Among Friends

[Mz iMac]

@Meowingkitty for that info.  Very interesting.  I am intrigued.

@PA Mom-mom  Do you do reviews on all or most of your purchases?

[Tori3569]

I agree it's interesting, but I also got a chuckle thinking of how upset some customers here get when the product review is incentivized or from the brand website. 😊

[PA Mom-mom]

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@Mz iMac wrote:

@Meowingkitty for that info.  Very interesting.  I am intrigued.

@PA Mom-mom  Do you do reviews on all or most of your purchases?

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@Mz iMac  I only review on items that are especially good or very disappointing. If I have time I'll review others, but a lot of our purchases are on auto delivery, and are regular household items like shampoo, toothpaste and hummingbird nectar.

[SilleeMee]

I used to be a Walmart Spark reviewer. It's similar to Amazon Vine where customers write reviews for the free products they receive. I was never asked to provide my SS number. What I now know is that Walmart was required to issue a 1099 only if their products were worth $600 or more. I never got anything that was worth that so maybe that's why I didn't have to give them my SS number. 🤷

[wagirl]

Yes I have. Thought about it and had the same reaction to giving my ss #. Nope, deal breaker—-and where would I store all that stuff?

[PA Mom-mom]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

I used to be a Walmart Spark reviewer. It's similar to Amazon Vine where customers write reviews for the free products they receive. I was never asked to provide my SS number. What I now know is that Walmart was required to issue a 1099 only if their products were worth $600 or more. I never got anything that was worth that so maybe that's why I didn't have to give them my SS number. 🤷

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@SilleeMee  Thanks for that  info! 

[SilleeMee]

@PA Mom-mom 

Any promotional item received by a customer is supposed to be self-reported as income to the IRS no matter what the amount. When the amount exceeds $600 then the retailer is required to issue a 1099. I got a fair amount of free stuff but never reported it as income. I can still be liable to pay the tax on it if Walmart gets audited and my name comes up but what are the chances? 

[FLtricia]

I have never reported my items either.  And Wayfair issues me a 1099 for the amount over $600.

[Sakuya]

Amazon Vine is not a scam. They need your information so it can be taxed if you receive over $600 in product.

[danska]

Amazon vine and any of the incentivized reviews are red flags to not buy the product if there are too many of them. I don't trust them and don't read them. I also filter them out where possible to only verified reviews and not incentivized