If you’re in the side hustle world, you’ve heard Amazon review success stories. People will charge enormous fees to teach you how to allegedly make thousands of dollars a month just from reviewing side hustles. It sounds simple: review Amazon products, get paid. Except that isn’t quite the truth.
I eagerly decided to look into this program months ago (though I was smart enough not to buy a course about it) and got denied on my first application.
Then, a few weeks ago, I decided to try applying again on a whim. I got in, and found myself in a much more confusing world than was sold to me. The language was changed to make it seem much easier than it actually is.
What is this Amazon review program?
The first point of confusion I want to clarify is that this is not just reviewing on Amazon like a normal customer. What people are talking about is the Amazon Influencer Program, and you need a public online presence to apply. This is not the same as the Amazon Affiliate Program (what I would use for a blog like this). The influencer program is geared towards content creators.
How do you get into the Amazon Influencer Program?
You can sign up for the Amazon Influencer Program here. There’s not an explicit number of followers that you need to obtain before being allowed in the program. Amazon looks at followers combined with engagement metrics. I got in with 450 followers on TikTok.
The Amazon Influencer Program has two facets: a storefront, and on site commissions.
If you follow influencers on social media, you’ve seen an Amazon storefront before. This allows people to share Amazon products and earn a commission if someone purchases it through their link.
What people claim is the real money-maker is the onsite commission program.
What’s the onsite commission program on Amazon?
Right before you see reviews for a product on Amazon, you can see something called “product videos.” These are the onsite videos people are talking about. They’re not technically reviews in the traditional sense.
If you watch one of these videos and then purchase the product, the creator of the video earns commission. Amazon isn’t very forthcoming with the details of commission attribution (what happens if someone watches your video and returns later? What if they watch multiple videos, who gets the commission?), but you can read their FAQ about the program here.
How do you qualify for the onsite program?
Anyone in the Amazon Influencer Program can make these videos, but not everyone’s videos will get placed on the product detail page. To be eligible for these video placements, an influencer must upload 3 videos. The Amazon team will review the videos to approve. You can go through this process 3 times before becoming permanently ineligible.
What is the Amazon team looking for in these videos? Their video guidelines include accurately tagging products, not directing users to go off of Amazon, or asking users to complete actions that don’t fit the platform (following, liking, etc.). They’re also looking for good quality content. I was rejected on my first application despite following these guidelines. I watched some tips from other creators online, and realized that I didn’t include my face in the content. Once I re-uploaded camera-facing videos, I was approved.
Will this make me thousands of dollars a month?
Like many of these side hustles, creators probably made way more before the program became so popular. Popular products have several (if not hundreds of) videos, and we don’t know much about how Amazon chooses what videos to show. What I’ve learned about success from creators who are doing well on the platform is that you have to selectively choose products to make videos about, rather than just spamming product videos.
These creators recommend using a website like Viral Vue to find products that are selling well and have few influencer videos. While a basic account is free on this website, the product finder feature requires a $33/month subscription (and that’s only for creators with fewer than 200 videos). I used the free version and noticed that it will tell me if my videos are being placed on product detail pages and where they are.
Is Amazon reviewing the side hustle it’s made up to be?
It’s not an easy thousands of dollars per month. Nothing ever is.
But it’s also not difficult to research products and make shortform videos. I’d say it’s a simple side hustle. Just don’t expect to get rich quick. It’s a combination of careful planning and consistent work.