The future of Amazon Affiliates
- Thread starter smallpepe
- Start date
Which affiliate websites do you recommend instead? The thing is... everyone trusts Amazon and buys from them. And they have by far the most number of products.
I don't think amazon affiliates will disappear but they will continue to lower commissions as much as possible while still trying to retain affiliates.
I have a VERY small site and when I look at the total sales I bring them (not my commissions but actual sales for them) the number is staggering. I can only imagine what a big site brings them, let alone the thousands of big sites out there. All those sites are only doing it for the commissions and if amazon closes their doors content creators will look elsewhere. Amazon would lose 100s of millions of dollars overnight, and I just don't see that happening.
I have a VERY small site and when I look at the total sales I bring them (not my commissions but actual sales for them) the number is staggering. I can only imagine what a big site brings them, let alone the thousands of big sites out there. All those sites are only doing it for the commissions and if amazon closes their doors content creators will look elsewhere. Amazon would lose 100s of millions of dollars overnight, and I just don't see that happening.
- Feb 28, 2019
- 7,456
- 7,918
Amazon won't close the affiliate program. They know that affiliate commissions are their insurance policy if anything goes wrong. If a competitor gains popularity overnight, then Amazon can easily cut them down by slightly increasing their affiliate commissions.
theduke60
Junior Member
- Feb 15, 2019
- 150
- 73
This is my opinion based on information they've publicly sent out through emails - in the UK and European variants, they've implemented new tables and processes to reward more in-niche purchases (if your link is about a bed, you'll get a higher payout of around 10% if the customer buys a bed and lower, around 1 to 2%, if the customer buys something else) and higher volumes of sales. This is actually much better if you have a niche site, but can be worse if you're more general. In short, no it won't end, it'll evolve.
nSnoopy
Supreme Member
- Jun 8, 2013
- 1,292
- 1,115
Lately i've lots of my competitors who switched from amazon to other affiliate programs, those are some sales amazon is no longer receiving.
Even if they have a huge userbase, if they lose those targeted sales from the affiliates, they will most likely see some kind of difference.
In the end i don't think they will close their program, the worst thing they can do at the moment is to lower all rates again.
Even if they have a huge userbase, if they lose those targeted sales from the affiliates, they will most likely see some kind of difference.
In the end i don't think they will close their program, the worst thing they can do at the moment is to lower all rates again.
What about the constant drops in commission payments?
blackbeans
Elite Member
- Nov 29, 2008
- 9,247
- 4,806
I share your uncertainty and fear, okay?
I just want to get that out of the way. It would seem, on the surface, that Amazon’s affiliate program has a fairly short remaining lease on life.
Think about it, it’s the affiliate program that helped build Amazon’s brand. The Amazon brand and product links have been spread far and wide all over the globe thanks to eager and creative affiliates.
They made Amazon a household brand. It’s become the 800-pound gorilla that destroys any e-commerce competitors with the possible exception of Alibaba in certain select markets.
This is precisely the reason a lot of affiliates are fearful. At a certain point, Amazon’s brand has become so dominant that people don’t need to be told to go to Amazon.
They would just go there directly or type in a product’s name in Amazon.com.
Causes for Hope
The good news is Amazon not only relies on its brand for traffic. For people to buy from Amazon they have to trust those products enough to want to buy them.
The fact that they appear on Amazon isn’t enough to establish that kind of trust. It has to materialize in some sort of context.
This is where affiliate-produced reviews come in. When you take the time and effort to come up with a review that is believable and seemingly objective, people think that you’re doing them a favor.
You’re taking a product they’re interested in and comparing it to similar products. They don’t have to research because you’ve put all the products in one place, broken down the features and how these relate to the benefits they’re after.
Once they see that type of content they then click through and check out the different sales pages of these products and then make what they think is an informed decision.
That’s how a lot of Amazon sales take place. You, as an affiliate, play a big role in that process. From this perspective, Amazon needs you because you provide context.
All Amazon can do is to list products and hope people will buy them. That’s not enough. Ask anybody who’s put up a Shopify store.
They will tell you that simply putting up a website, describing your products, and hoping for the best are not enough.
You need a partner that will highlight your product and show it in context by comparing it to other products.
Another way Amazon needs affiliates is the fact that these review comparison pages don’t just appear out of nowhere.
I’m sure you can easily look up stories of people in this forum who had the bright idea of putting up a website and filling it with reviews. Most of them failed.
The reason for this is Google isn’t sending much traffic. For that to happen, affiliates must come up with informative articles that add value to the lives of people looking for certain products.
For example, if you are promoting vacuum cleaners that cost 500 dollars or more on Amazon, you can’t just load your Amazon affiliate website with post after post of high-priced premium vacuum cleaners.
That’s not going to excite Google. It’ll make you look like a spammer. But once you publish individual posts on how to get mud off your carpet or the advantages of steam cleaning instead of regular vacuuming, Google starts paying attention, especially if you cover questions that other publishers don’t bother with.
Do you see how this works? Given this context, I don’t think that Amazon will shoot itself in the head. Affiliates are still providing an ecosystem that delivers much-needed context to Amazon listings.
That’s the bottom line. And unless that relationship changes any time soon, I don’t see Amazon dropping their affiliate commission rates to zero. I really don’t.
I feel your pain because I’m an Amazon affiliate as well and the last commission cut really hurt me. But you’ve got to put one foot in front of the other and focus on building value and giving people the experiences they’re looking for.
Ultimately, it’s what creates trust which later on creates sales.
I just want to get that out of the way. It would seem, on the surface, that Amazon’s affiliate program has a fairly short remaining lease on life.
Think about it, it’s the affiliate program that helped build Amazon’s brand. The Amazon brand and product links have been spread far and wide all over the globe thanks to eager and creative affiliates.
They made Amazon a household brand. It’s become the 800-pound gorilla that destroys any e-commerce competitors with the possible exception of Alibaba in certain select markets.
This is precisely the reason a lot of affiliates are fearful. At a certain point, Amazon’s brand has become so dominant that people don’t need to be told to go to Amazon.
They would just go there directly or type in a product’s name in Amazon.com.
Causes for Hope
The good news is Amazon not only relies on its brand for traffic. For people to buy from Amazon they have to trust those products enough to want to buy them.
The fact that they appear on Amazon isn’t enough to establish that kind of trust. It has to materialize in some sort of context.
This is where affiliate-produced reviews come in. When you take the time and effort to come up with a review that is believable and seemingly objective, people think that you’re doing them a favor.
You’re taking a product they’re interested in and comparing it to similar products. They don’t have to research because you’ve put all the products in one place, broken down the features and how these relate to the benefits they’re after.
Once they see that type of content they then click through and check out the different sales pages of these products and then make what they think is an informed decision.
That’s how a lot of Amazon sales take place. You, as an affiliate, play a big role in that process. From this perspective, Amazon needs you because you provide context.
All Amazon can do is to list products and hope people will buy them. That’s not enough. Ask anybody who’s put up a Shopify store.
They will tell you that simply putting up a website, describing your products, and hoping for the best are not enough.
You need a partner that will highlight your product and show it in context by comparing it to other products.
Another way Amazon needs affiliates is the fact that these review comparison pages don’t just appear out of nowhere.
I’m sure you can easily look up stories of people in this forum who had the bright idea of putting up a website and filling it with reviews. Most of them failed.
The reason for this is Google isn’t sending much traffic. For that to happen, affiliates must come up with informative articles that add value to the lives of people looking for certain products.
For example, if you are promoting vacuum cleaners that cost 500 dollars or more on Amazon, you can’t just load your Amazon affiliate website with post after post of high-priced premium vacuum cleaners.
That’s not going to excite Google. It’ll make you look like a spammer. But once you publish individual posts on how to get mud off your carpet or the advantages of steam cleaning instead of regular vacuuming, Google starts paying attention, especially if you cover questions that other publishers don’t bother with.
Do you see how this works? Given this context, I don’t think that Amazon will shoot itself in the head. Affiliates are still providing an ecosystem that delivers much-needed context to Amazon listings.
That’s the bottom line. And unless that relationship changes any time soon, I don’t see Amazon dropping their affiliate commission rates to zero. I really don’t.
I feel your pain because I’m an Amazon affiliate as well and the last commission cut really hurt me. But you’ve got to put one foot in front of the other and focus on building value and giving people the experiences they’re looking for.
Ultimately, it’s what creates trust which later on creates sales.
Ibrahimshafiq787
BANNED
- Jun 3, 2021
- 39
- 17
But how
I make way more than $35 daily with WAY less traffic. It's all about how targeted your traffic is and depends on the niche as well. My site is a niche that helps people by referring them to proper products to buy, and it doesn't come off as spam or junk. It's actually high quality content on a niche I know about so everything on my site is 100% honest and helpful, even when referring my audience to amazon.
Amazon Associates is not going to die anytime soon. My conversion rate is as high as 35% and never lower than 15.
crnack
Banned for repeat violations
- Oct 10, 2017
- 1,351
- 1,558
There is a difference between an experienced marketer and someone who is trying to pretend to be a marketer.
The problem that I see in Amazon affiliates is that there is a large mass of people making niches. Not having a barrier to entry further increases the problem. Amazon is only using the law of supply and demand. And of course, revenue from Amazon will decrease every time. If we remove the links for amazon we will not respond to the user, but if we leave the links combined with google adsense we can obtain a rmp of $ 5-7 plus the money from amazon affiliates.
crnack
Banned for repeat violations
- Oct 10, 2017
- 1,351
- 1,558
Amazon is fucking shit for slaves. Fucking joke.
- Apr 10, 2020
- 3,303
- 866
Yes it will close but some new website will come which will promote for affiliates.