The Advantages and Disadvantages of being an Amazon Affiliate

Posted on 07. May, 2012 by headgeek in Making Money Online (PUBLIC)

Last update: May 30, 2012

Some things for you to consider regarding the Amazon Associates Program.

The good:

When using an aStore Proxy such as here, you get extremely high SEO ... and transactions happen while you sleep! Real example:

User searched Bing for "sandisk extreme ssd 240gb sata 6.0"
try it for yourself to see if TheBestSSDSTore.com shows up on Page 1
This is one of the stores using our Amazon aStore Proxying Scripts
Search Engine Results include one of our partners sites on the front page: TheBestSSDStore.com
They purchase $249 item in one click while you relax/workout/play golf (yay!)
You make affiliate commission
All tracked via WidWad Piwik Analytics (more privacy, than other popular Analytics)

You don't have to ship anything (handled by Amazon). No need to go to the post office, answer emails about expected delivery dates, issue refunds, lease office space, have employees, etc.
You don't have to maintain anything (neither website script nor product inventory) -- all products auto updated by-the-minute automatically as Amazon inventory changes
You don't have to worry about having SSL on your website. Amazon securely processes the purchases via their website.
Amazon appears to be one of the most trusted online brands
You don't have to worry about Merchants being dropped or being put in a penalty box and having to remove their banners and then having to add them back when the merchant clears up the issue -- I have observed this happening quite a few times on CJ and ShareASale
Amazon probably has one of the largest product catalogs on the planet -- a ton of great niche possibilities exist! As an affiliate, I can sell clothing, shoes, health & beauty, tractors, and car parts in the same month from the same account.
Absolutely no promotion needed in many cases to make this sale (except, of course, seeding the search engines at setup - FREE)
Their commission rate on electronics (4%) is actually better than many other electronics retailers in other affiliate programs
They have incredibly powerful and useful Product RSS feeds

The bad:

You don't make any connection with the User (i.e., email address or any contact information) -- likely, no repeat business. Furthermore, they market to those customers aggressively ... it really is highly unlikely you will get a repeat customer unless you have some incredible loyalty to your site.
You have no way of independently corroborating your sales; Amazon (or their API) can sometimes "lose" transactions. If it happens, since you have no way to corroborate sales ... too bad, so sad for you
Cookie lifetime is only 24 hours. Which means you really have to catch users when they are ready to buy, buy, BUY!
You can't/don't set pricing or the markup. You can't do any promotional pricing
You only make from 4% to 8.5% commission (sliding scale that increases commission slightly if you sell more products within the month). It is still one of the lowest commissions vs other affiliate programs. Notable exceptions: Endless Shoes and Amazon Supply (formerly Small Parts) are both 15% commission.
Commission rate on computers is capped at $25
Products from their highest commission programs: Endless Shoes and Amazon Supply (formerly Small Parts) cannot be added to aStores . Both programs offer 15% commission rates.
Unlike many other affiliate programs, you can't buy through your own links/can't make affiliate commissions on your own purchases.
You wait 60 days after end of month of the sale to get paid
If you want to sell products outside the US, you have to join their programs in others countries separately. And, there may be nuances about how you can get paid.

In spite of these challenges, we still love the Amazon Affiliate Program

Updates:
June 9, 2012: Added info about purchasing through your own links
June 6, 2012: Added info about SSL
May 30, 2012: Added info about Electronics and Computer commission rates.
May 29, 2012: Added Endless Shoes and Amazon Supply commission rates.
May 28, 2012: Added info about merchants being dropped or being put in penalty box.

Bookmark/Search this post with

WidWad.com

The Advantages and Disadvantages of being an Amazon Affiliate

Recent Updates

Navigation

Popular content

Today's:

All time:

Last viewed:

Cool Sites