I have been at this reviewing thing for a month and...

Holy smokes!

1. Things can easily, and rapidly, get out of hand.  I set myself a budget of $50, total out-of-pocket spend, for each month.  I did not start purchasing until January 7th, and spent just $28 for January (for 11 products).  February, on the other hand... Coming in at $202.71 out of pocket for 96 items, is just a little over budget (just a smidgen).  
2. It is far more time-consuming than I expected.  Finding, testing, and writing the reviews is taking about as long as I expected. Dealing with sellers, defective products, and Amazon customer service are speed bumps that I had not planned for. 
3. Amazon is the absolute most customer-focused company I have dealt with, and I call a lot of companies. 
4. Sellers who need your reviews to grow their business often want your happiness, and will go above and beyond to earn it.  
5. You quickly begin to realize just how many fake reviews are out there.  

My Budget Issues
I can defend my excess in February by blaming my husband - who wanted a few items over my comfort spend,  I can attribute some overage to unexpected finds, and I can classify some purchases as "things I would have purchased anyway, so I got a good deal!"  In the end, I suspect much of it was just the excitement of getting goods for little to no cost.  Moving into March I am going to be much more calm and rational with my selections.

My Time Is
Well compensated at this point.  How so?  Well... this will play into point #3, but it boils down to the fact that Amazon really is the most customer-focused company I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with.  My early 20's were spent in customer service, and I may know a thing or two about how to get through to people of action in the customer service world.  That usually entails many phone calls, emails, and escalations.  Amazon has removed much of that and really has empowered their staff to make customer's feel like they have the attention of the company.

I have received a few lemon products.  Initially I reached out to sellers directly, as I wanted to give them a chance to make it right before I left a bad review.  At some point (when my review queue was full, preventing me from requesting new products but holding me hostage to a bunch of broken products) I decided to stop giving sellers more leeway than I would if I were a normal customer.  I began to address all of my issues through Amazon, and it was a refreshing experience.

I do everything through the chat feature on the website, this way I have a log of the conversation.  Each time I have contacted them about a defective product I have received some sort of credit for my inconvenience.  Many times I have received a refund for my original purchase price, an inconvenience credit, AND a replacement product at no cost.

Amazon is the absolute most customer-focused company
Hands down!

Sellers Need You And Want You Happy
I applied for, and was selected, to review some darts.  They were advertised as 20g darts, but as I began to remove them from the package I could tell that each was a different weight.  I left the comments in my review and decided that the price I paid and the infrequency that I will use them was not worth returning them or contacting the seller.  Imagine my surprise when the seller reached out to me with a note saying:
"Sorry for any inconvenience that we brought to you. Upon receiving your review, we re-check our inventory and found that our scale reads slightly wrong, about 1-2 grams. Great thanks for your remind. 

For remedies, we’ve in-time updated all the listing information, in case of making further confuses to other customers. Moreover, to show our apologies, we will refund to you within 3 working days..."

Fake Reviews
Prior to taking on this hobby I was far too trusting in the stars associated with products.  I would even narrow my search by selecting a minimum star rating, and considered no products with less than four stars.  I knew this was not fool-proof as I had received some questionable four-star products.  But I now understand so much more.

Now I actually take time to read the reviews.  I click on the sort feature and actually read through the 1, 2, and 3 star reviews to see what issue the reviewers had.  If there is a legitimate issue, it will come to the surface quickly.  Example: This can opener currently has 3.5 stars with 218 reviews.  It would fall just short of my previous search criteria, but I may have considered it based on the first few reviews as I assumed they would be listed in an order of most recent.  WRONG!

Did you know that there is a voting system for reviews?  At the end of each review Amazon asks if you found the review helpful.  If you select "yes" then the review gets a tally to move up higher in the queue.  If you select "no" then Amazon moves it down, and ranks them according to POPULARITY.  Some sellers have gamed this system and use dummy accounts, or employee accounts, or summon public members to "down vote" unfavorable reviews.  This can opener is a safety hazard, as it shreds the cans and spits metal shard into the food.  I did not see this before buying it, because the review had been buried. I have left my review, and it has been buried.

I am on a first-name basis with the package services (USPS and UPS).  I have recruited extra table space (folding table) and have taken over the buffet table to accommodate this week's deliveries.  Yes, that is just the damage from the past 4 days (with a few bits and pieces from a recent ikea trip thrown in for good measure).