Tag Archives: amazon

What’s it like to write a thousand reviews in a year?

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Can you imagine writing a thousand online reviews in one year? Well, I couldn’t have imagined it a year ago, but I’m well on my way to that number for 2023, thanks to the Amazon Vine program.

 

What’s this Vine program about?

The official explanation of the invite-only Vine program is here on Amazon’s site, and pictured above; in short, Amazon invites prolific writers of useful reviews to join the program. I believe it’s over 15 years old, based on some Reddit traffic. I was invited to join in August 2022, eleven months ago as of this writing. 

In return for writing honest, detailed, and insightful reviews, you get your choice of an enormous assortment of products at no upfront cost. You do receive a 1099-NEC at tax time for the fair market value of your items at the time they were ordered, so it’s not entirely “free” but depending on your tax situation they can be considered dramatically discounted. 

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Some enticing Prime Day 2023 deals for your consideration

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It’s Prime Days again, for Amazon Prime subscribers who are prone to impulse deals, or who planned ahead for special offers.

I’m here to share a few suggestions I found in the deals today. You’ll also see them today on my Twitter feed.

As a reminder, I do participate in the Amazon Affiliate Program, which means I may receive a commission on purchases made through my links. But I’m not recommending anything I wouldn’t buy myself (if I haven’t already bought it).

Not a Prime member? Check out the benefits and sign up here: https://amzn.to/44D2Z6m

There’s always a Rocketbook notebook in my laptop bag (actually four at the moment). Erasable with water, reusable indefinitely, with organizational features and syncing to cloud services and email with OCR. Save 30% with Prime on Prime Day today.

amzn.to/3pRiJDP

Still rocking that first gen Apple Watch from 2015? Maybe it’s time to grab a new Series 8 at up to 30% off for Prime Day. Lots of colors, sizes, bands, etc. And remember that your old bands are probably compatible.

amzn.to/3PS7pBV

Need a second monitor on the road? Testing hardware with no room for a full-size screen? Just need more screen real estate? Check out this 2560×1600 external monitor for 26% off today. The 4k version is available for a bit more.

amzn.to/46M1Bjq

Samsung storage at up to 55% off for Prime Day. Whether you want NVMe, 2.5″ SATA, or external storage, there’s something for everyone.

amzn.to/3XKR4kq

Not the kind of ASICS I usually deal with, but get some new running shoes for 43-52% off today.

amzn.to/3XKSiMy

I retired my Nespresso VertuoPlus earlier this year in favor of a Vertuo Next, but the Plus is still great for anything but the Alto/Pour-Over capsules. And it’s up to 35% off (as low as $111) today.

amzn.to/3XKSR9o

Got a Nespresso Original machine, but need to get your capsules out of that bowl on the counter? Here’s a good basic drawer to hold 50 originaline capsules and get your machine off the counter. Add a mouse pad to reduce vibration and noise. (Machine not included at this price, of course)

amzn.to/3NMcGsi

Get a Kindle Unlimited membership for 6, 12, or 24 months and save a few bucks.

https://amzn.to/3D8IWkc

Not ready to pay up front? Get a free trial with https://amzn.to/3PMQeC0

Did you find any great deals for Prime Day? Feel free to share them in the comments. I’ll be back soon with some less mercenary content, including a Chia update and probably a mini PC review or two.

When your corporate message is 15 years too late

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This is a fun little gripe, not a particularly deep reflection on anything.

I recently dug back into my email to find the following gem:

As you can see, I’m coming up on 15 years (at least) as a customer of Woot!, the daily deal and “bag o’ crap” seller of geek fame. I’ve been a customer long enough to remember moofi, and I’m pretty sure I remember them having just one deal a day.

Well, Amazon acquired Woot! in 2010, and it’s kinda folded in nicely since then. You can log in and pay with Amazon, and Amazon Prime shoppers get Prime shipping and occasional benefits (like a $5 discount on the already marked down Woot! version of this 100-pack of Peets Nespresso-compatible capsules, which are $62 on Amazon but $39 on a recent day’s Woot! deals).

But somehow the marketing email side of Amazon doesn’t realize they have customers who are already customers of Woot!, because 40 times since 2014 (most of them in the last year), they’ve sent me an invitation to join Woot!.

Now before the Amazon login integration, I could understand it. After all, my Woot and Amazon accounts are under different email addresses, in part because when I started shopping with Amazon in 1999, Gmail didn’t exist.

Darn, I don’t need that Solaris 2.6 guide anymore, and the return window has closed.

Anyway, it’s things like this, and getting ads in my mobile games for other games I already have (even the game I found that mobile game through), that make me feel that AI isn’t quite all it’s feared to be just yet.

And I’m a bit disappointed that they haven’t offered me a new customer promo code in each of those 40 emails. That would be a LOT of deeply discounted coffee capsules and cast iron grill accessories, and maybe, just maybe, my first-ever Bag O Crap.

Where do we go from here?

Well, a new Woot email just came in, so I’m going to go look at what I don’t need from this week’s deals.