How can this be possible?
I am putting up ads on Craigslist for different items, like microwaves and appliances and putting up a link for "Specs and Reviews" with the item on Amazon for cheaper. I've gotten 538 clicks in the last few days with this method. This is 538 people who are interested in buying the exact model for sale, yet NO ONE is buying. I have heard this makes people around $4 per ad posted, or "$7" per day (which is about one $100 sale per day).

I don't know if I'm looking for advice or not, I'm just extremely frustrated and don't know what else to do.

Craigslist people are buying on craigslist, not amazon. If you read this method and heard that it works, thats exactly why its not working, everyone is doing it.

You would think they would want to get a deal though... I've gotten emails even, where I said things like "item is sold but if you are still interested, its here on amazon..." and people have responded with "great I'll try that" and things like that, but no sales in the last five days. Should I try for cheaper products in the $30-50 range? I don't know what else to try. Im about a year into affiliate marketing and I've still made less than $50 total, besides some website sales and stuff.

i think your not right about the craigslist traffic being targeted , although they might be looking for what your sending them to.

if these people are searching craigslist for a quick cheap local cash sale, sending them to amazon is not targeted..

Consumers are so weird! If I were a person on craigslist I would be looking for the cheapest price on an item. If I express interest in an item by emailing the seller, it shows I'm even okay with the high price. But when I see that I can get it online for cheaper and shipped to my door in a few days, I would be very inclined to buy it. Seems pretty targeted to me.

Are you getting a lot of emails? How many ads are you posting for 538 clicks?

1. The amazon cookie lasts only 24 hours
2. I have over 10,000 clicks to Amazon w/ 93 confirmed ships totaling about $190.
3. People shop around
4. Amazon sucks.....

it depends what it is, if its really expensive most people would trust amazon over most other stores, but if its something cheap they well go some were else..

Yeah the 24hr cookie really kills it. Try to put twists on the method, but give it time before you actually give up.

True the Amazon cookie only lasts for 24 hours but it's how you market Amazon that will make or break you. I do very well as an Amazon affiliate and I do post CL ads but not for Amazon products. I would rather build auto blogs and get organic search listings because the traffic lasts much longer and is essentially on auto pilot.

Like anything else it comes from trying a ton of things and one comes out a winner. I've been an Amazon affiliate for over 6 years and have only been profitable for the last 3 years. I often wondered if I could ever figure out how to make Amazon worthwhile.

I can see why a lot of people would say Amazon sucks. I just never gave up knowing that I would eventually figure out what worked. But it took a lot of work and not many people would hang in there as long as I did. Try auto blogs instead of sending CL visitors and you'll get much better results.

Originally Posted by redmercury

Are you getting a lot of emails? How many ads are you posting for 538 clicks?

Im posting between 10 and 20 a day. So around 50-60 ads total have been posted, only 1 ghosted. So pretty low volume, but its all myself and I don't have a macro working yet.

Originally Posted by booman

1. The amazon cookie lasts only 24 hours
2. I have over 10,000 clicks to Amazon w/ 93 confirmed ships totaling about $190.
3. People shop around
4. Amazon sucks.....

Yikes that's grim... That would mean I would have to post something like 250 ads, and get around 2500 clicks to get just $50 a day...

Originally Posted by xboxman260

it depends what it is, if its really expensive most people would trust amazon over most other stores, but if its something cheap they well go some were else..

I've tried a range. From power tools that are like $55-60 to microwaves that are $120-180 to TV's that are $800-1500. I guess I'll have to find what works.

Do you get commission only if they buy it from Amazon? What if they buy it new from another seller on the amazon page? No commission?

You still get commission i believe andy since its still *From amazon* lol

Originally Posted by andysm849

Do you get commission only if they buy it from Amazon? What if they buy it new from another seller on the amazon page? No commission?

Yes, you will still get the commission from 3rd party sellers in Amazon. As pointed out, it's quite tough making a dime at Amazon. Been auto-blogging and my traffic has been going up, but commissions . . . . still < USD 100 after 2 months! Suggestions here will be greatly appreciated. Or should I stop wasting time and work in Eybey or something else.

I've been an Amazon Affiliate for quite a while, and I can tell you that the "post an ad with an inflated price on Craigslist, then point them to Amazon" method isn't ever really going to be worth the time it takes to post the ads. You might get lucky once in a while, but Craigslist traffic honestly just doesn't convert on Amazon.

I make $2000+/month from Amazon, so I'd like to think I have it figured out relatively well.

I find little mini-sites for one or two specific products works relatively well. I just copy + paste content from Amazon, throw in a few paragraphs from manufacturer's page and whatever else I find on first page of Google (I change a few words here or there so it reads right, but I don't spend long on it - dupe content is a myth!) and cover it in big bright calls to action. Either use organic traffic from rankings or AdWords if it's not very competitive.

I've also found that smaller, less expensive items (generally <£150 - stuff like cameras and small electrics) sell a lot better than bigger, more expensive items (like TVs, computers, etc). Folk seem to prefer to buy bigger items locally or something, either that or my selling style doesn't work with them. Who knows, but seems consistent enough with me.

Don't do that method...I tried it for half a week, didn't get a single sale. $0 /=/ $7. :\ Keep searching though, you'll break through eventually.

agreed, amazon + CL does not mix very well. I find amazon most profitable by focusing on a single product and auto blogging.

I used to have a website that was on the first page of google, aol, msn, and #1 on yahoo search engines. I had Amazon banners covered the landing page but I never made a dime from it.

Amazon sucks.

Originally Posted by acer07

I used to have a website that was on the first page of google, aol, msn, and #1 on yahoo search engines. I had Amazon banners covered the landing page but I never made a dime from it.

Amazon sucks.

the "first page of google" does not really mean anything unless your getting traffic..

and i have found out that banners are not the best for amazon. the best is to write an article about it then have a photo of the product and that has the amazon logo in it.