: CAD 100 · GBP 60 · EUR 70 · JPY 10,000.
• 11–30 units — $200. Elsewhere: CAD 240 · GBP 140 · EUR 170 · JPY 22,000.

Amazon bills per parent product, and "there's no additional cost for child products." So a parent with eight variations costs the same as a parent with one.

You don't pay up front: "You aren't charged until 30 days after enrollment and after your first review is published. If you don't receive a Vine review within 90 days from the date of enrollment, you aren't charged."

The same page says it differently further down, in the dashboard section — there it's "You won't be billed until after your first review is published," with no mention of 30 days. Go by the FAQ wording and check your own invoice.

The enrollment fee isn't what Vine costs you. Thirty units of a $15-COGS product is $450 of stock you're giving away, on top of the $200. That's the number to compare against.

Which products can go in

On top of that you need "a Professional selling account and a Brand Representative or Reseller role assigned to a brand enrolled in Amazon Brand Registry, or have generic products."

The 30-review ceiling is the one that closes on you. It counts reviews already on the detail page, so a product sitting at 27 organic reviews can age out of eligibility while you're still deciding.

You can enroll the day you create the FBA listing — "even before inventory is received in the Amazon fulfillment network and before your listing goes live." Amazon recommends having stock in place "at least three weeks before your planned launch date."

Vine runs in nine stores: US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia and Japan.

How many reviews does Amazon promise? None

So Amazon isn't promising you a number, and isn't promising you a tone. What it does require is the reviewer's honesty: "Any reviews posted by Vine Voices must be independent and unbiased and reflect the Vine Voice's true opinion (regardless whether it is positive or negative)." That's on purpose. The Vine badge is worth something to shoppers because Amazon doesn't lean on the reviewer.

One seller asked support why the reviews weren't arriving:

Another seller in the same thread put a number on it: "From my experience, about 65% to 70% of people leave VINE reviews." That's one seller counting his own listings. Amazon has never published a rate, so don't build a launch budget on 65%.

A third seller read the silence the other way: "Not getting reviews means that THESE reviewers had a heart and didn't want to give you a bad review." If a Vine Voice hates your product, sometimes they just don't write anything.

Vine tells you what thirty strangers thought, once, at launch, and only if they felt like writing. It won't tell you what the buyer who got a cracked lid this week thinks, and that's the person whose review is about to land.

Can you get a bad Vine review taken down?

So "this review is unfair" isn't a reason. Neither is "the reviewer used it wrong." What's left is the route open to any review: report it for breaking the Community Guidelines using the report link on the detail page. Amazon will check whether the review breaks a rule. It won't check whether it's fair to you.

A Vine reviewer paid nothing and owes you nothing. Read a few Vine reviews on a competitor's listing before you enroll — they run long, often with photos, and a weak seam in your packaging gets described in detail near the top of your reviews for as long as the listing lives.

Can you contact a Vine reviewer?

It runs both ways, and most summaries drop the second half. If a Vine Voice reaches out to you about anything beyond ordinary support, you have to shut the conversation down and tell Amazon.

That's why Vine is FBA-only: "To ensure the authenticity and credibility of your reviews, we maintain the anonymity of Vine Voices. To avoid disclosing their contact information, we fulfill all Vine products via FBA." Your warehouse never sees the reviewer's address.

Your own buyers run under different rules. What you're allowed to say to them is set out in Amazon's buyer-seller messaging rules, and the one review request Amazon supplies itself is covered in the Request a Review button.

Do you get the units back?

Your Vine units are FBA by definition, so nothing gets destroyed. Unclaimed units go back to being ordinary sellable stock. A claimed one is gone: you keep title to each unit "until a Vine Voice orders a unit and it is delivered to the common carrier," and then it's the reviewer's.

Vine Voices pay income tax on what they claim: "Although Voices receive products for free, they are responsible for income tax on the products." Worth keeping in mind on a high-ticket item, because claiming your $200 product costs the reviewer real money.

Can you pull a product back out?

Whether you can still back out comes down to one thing: has anyone claimed a unit.

Amazon has its own cut-off on the other side: it can withdraw a product from the program, but never "later than 5 business days before we offer the Accepted Product to Vine Voices."

Leaving never reaches what's already published — pulling out "will not require Amazon to delete or alter any Reviews previously posted."

Enrollment is effectively one-way. Get the listing, images and packaging right first, because your one shot at Vine for that product is spent the moment a reviewer claims a unit.

Can you quote a Vine review in your own marketing?

If you've pasted a Vine review into an A+ module or an ad, check three things.

You asked the reviewer for permission, and you asked by replying to the review. You labeled the quote "Amazon Vine Customer Review of Free Product" — that exact string, not "verified reviewer" and not "Vine Voice". And the review is still live, because once it comes down you have to stop using it, which means anything you printed can go stale without warning.

Amazon also reserves the right to tell you to stop: it "may, by written notice, require you to cease any use of the Reviews that it deems inappropriate in its sole discretion."

Which version of the Vine agreement is this?

The PDF quoted above is the Amazon EU version. Its header reads "Last updated: July 9, 2020January 1, 2021", and the text names Amazon EU S.à r.l. and amazon.co.uk.

Check the version on your own screen at enrollment. That's the one that binds you. If you want to verify a quote, open the PDF and search a fragment with no apostrophes in it (the file mixes straight and curly quote marks, so the wrong one finds nothing).

If you'd rather look before signing up: the demo walks through the page a buyer actually reaches, in about ten seconds.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Amazon Vine cost in 2026?

Enrollment is charged per parent product: $0 for up to 2 units, $75 for 3–10 units, and $200 for 11–30 units. Child products cost nothing extra. Outside the US the tiers are CAD 100/240, GBP 60/140, EUR 70/170 and JPY 10,000/22,000. The fee isn't the real cost — every unit you enroll is inventory you give away.

Does Amazon guarantee you'll get Vine reviews?

No. The Vine agreement says Amazon makes "no assurances" about how many enrolled products reviewers will choose to review, or what those reviews will say. Amazon seller support has told sellers there's no deadline for a Vine Voice to write anything, and reviewers can decide not to review at all.

Can you get a negative Vine review removed?

Not for being negative. The agreement states Amazon has "no obligation to modify or remove Reviews from the Amazon Site, even if you find them objectionable." Amazon may remove a review that breaks its Community Guidelines, which is the same standard applied to any other review.

Can you contact a Vine reviewer about their review?

No. The agreement says you "must not contact Vine Voices or attempt to influence Vine Voices or their Reviews." If a Vine Voice contacts you for anything other than ordinary customer support, you're required to decline further communication and notify Amazon.

Do you get unsold Vine units back?

A claimed unit is gone — it belongs to the reviewer. Unclaimed units are fine: the agreement lets Amazon destroy a product ninety days after receiving it, but exempts anything enrolled in FBA, and seller Vine units have to be FBA. Those go back to being ordinary sellable stock.

Can you cancel a Vine enrollment?

Only before anyone claims a unit. If no Vine reviewer has claimed anything you can cancel and re-enroll later. Once units are claimed you can't cancel — you can only stop further claims, reviews may still publish for claimed units, and after stopping you can never re-enroll that product.

Related: The Request a Review button: the one review request that never touches a landing page · Amazon buyer-seller messaging rules: what you're allowed to send · Where Amazon's review and insert rules are actually written · What to do about a negative Amazon review