TAKE ACTION: For All Who Have Amazon Affiliate Program
I hope this post has caught your attention. I recently received an e-mail from Amazon stating the following:
OVERVIEW
I know it is a bit small but basically it was saying that you have to specifically state that if your site directly targets children who are under 13 years old, then you cannot use ANY links or advertising from the Amazon Affiliate program!!
WHO DOES THIS AFFECT?
This affects EVERYONE who uses the Amazon Affiliate program, which I'm sure is a lot of you here in WA.
WHAT HAPPENS IF I DO NOT DECLARE THAT MY SITE DOES NOT TARGET CHILDREN UNDER 13?
If you do not take action by these dates, then the following will occur:
Aug 31, 2015 - We will begin to withhold advertising fee payments to accounts that have not completed their declaration - meaning your commissions are frozen after that date.
Oct 31, 2015 – We will close accounts that have not completed their declaration. - meaning you get kicked out of the Amazon Affiliate Program!
HOW DO YOU COMPLY?
It lists some steps above in the email but I like a more direct approach:
Step 1: Log into your Amazon Affiliate account and click account settings
Step 2: Click edit your website listStep 3: You'll see a list of your websites. If not, you can add them there. Here's what it will look like. There will be a next button to the right below this window you see here:
Step 4: Verify that your websites are NOT directed mainly at children under 13.
Unfortunately, I verified my websites before I thought of coming up with this step by step on it. But you should see this once it is verified:
With that, you should now have guaranteed your use of the Amazon Affiliate program. Please spread the word to all who you know use the Amazon Affiliate Program on their sites!
As always, any comments or feedback on this you may write below.
Adrian
Recent Comments
38
hay, thanks for this news.
Mine is a grey area too as it is an information site about astronomy. However, most of the equipment is WAY out of the price league of kids so I hope it's cool with them.
That should be fine. As long as your target audience is mostly people at or above 13 years of age, which it sounds like it is so you should be fine.
Interesting as I am NOT an affiliate for Amazon yet - and I wanted to be AND my site currently is for parents with regards to Internet Safety for their children. My idea was to build a course for their children - so the children might not actually have access to the site of course, but I would be working with children which I am guessing means I shouldn't even bother to apply. I am guessing there will be many websites with grey areas like these!!
Interesting!! Thanks for making us aware!
Sarah
Well the wording of the program asked if my site was mainly targeting children under 13 years old which neither of them were so I don't know. My math site targets all audiences but I'm mainly focusing on high school and up, as well as parents who would buy the books and tutoring programs so that's how I justified it.
Up to you though. Amazon is not the only affiliate program out there.
And you're welcome!
Yeah it's a vague link - and a really grey area! I could argue that I am really targeting the parents. The course could be taken off site meaning the kids don't go to my site! Amazon isn't my main affiliate I would want to use but I can see the benefit in certain instances of using it for some of the products I want to review/recommend.
Ah I see the challenge you can have with this. Sounds like you've got a good game plan for this though as far as affiliate programs are concerned.
Glad you blogged this. I have to update mine and I'm glad you're walking us through it step by step.
No prob! I was a little surprised when I received the e-mail so I wanted to make sure people were informed. Also, I love walking people through a procedure in a simple and easy fashion! :)
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Thanks!!!
Definitely!