Is the Early Reviewer Program Still Running? No — Here's the Timeline
The short answer: Amazon's Early Reviewer Program has been discontinued since 2021 and is not available in 2026. Amazon stopped accepting new enrolments on March 10, 2021, and shut the programme down entirely on April 25, 2021. There is no successor with the same mechanics, and no way to enrol a product in it today.
The question keeps coming up because the programme is still widely referenced in older guides, agency blog posts, and course material written before 2021 and never updated. Sellers read about it, go looking for it in Seller Central, and find nothing — which is the correct outcome, not an account problem.
While it ran, the Early Reviewer Program worked like this: a seller paid Amazon a flat fee of around $60 per SKU, and Amazon then approached verified purchasers of that product and offered them a small gift card — typically in the $1 to $3 range — in exchange for leaving a review. Reviews collected this way were labelled on the listing. The programme ran until an ASIN accumulated five reviews or one year passed, whichever came first.
"Half the confusion about Amazon's review programmes comes from guides that were accurate in 2020 and were never touched again. If a page tells you to enrol in the Early Reviewer Program, it is telling you about a service that closed five years ago."
— Tom Reiter, Product Research & Operations Specialist
Reporting from the time attributes the closure to a mix of factors: Amazon's shifting approach to review collection, regulatory pressure around paid review incentives, and the fact that Vine had matured into a more effective programme. Whatever the weighting, the outcome is settled — Amazon consolidated its sanctioned review collection into Vine and the Request a Review button, and has not reopened the Early Reviewer route since.
What Replaced It
Amazon did not launch a like-for-like replacement. Instead, the functions the Early Reviewer Program served are now split across two existing routes, each with different mechanics and eligibility. The comparison below reflects the position as of 2026 — confirm current programme terms in Seller Central before acting.
| Programme | Status in 2026 | How it works | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Early Reviewer Program | Discontinued April 25, 2021 | Amazon offered small gift cards to verified purchasers in exchange for reviews. | No longer available |
| Amazon Vine | Active | Amazon distributes free units to its own trusted reviewer pool, who review independently. | Tiered per parent ASIN |
| Request a Review button | Active | A one-click, neutral request sent in Amazon's own wording to a recent purchaser. | Free |
*Early Reviewer Program closure dates (enrolments closed March 10, 2021; programme ended April 25, 2021) and the historical $60 per SKU fee are as reported at the time. Vine and Request a Review status reflects Amazon programme documentation as reported for 2026. Amazon sets and revises these programmes at its own discretion and terms can differ by marketplace — confirm current availability in Seller Central.
What to Do Instead in 2026
The routes that remain are narrower but entirely workable. Here is the practical sequence for a new ASIN that needs its first reviews.
Your Post-Early-Reviewer Checklist
Check whether you qualify for Vine
Professional account, active Brand Registry with the Brand Representative role, FBA fulfilment, and fewer than 30 existing reviews on the ASIN, as of 2026. If all four hold, Vine is the strongest option available.
Turn on Amazon's Request a Review flow
It is free, it uses Amazon's own neutral wording, and it applies to every eligible order. This is the baseline every seller should be running regardless of Vine eligibility.
Do not substitute a private incentive scheme
The Early Reviewer Program was compliant because Amazon ran it. Recreating the same idea yourself — gift cards or rebates for reviews — is exactly what Amazon's Community Guidelines prohibit, and the account risk sits with you.
Update any internal playbook that still references it
If your launch SOP, agency brief, or onboarding doc still lists the Early Reviewer Program as a step, it predates April 2021. Replace that step with a Vine eligibility check.
Monitor what you have
Reviews disappear as well as arrive. Knowing when an ASIN loses reviews — and reacting quickly — matters more now that the easy top-up routes are gone.
The Bottom Line on the Early Reviewer Program in 2026
The Early Reviewer Program closed to new enrolments on March 10, 2021 and ended entirely on April 25, 2021. It is not available in 2026 and Amazon has not reopened it. While it ran, it charged roughly $60 per SKU and offered verified purchasers a small gift card for a review, stopping at five reviews or one year.
Amazon consolidated sanctioned review collection into Amazon Vine and the free Request a Review button. Vine is the closest equivalent but has a higher bar — Professional account, Brand Registry, FBA, and fewer than 30 existing reviews — and produces blunter feedback because reviewers have no purchase attachment. Whatever you do, do not rebuild the Early Reviewer mechanic privately: Amazon ran it compliantly, and a seller doing the same thing is breaching the Community Guidelines.
On our sourcing: This article summarizes the discontinuation of Amazon's Early Reviewer Program and the programmes that remain, as reported for 2021 through 2026. The closure dates (new enrolments ended March 10, 2021; the programme was discontinued April 25, 2021), the historical flat fee of approximately $60 per SKU, the small gift-card incentive to verified purchasers, and the five-review or one-year stopping condition are all as reported at the time the programme operated. Amazon Vine terms — including the Professional account, Brand Registry with Brand Representative role, FBA fulfilment, and fewer-than-30-reviews eligibility requirements — are as reported for 2026. Amazon sets and revises its review programmes at its own discretion, without broad notice, and terms can differ by marketplace. Confirm the current programme availability and terms in Seller Central before acting on anything in this article.
About the Author: Tom Reiter
Tom is AMZToolHub's Product Research & Operations Specialist. He has been launching Amazon products since 2015 and has analyzed 200+ product opportunities across product research, inventory management, profit analytics, and competitive strategy.