Hey Everyone,

Not sure if you've heard, but there's been a big shift in Amazon's policies over the weekend.  They have now walked back their policy that had always allowed a sample to be offered "in exchange" for an honest unbiased review.  In light of the new policy, the samples that will be offered via this community group will not be subject to any requirements or obligations on your part.  This group is made up of people who currently or in the past identified themselves as "Amazon Reviewers", but the fact is that you now do not necessarily need to leave a review if you don't want to!  Pretty cool for the consumers for sure.  If you happen to choose to leave a review though, no problem, go ahead - Amazon has no issue with your choice to review any given product that you happen to obtain in your daily life whatever the means.  If you choose not to review samples or products you obtain through any given channel, Amazon also thinks that's okay.  So, as it's all up to you now, they now request that you never write a disclaimer saying that you've received a sample in return for an honest review.  If you write that in the bottom of your review like before, then you would be breaking the rules and you may get yourself and the seller in trouble for violation of Amazon terms of service.  This is an interesting turn of events for sure, but overall, it's pretty simple - they want you to do whatever you want to do and to never indicate that you're giving a review in exchange for a sample.

Since 2013, Amazon Reviewer Network (ARN) (a community organization) has been facilitating the communication between brands and consumers.  An example of one of the brands that offer items through ARN is MissionBaby, a social enterprise based in Guatemala.  Sandra Gomez, director of the program, comments "At MissionBaby we're really happy with the service that the Amazon Reviewer Network provides. It has really helped us establish our brand and products on Amazon!"  At ARN, we love having the opportunity to help out small businesses - especially those that exist for the benefit of children in need.  Learn more at www.amorguatemala.org. 

 Get tons of items free!

Here's a great explanation of why brands are willing to give away products for FREE in order to get reviews for their high quality products: https://www.yahoo.com/tech/star-power-study-calculates-the-dollar-value-of-online-84290598544.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=may&utm_campaign=FB5

Found an article that says new reviewers should specialize.  For those of you who are experienced, do you agree?  Why limit yourself to reviewing one type of product?  http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Free-Products-to-Review

Hi all, I just found this article about writing reviews...  what do you think?  Did they miss anything?  Do you have any recommendations for how to write excellent reviews?  http://lifehacker.com/5885607/how-to-write-interesting-and-effective-reviews-online-that-people-will-actually-read