Amazon shaving affiliates?

I found a thread at Amazon Associates forum:

https://engagedforums.com/discussions/Amazoncom_Associates/_/_/am-associhelp/49949.1

Quick rundown:

Affiliates are saying their conversion rates are declining drastically since somewhere around the time Amazon OneLink was launched. Some of them are saying that their revenue dropped 50%+ despite sending the same amount of referrals to Amazon and some are saying that high ticket sales are non existent any more. It seems that no one has gotten to the bottom of it and Amazon support knows nothing about it. Some posters in that thread are saying shit like "I've been talking to high earners and they all say that the Amazon not paying us everything", etc.

I know that many of them are panicking way too much. I know that there are some people in that thread who are getting 20 clicks on Amazon affiliate links per day and think they can draw conclusions and I know that you get a commission for high ticket items on Amazon (sold a $3500 item a few days ago)

I'm using https://www.amazon.com/dp/ASIN/?tag=AFFILIATEID affiliate links on most of my websites and haven't seen any drastic drop in conversions. I have a few newer websites where I'm using OneLink and affiliate links generated by Sitestripe and I am suspicious that the conversion rates should be higher.

Haven't found anything related to missing and stalled sales on other forums, so maybe someone here knows what's going on?

We read this in other forums as well. I heard similar drop-down for youtube partners as well.

If they are shaving, then that's bad.

People have been talking about affiliate companies like Amazon & clickbank to be shaving for years now. Truth is we'll never know for sure, but think about this for a second - do they have more to lose or gain from pulling a maneuver like this? Can you imagine how much it would hurt the brand for say, Clickbank to be exposed for shaving affiliates? They would go out of business.

joseph15 said:

People have been talking about affiliate companies like Amazon & clickbank to be shaving for years now. Truth is we'll never know for sure, but think about this for a second - do they have more to lose or gain from pulling a maneuver like this? Can you imagine how much it would hurt the brand for say, Clickbank to be exposed for shaving affiliates? They would go out of business.

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This is one of the top issues with monopolies such as amazon, they can get away with it because, where will affiliates go? Ebay? Walmart.com? =/

joseph15 said:

People have been talking about affiliate companies like Amazon & clickbank to be shaving for years now. Truth is we'll never know for sure, but think about this for a second - do they have more to lose or gain from pulling a maneuver like this? Can you imagine how much it would hurt the brand for say, Clickbank to be exposed for shaving affiliates? They would go out of business.

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Amazon is a tougher brand. No one else offers such a versatile, trustworthy affiliate program. A competition would have to be something like eBay.

NxtGenLedz said:

This is one of the top issues with monopolies such as amazon, they can get away with it because, where will affiliates go? Ebay? Walmart.com? =/

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Some people would stick around, sure. But the point I'm trying to make is that something like this isn't worth the risk for Amazon. It's not just that they'll lose affiliates, but that the brand of Amazon as a whole would take a huge hit. Companies as big as Amazon and Google can't risk damaging their brand in such a big way. They have too much to lose.

joseph15 said:

Some people would stick around, sure. But the point I'm trying to make is that something like this isn't worth the risk for Amazon. It's not just that they'll lose affiliates, but that the brand of Amazon as a whole would take a huge hit. Companies as big as Amazon and Google can't risk damaging their brand in such a big way. They have too much to lose.

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Affiliates are in a different position than customers. IMO this is why its important that we have viable competition. I mean look at paypal, if you're banned there, you're screwed. And they'll ban even legit businesses

Just started an amazon affiliate journey of mine and then this popped up.
I hope it's not true

NxtGenLedz said:

Affiliates are in a different position than customers. IMO this is why its important that we have viable competition. I mean look at paypal, if you're banned there, you're screwed. And they'll ban even legit businesses

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My point is that it would be a very ugly look for Amazon to be robbing their affiliates. It would make headlines and everyone would scrutinize them and hurting their brand isn't worth the risk in my opinion.

Blakester said:

Just started an amazon affiliate journey of mine and then this popped up.
I hope it's not true

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Don't let it bother you.

BTW @op that thread is almost a year old.

NxtGenLedz said:

BTW @op that thread is almost a year old.

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And it's getting new posts every day and no one still knows what's going on over there.

Nah I dont think they shave anything... Amazon has the best affiliate program I doubt that theyll play these games
Even if they do, theyre still way better than anything out there, they keep growing and these bounties are just a sexy addition.

Jeff Bezos is my hero.