If I asked you to tell me the biggest ecommerce company you can think of, what comes to mind?
Probably, Amazon, right?
They didn’t get this popular overnight and it wasn’t an accident. From humble beginnings in the 90s to the online giants they are today, they built the Amazon empire over a period of 2+ decades.
Over the years there have been many who have taken advantage of the opportunity provided by Amazon to promote their products by partnering with them via the Amazon affiliate program.
Let’s review that program and see if it’s still worth it to partner with Amazon as an affiliate today.
What is the Amazon Affiliate Program?
Amazon has its own affiliate program that allows anyone who wants to make money with Amazon does so by promoting their products via a blog, youtube channel, etc.
This affiliate program is one of the biggest and most successful in the world with many earning full-time incomes and some earning decent side-income by promoting just Amazon products.
Once you join the Amazon affiliate program, you simply select one or more of any product or service on Amazon you want to promote on your site. Then you get your own affiliate link to that product that contains your reference code to get credited for any purchases made via that link.
The good thing with Amazon is that, if the customer goes to Amazon and fills their cart up of any other product and purchases them, you get the affiliate commission for all the products and not just for the product you promoted. Definitely cool.
Amazon is amazing at getting people to purchase more once they are on the platform so you are bound to receive these extra commissions.
The current timeframe of the Amazon affiliate link cookie is 24 hours. So any purchases made via your affiliate link within that time are eligible for affiliate commission.
On top of that; any product that gets added to the cart within that 24 hour period gets an extra 89-day extension on the cookie. Which is an added bonus.
How to Join the Amazon Affiliate Program
Joining the Amazon affiliate program is a piece of cake. And it’s completely free. All you need to do is just search Amazon Associate Program in Google and make a free account with Amazon.
You do need a website, YouTube channel, or a social media profile already established as they do ask to link where you are going to promote their products.
If it’s a blog you are planning to promote Amazon in, make sure to have some content on it before you sign up to Amazon.
Do You Want Financial Freedom?
Affiliate marketing isn’t hard when you know what to do. Learn from the course I learned how to build profitable affiliate sites. I’m still a member of that course today. Join me and I’ll be your mentor!
How Much Money Can You Make as an Amazon Affiliate
This is a tricky question to answer because every person’s commitment and desires are different so the revenue each person makes is different from person to person.
One might promote Amazon products to earn a side-income while others have full dedicated sites that earn close to a 5 figure income monthly.
I remember when I first learned about their associate’s program a few years back, they had a system where the more you sold the higher the percentage grew. Usually starting around 4% to somewhere around 10% with a large number of orders. So not only your income grew because of the large number of products you sold but because of the rising commission percentage as you sold more.
Amazon has since decreased the percentages they pay for their affiliafates over the years. So one might not earn the same as they did 3 years ago.
Currently, Amazon pays its affiliates a set percentage depending on the category you decide to promote.
For Example:
If your niche is in TV’s then you are paid 2% for each TV you sell. Whereas if your niche is in either physical books, kitchen, or automotive your commission percentage is at 4.50%
Here’s a look at their current commission rates for each category.
Please note that these rates are always changing. To get the latest affiliate rates please go here.
Why You Should Join the Amazon Affiliate Program
No one will dispute that Amazon has one of the biggest affiliate programs in the world. And many affiliates today got their start by promoting Amazon products.
They make it so easy to join their program and start promoting their products.
And once you have a steady stream of traffic to your content you can easily convert that to sales with Amazon.
This is because:
Easy to Join: As we discussed already, joining the Amazon associates program is easy as filling up a form and hitting submit. At no additional cost, you can start promoting Amazon products and start making affiliate commissions.
They are a Trusted Brand: When you have been in the business for so long and you are known around the world as a legitimate trusted brand. No one-second guesses if they should buy from Amazon. Because of this, you will get a higher conversion rate compared to another affiliate program.
They Deliver Quicker: If you are in one of those countries where they own their own warehouse then you might have realized that they even provide next-day delivery. Even without this quick delivery option, their usual shipping times are quite quick compared to other retailers. Of course, it all depends on the individual seller too as not all stocks are in their warehouse.
Huge Selection of Products: You already know that Amazon pretty much has everything under the sun. So, whatever your niche is and whatever product you want to promote – they have it. This alone is a huge reason to choose the Amazon affiliate program.
A Decent Affiliates Help Team: Amazon has an affiliate resource center where you can read guides on how to optimize your site to promote Amazon. You can even find guides that cover how to design your website and how to choose a theme. They also have a support team for affiliates if you want to ask questions or get help in regards to your Amazon affiliate site.
24 Hour Cookie: Amazon’s cookie duration is set at 24 hours. Which is on the low side where others offer 3 days or 7-day cookies. But, what’s unique about Amazon’s cookie is that no matter what they buy after clicking your link they are eligible for commission. That means if you promote a coffee machine and your viewer clicks your link and purchases a TV, a dining table, and an RC car, you get commissions for all these!
What are the Cons of the Amazon Affiliate Program
Amazon is as big as they are and after developing one of the first affiliate programs in the history of the internet, choosing the Amazon affiliate program or another affiliate program is not as easy or clear-cut to make.
On one hand, choosing the Amazon affiliate program will benefit you immensely with their vast selection of products, higher conversion rates of Amazon. But, their cookie duration is low and the commission percentages are not as high as they used to be.
5 years ago if you asked me if you should join the Amazon associates program, without thinking twice my answer was, yes. But, it’s not as straight-forward now. There might be another affiliate program that might suit you better depending on your niche and commission rates.
Alternatives to the Amazon Affiliate Program
When I think about alternatives to Amazon, there are a few that come to mind.
Walmart
Walmart too is a large retailer just like Amazon. They too have a large selection of products for you to promote. You could earn up to 4% in affiliate commissions from the program.
eBay
eBay is one of the biggest marketplaces in the world. And they too have been in business since the 90s. So they have built a strong trusted brand just like Amazon. There are many who have successfully incorporated eBay’s affiliate program into their site. But, as with all things, it’s not all roses. They too have only a 24 hours cookie and low commission rates.
Etsy
Want to sell jewelry or hand-crafted items? Etsy too has an affiliate program. And their cookie duration is set at 30 days!
Do You Want Financial Freedom?
Affiliate marketing isn’t hard when you know what to do. Learn from the course I learned how to build profitable affiliate sites. I’m still a member of that course today. Join me and I’ll be your mentor!
Conclusion
My goal with this post is to give you some facts and my observations of the Amazon associates program. It isn’t to make you sign up or tell you not to sign up.
If you asked me a few years ago how I think the future of an Amazon affiliate site would look like, I would’ve said: Bright!
My opinion has somewhat changed recently with their commission rate cuts for affiliates. Categories that once offered 8% have decreased to as low as 3%, making me question if Amazon really wants affiliates to promote their products in the future.
What you really should do is instead of putting all the eggs in one basket, diversify your income sources by joining other affiliate programs and promote their products, and other options like joining an Ad platform can be beneficial if you have the traffic numbers. You can still build a successful Amazon affiliate site, but don’t rely on it that without it you can’t survive.
I can tell you that if you’re someone new to affiliate marketing, Amazon offers an easy affiliate program for you to sign up and start promoting products online. In fact, it is where many of us got started in affiliate marketing. The Amazon associate’s program may not be as effective as it once was for affiliate marketers but it is a program that many still make a substantial sum of money online if you do it right.