[vosper]

It doesn't bother me at all that Amazon prices are near to retail - for me the convenience and ease of one online store for everything still beats physical shopping, for most things.

The reviews are now a real problem, though. I think it goes way beyond the Vine Voices program, too - I've seen products with page after page of 5 star reviews, each with a note at the bottom along the lines of "I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion". I don't recall these being identified as Vine Voices, they were just "normal" users.

Whether sellers are directly contacting normal users outside of the Vine Voices program, or whether the reviews are just straight up spam or paid shills I don't know, though I'd bet it's a bit of both.