I’ve been on Vine for a while longer now, and I’m starting to get more opinionated about the program, other Vine users, reviews in general, and sellers. Here are some of my updated thoughts.
First off, Vine is amazing. There are several groups exclusively for Vine members where the words “blessed” and “blessing” are surprisingly common. Whether you’re on welfare and this helps make ends meet, a shopaholic suddenly not in the red every month, or someone who sticks to needed items with a few wants here and there, it feels unreal.
However, there are a few things that change your perspective. I’ll use two items as examples. The first one I bought several months ago, knowing I needed it and wanted a specific specification I felt was unlikely to come up on Vine. Well, I can’t return the item because it’s been too long, and the same spec item just showed up on Vine. Here I am, getting cool stuff, and kicking myself for not waiting.
The second item was something I needed right away. We had a small flood in the garage that this item would mitigate, and I didn’t have time to mess with Vine. The item was FedExed to me, and literally the day it was delivered, it showed up in my feed. I almost screamed.
Vine is a weird kind of shopping. You’re looking at a catalog of 70,000+ (as of writing this) items with 2,000 to 7,000 new items daily. Most of them are hyper-specific car mats, car parts for specific makes and models, oodles of stickers, plaques with every saying imaginable, a mountain of cupcake toppers, bizarre supplements, a cargo ship full of shilajit (whatever that is), 150 of the same wifi dongle, chicken feeders, individual lanyards, every toner cartridge except the one you need, phone cases, birthday decorations, piles of remote controls, adult items that defy description (Seriously? Silicone feet. Seriously?), LED lights galore, and Stanley cup and Crocs bedazzlements beyond comprehension. Among all this noise, you have limited search capability and can only pick 3 items a day for most users. With all that going on, there will be cool items that pop up and are gone literally before you can click. I’ve been looking for a car jump starter pack for months; one popped up today, and it was gone before I could click it. Literally, I couldn’t click fast enough. It takes a lot of work just to select items, and the things you need or want aren’t usually there but may show up from time to time. It’s a lot of luck and patience.
Then there’s the whole process associated with being a Viner. I had to get an extra recycle bin for all the cardboard we’re taking in. Between searching for and ordering things, unpacking and disposing of the packaging with shipments of sometimes 10 items a day, then trying them all, thinking of the review, and writing a quality review that I would want to see if I were looking, it’s a very real time commitment.
If the item does what you want, maybe it gets a home. If it doesn’t, what are you going to do with it now? We can throw it away, but we can’t transfer ownership for 6 months. That means accumulating a lot of useless stuff. It starts to build up fast, and you start looking at orders more on a need basis than a want basis because what the heck are you going to do with this thing once you have it? After the 300th item, it gets a bit overwhelming.
Vine isn’t for everyone, and some people opt out because they can’t take the stress anymore. It stops being fun and becomes more of a second job. At least it overwhelms your hobbies if you let it.
I’m not complaining here. I’m just giving the reality of what it actually means. It isn’t all pixie dust.
