A Guide to Becoming a Product Tester/ Reviewer & Website Info

Reader(s)  be warned- I love to write and tend to go off on subjects I enjoy. I am sorry at the length of this post but I promise everything in this blog is worth reading. I have spent a lot of time trying out several sites and here’s what I’ve learned so far on this journey: (if you don’t want to read all of this just skip down to the spreadsheet)

While looking at stuff on Amazon I read a review that said “I received this free for my honest review” and I thought to myself – NO WAY! I love to write and I love free stuff even more, I’ve got to figure out how to do that!

So I started looking into how to do reviews in exchange for free stuff, and found there’s tons of websites out there that promise just that. After trying out many of them I’ve come to find that some of them are great, and some of them are total crap.

Every review site gives you a promotional “code” that you use during your check out process on Amazon.com or the companies website. Be aware that not all items are free and no site offers free shipping (if you don’t have amazon prime you will have to pay for shipping). I strongly recommend if you are going to get into reviewing that you purchase Amazon Prime. It cost $99 a year or around $10 a month. With Prime you get free 2 day shipping on all Prime purchases, and other perks such as Prime Music, Video and Photo Storage, etc.

Not all items are free. Be sure when you are checking out am item to review that you pay attention to the price. While many items are free there are also many items that are discounted. These items start at $0.01 and can go up from there. Stay tuned to my blog for a list of websites that allow you to earn amazon gift cards. At this point I am using code sites to review products and gift card sites to pay for any costs for items I review- this is making the items totally free for me. (* most gift cards sites you do surveys, play online games/ apps, or watch videos to earn points. You then trade those points for gift cards)

There are three types of review sites and within those three types each website is a little different

              1- Apply for campaign – These sites allow you to browse/ search for items, and you “apply” for the items you want to review. Most of the sites simple ask that you review it on amazon or the products websites, while others also require posting to your social media/ blogs. Some of these sites limit the amount of items you can apply for/ purchase at a time.

* Some companies that use this style want you to confirm you have purchased the item by sending them your order number- its a good practice to send all companies a thank you for approving me/ here's my order number email after purchasing the item.

               2- Automatic Code- These sites give you a code right away, you can purchase the item on amazon (or company’s website) immediately. The down side is most of these sites will only let you receive 1 code.

              3- Sign up and receive email offers

All codes are offered in exchange for your review and its very important to be honest and fair. If you have a major issue with the product try contacting the seller before posting a bad review, Most of them will work with you to ensure you are happy with the product and will leave a good review. ALL reviews must state that you received the product for free/ discounted rate for your honest and unbiased review. Failing to include that can result in having your amazon account and/or account on the code site blocked. All reviews are to be made in a timely fashion- some sites allow you to pick the amount of time you have to do the review, others set the time for you. Typically I try to post a review within 5 days of receiving an item. Depending on how many sites you use and how many items you apply for, the products will start to pile up and you could get behind on your reviews. While not all sites ask you to review on your social media all companies/ sellers appreciate you sharing their products.

Lastly, know that you won’t get approved for everything you apply for. The more you review the more you’ll get approved for. I would recommend starting with sites that give automatic codes to build your amazon review. Almost all sites require you to supply them with your amazon profile. If you have made purchases in the past and not reviewed those items, you can go into reviews and write simple ones for each item. Doing both of these will help build your profile and ensure you get the most approvals possible. I started doing this on April 4^th 2016 and got my first approval on the 6^th. I started with only getting 1 item every few days. However, I was able to build my profile up rather quickly and am now receiving around 10 items in the mail every day. Companies started requesting that I review their products around the 3^rd week and now (the 22^nd) I get multiple emails daily for review request.

So here’s a run down of the good, the bag, and the just plain ugly. These are my personal and honest opinion of these sites. These are in no specific order. I will however say that tomoson.com was the first site I started using and is still at this point my favorite.

Rate 1 Ugly 5 Bad 10 Good	Website	How to get product	Where you review	Notes
10/10	Tomoson.com	Apply	Amazon.com Tomoson allows you to choose what social media sites you want to share your review on. The more places you say you’ll review/ he more friends on those sites the better chance on getting approved	*Some companies on Tomoson ship directly to you so make sure you have your address linked to your account ** No limit to amount of campaigns you apply for OR amount of codes you can use at one time. ** Once you start reviewing items and verify your reviews companies will contact you asking you to apply for their products
9/10	Reviewkick.com	Apply Email Deals	Amazon.com	* Only 10 request at a time- you can go back and delete previous campaigns. (if I applied for an item more then 5 days ago- I will delete my application and apply for something else) * Only 3 codes at a time- you must review before using another code
9/10	Loothoot.com	Automatic	Amazon.com	* 1 product at a time, you must verify your review before getting another code
10/10	Homeproducttesting.org	Apply	Amazon.com	* MOST of the items here are discounted- very few free * Has many adult only products to review – view with care
10/10	Elitedealclub.com	Automatic	Amazon.com	* 1 code per day * New codes/ able to use another code every day at 2pm EST
10/10	Amzreviewtrader.com	Apply and Automatic	Amazon.com	* Most items are apply but some have automatic codes- there is no way to tell unless you click “review now” on each product * Site has the MOST products to review *Has many adult only products to review – view with care * TONS of products
9/10	Productelf.com	Apply	Amazon.com	*Fewest items to review * Has many aduly only products to review- view with care * Easy to browse free or $1.00 campaigns
1/10 No codes I have gotten from this site have worked	Trueopinion.org	Apply and Automatic	Amazon.com	* Most items are apply but some have automatic codes- there is no way to tell unless you click “review now” on each product
1/10 No codes I have gotten from this site have worked	Nokiddingcoupons.com	Automatic	Amazon.com	* On this site you earn points to trade for codes * Every code is 100 points * You start with enough points to get 1 code
5/10	Honestfew.com	Email Deals	Amazon.com	*Emails you 1-2x daily with deals- you click on the deal it you want it – it gives you an automatic code * Most items cost $1.00 * If you don’t get to the email right away all the codes are used *You must submit your order numbers for each item on their site
5/10	Giveawayservice.com	Apply	Amazon.com Social Media	* Must click into each product to find out price *I have not been approved for anything since signing up
1/10	Buview.com	Apply	Amazon.com	* Confusing website * Earn points to apply - can only earn points by reviewing products * Mostly household items *I have not been approved for anything since signing up
5/10	Amzrc.com	Auto	Amazon.com	* Mostly discounted -very few free items (mostly 50%off) *Very few codes work *Must click into product to find price- only displays % off * Browse only- no search
Unreviewable: I have not been emailed any offers	allstarreviewers.com	Email	Amazon.com	* Have not received any email offers
7/10	amazingdealsgroup.com	Automatic w/ “Deal Coins”	Amazon.com Social Media	* Earn coins to purchase codes- each product cost 1 coin (you start with 2 coins) *Very few offers
1/10	dealsforreviews.com	Email	Amazon.com Twitter.com
0/10	dollardealreviews.com	Email	Amazon.com	*Pay Site- You have to pay to sign up *have to send them an eamil for each product you would consider testing (i.e. iphone cord. Iphone case. Iphone screen protector. etc)
Unreviewable: I have not been accepted	gold-leaf-group.com	Facebook Group	Amazon.com Facebook.com	* Apply on their website and request to be a member of their private group on facebook.
Unreviewable: I have not been emailed any offers	ilovetoreview.com	Email	Amazon.com	*Must have text verification to sign up * Have not received any email offers
10/10	ireviewhome.com	Apply and Automatic Optional Emails	Amazon.com	* Most items are apply but some have automatic codes- there is no way to tell unless you click “review now” on each product * Site has the MOST products to review * TONS of products *All items cost money- starting at $0.50
5/10	premiumuser.kabeldirekt-store.de	Automatic	Amazon.com	*German Company- you can sign up but you will get few few codes *Must log in at least daily to check for codes- they expire fast
10/10	oznaturals.com	Email	Oznaturals.com Amazon.com	*Sign up on the companies website to test their products *They email you amazon codes
5/10	secretdealsclub.com	Automatic	Amazon.com	*Check Daily for codes- codes go very fast * Very few products (most of the time 2) *All products cost money- no free
unreviewable	shopwithreviews.com	apply	Amazon.com	*I signed up on 4/22/16 and have not check out the site yet
1/10	platinum.skivatech.com	Apply	Amazon.com	* Signup to be a reviewer *Apply for reivews *Only devise accessories
8/10	snagshout.com	Apply	Amazon.com	*No free items- huge list of products
10/10	socialnature.com	Apply	Amazon.com	*Organic/ Natural products *Mostly Food
unreivewable	http://www.trustreviewnetwork.com/join	Email	Amazon.com	*Apply to be a reviewer. It can take several weeks to get approved. I have not yet been approved
10/10	http://www.uberzonclub.com/	Email	Amazon.com	*Most items cost $1.00 *Multiple emails daily
unreviewable	http://vippowerclub.com/	Email	Amazon.com	*Apply to be a reviewer. It can take several weeks to get approved. I have not yet been approved
9/10	http://platinum.skivatech.com/home	Apply	Amazon.com	*You must be invited to join this site. You can request an invite by “signing up”. It took me 2 weeks to get an approval and I just signed up with them on 4/22/16. * Only items for devices (cords, cases, screen protectors) *Each item costs up to $1
3/10	etekcitizen.com	Apply	Amazon.com	* Very few products *Monthly limit on applied review
Unreviewable I have not received any offers	https://www.junglelaunch.com/	Email	Amazon.com	*Requires text to sign up * After sign up they contact you with deals
Unreviewable	Reviewloop.com	-	-	* By invite only
Unreviewable	http://reviews4success.com/	-	-	* Apply to be a reviewer
Unreviewable	Reviewlanchpad.com	-	-	* Apply to be a reviewer
0/10	reviewsforfree.com	Automatic	Amazon.com	*No codes work
0/10	https://reviewsio.com/	-	-	*Website doesn’t work

I’d like to add some tips that I’ve learned over the last few weeks…

1- Get and stay organized- for me its a spread sheet **INSERT SAMPLE – if that doesn’t work for you find your own way. You don’t want to miss a review deadline, it’ll will make it so you get less products

2- Prepare to spend some time on searching, testing, and reviewing products. Each product takes me roughly 45 minutes. Applying, Getting Approved, Ordering, Testing, Picture/ Picture Editing, Writing Review, Posting Reviews to Needed Websites. It all takes time.

3- Order items you’ll use- I have a nice big box in my closet now of stuff that I don’t even want- I plan to sell the items but that adds even more time to the process. That being said if your trying to build your profile (like I am right now) order everything and get yourself a “to sell box”. Trust me, you’ll have PLENTY of boxes to pick from. Don’t spend money on items you don’t want. Some items do cost money- if I pay I keep.

4- Consider all the packaging and trash that piles up. When you apply a coupon code on Amazon, you can only use 1 code per purchase. That means that most of the time each item comes in its OWN PACKAGE. Boxes, Envelopes, and Bubble Wrap EVERYWHERE!!!!

5- Don’t be afraid to contact the seller or post a bad review. They are looking for your HONEST review – if you had a bad experience with the product and/or seller POST IT. When this happens I try to say something like “this is MY experience with this product/seller and I have read reviews of others who had a great experience”

6- Check your email often if your looking for email deals- they are mass emails and the deals go FAST. All companies only let a certain number of codes be used and therefore if your not fast- you probably won’t get to use a code.

7- Stay in contact with the seller/ company. They want to know what you think- that’s why they are looking for product testers/ reviewers.

8- This is so much better then window shopping! Window shopping is so fun, getting to see whats out there- the better part- you actually get the product most of the time- for free or very cheap.

9- Get to know your mail/ delivery person. They’ll be coming by a lot, you might as well have a good relationship with them. On top of that you have to test the products to review them- if they deliver it to the wrong place you can’t test it. You still are responsible for writing a review.

10- Enjoy. I do this for FUN. I love to write and I love free stuff so this is a really enjoyable hobby for me. If you don’t like to write this isn’t the hobby for you. You’re going to be spending a lot of time writing! A LOT OF TIME WRITING!

There’s a quote from the show Weeds that is my new mantra - “If it's free, it's me. I don't turn down nothing but my collar”

Read some of my reviews on amazon: 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2251JPVTWZ54Q

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@kaynyncarpenter

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Kaynyn83