Amazon Makes Huge Change to Affiliate Payout Structure

[judaculla]

Don't know how many of you out there are doing the Amazon thing, but I know this is going to hurt bad here.

I just talked to a rep. in the associates program and they don't have a clue what's going on; he told me several times that Amazon had 'run the numbers' and that this structure was going to be better.

I used my numbers from last month and I'll be taking a 43% cut on earned commissions next month.

Looks good for everyone in the Home Goods and Furniture niche.

Anyway, head's up if you missed the email—this is effective on March 1.

 

[freckletone]

It will be ok for me because i sell a bit luxury beauty so that will be 10%... some of the other ones beauty will go down to 6 % so it evens out

Time for me to make a furniture site....

Also, I heard about this change a few days ago from Authority Hacker ad they predicted it.. they were right on.. listen to this podcast as it has good insight on how this will affect the market; especially for those
who promote tech or do tech reviews on youtube... some are going out of business

https://www.authorityhacker.com/amazon-associates-payout-update/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=[Podcast]+Amazongedon+Incoming++Here+s+What+We+Know&utm_campaign=Podcast+#61+-+AMZ+Update

People are not happy on the Amazon message board

https://engagedforums.com/discussions/Amazoncom_Associates/_/_/am-associhelp/49334.41

Also it looks like Amazon really wants to get into the apparel/shoes market and concentrate on that segment now.

 

[SkyrocketSEO]

People will cry for a month or so and everyone will continue doing Amazon cause it converts better than any other similar online shop

 

[WebDuke]

Well thats great, just started doing Amazon Affiliates only last month haha

 

[Gigacash]

I've been planning on starting an amazon affiliate site, good thing this happened before I get started.

 

[askary]

how to understand to which category my items belong if there are no exact called "home" or "home improvement" categories, and "appliances" is "other" or "home"? and Tools & Home Improvement is tools or home improvement?
overall how to understand to which category specific goods belong?

 

[freckletone]

how to understand to which category my items belong if there are no home

I have no idea what you are asking.

If you are inquiring about the "home" category its 8%.

If your category is not listed in the chart above it will go in the "other" category at 4%

 

[Bylom]

Even though they lowered the rates, most people will continue to use Amazon (me too), becouse it's the best around.

 

[gentzalli]

Careful amazon.. pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered

 

[Floopa75]

It won't be a huge hit for me. I feel bad for the people that are going to lose half the income from their sites overnight. I'll be losing around 1 - 2% off my affiliate commissions. I have always viewed affiliate sales as a way of getting cash for my other ventures and stuff. I'd much rather sell actual stuff through IM than do affiliates. And there's always that handful of people on BHW that will use this opportunity to shit on people who get hit hard. It is what it is.

 

[MyGirlfriendIsaPBN]

Been plugging away on an authority site for the last few months. March was looking like it was going to be nice. February so far:

Based on February's returns and how I've been structuring the site, ill be feeling this change. I wouldn't be surprised if their associates program shuts down completely. Who I truly feel bad for is the individual that purchased an affiliate site for thousands and will now have their income get slashed over night.

 

[AustinNash5]

Got lucky as fuck, just put a big chunk of change into an affiliate site. I lucked out and picked a high paying niche

 

[share4win]

It's already there in Amazon India....Since the mobile phone market is boom in India, this type of affiliate commission has been brought in picture from all online giants...Now it's going live worldwide.....Needs to concentrate on categories usually on less sales side in Amazon now

 

[onlineonly]

Not good. I make a living as a amazon affiliate so if they will cut my earnings in half im fucked. We will find out next month i guess how bad this will be.

 

[Ftr]

What do you think is Amazon's thought process and reasoning is for this exactly?

Are they just thinking oh we need more people selling furniture and luxury beauty for us because our margins are higher for those departments, or is it something else like so many affiliates are doing televisions we don't need any more help there.

 

[Samurai-champloo]

The message says "The new plan simplifies our fee structure, removes all earnings caps on PC products and eliminates volume tiers.' What does it mean? slap?

 

[freckletone]

how to understand to which category my items belong if there are no exact called "home" or "home improvement" categories, and "appliances" is "other" or "home"? and Tools & Home Improvement is tools or home improvement?
overall how to understand to which category specific goods belong?

Oh; switch to "CLASSIC REPORTING" , then "full report".. it will show the categories

the new reporting stats will only show the categories for today's sales but not for the full month as far as I can tell.

It will show the category in "classic reporting"

They should add it to the current stats cause im sure everyone is going to want to know what category their sales arei= in....

 

[vt2011]

Careful amazon.. pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered

exactly, they do not care about affiliates anymore, I guess their margin is quite shit

 

[Nick Flame]

I think Amazon cares about its affiliate program, they just invested a lot of manpower into developing the new reporting interface they have been pushing the last couple of months - who is an active affiliate knows what i am talking about - and they also recently launched new tools, like wordpress plugins and etc. So it's obvious they are planning to make the most of their affiliate program in the future.

The change in fees - which is a huge downgrade for affiliates, make no mistake, it does not matter that your niche right now has the same % or better, because you never where you want to progress next and are stuck at 2-3% commission fee - is probably due to their margins. They want to squeeze extra profit from some categories, and reducing commisions fees from 8.5% to 4% on some categories means a lot when thinking about the scale that Amazon operates in.

 

[Jeffersontalks]

I don't understand why anyone would put up with Amazon affiliate program? Why don't you use Amazon as a dropshipper? And you can collect your payment upfront instead of waiting for 2 months to payout and you can DETERMINE YOUR OWN PROFIT MARGIN.