$70 commission, no website, no list, only 5 minutes of work
What if I told you I made $70 in Amazon commissions (and probably another 70-100$ coming) without having a website, without having an email list, without paying for ads and all that with only 5 minutes of work?
Sounds like a typical scam, doesn't it?
However, that's exactly what I did this weekend and you could have done it as well. I'll spill out all the details but first let me say this:
I love how online marketing opened my eyes to the world of opportunity!
For many years I was a regular customer. I'd buy things online, I'd use apps and services like a normal user without giving any extra thought to it. These days everywhere I look I see ideas, opportunity and of course, profit.
So let's get back to the actual story.
I was browsing Amazon as a customer. I was looking to purchase a few items that interest me and I stumbled upon an amazing deal. A $400 item was being sold for $100! Without any hesitation I placed an order! Then I noticed that several other items have been severely discounted as well ($5 for an item that usually sells for $45, $2 for a $13 item, etc).
I ended up spending $300 on an order that would normally cost around $1,500. I purchased 30 items total, 10 of which I wanted to keep and 20 other for resale.
But it didn't end there. I saw an affiliate opportunity.
It hit me that I wasn't the only one happy about these unexpected price drops. I jumped on Facebook and started looking for groups in the same niche. I found 4 groups with about 100 members each and requested to join. I was accepted in 2 out of 4.
Now the magic begins.
I took my amazon affiliate links to these items and posted them inside these groups. Members who were awake (and active in the group) started thanking me and started ordering the items!
Here are the results so far:
The deals were listed on Amazon.ca where I am not a very active affiliate since I mostly work with .com.
These 2 posts on facebook resulted in 235 ordered items within a period of about 24 hours, 96 items have been already shipped earning me a $70 commission. 139 items haven't been shipped yet so there are no commissions for them at this moment.
Can you do it?
As you can see I did not have a website. I did not have a loyal following or any audience for that matter, I did not need any experience to make this happen. Avery single affiliate could have done this just as easily and without any time investment. This is not a business model but rather an easy extra few dollars but hey, money is money.
I wanted to share this mostly as an example to new members here at WA that opportunity is everywhere and the more time you spend learning business and marketing the more opportunities you will see. I owe a lot of it to WA and more precisely its members. I often here awesome story and ideas within our community and these ideas stick in my head, helping me grow as a person and as an entrepreneur.
On that, best of success to you,
Alex
edit: several people asked me how to become an amazon affiliate without a website. Here is the thing, you do need a website in order to apply as an associate with Amazon. However, in this post when I say "without a website" i meant that I do not have a website for this specific niche and that I promoted the actual "sale" directly on Facebook.
Recent Comments
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This seems like a great way to use your affiliate link, however in amazons policy it states that you cannot post your affiliate link on anything that you do not own ex. Your own website.
I have read somewhere that you can be terminated from amazons program for this.
Are you aware of this?
Or do I have my information wrong and is this okay?
You will want to embed your link to the word Amazon or to the name of the product or to the images of the product in your reviews.
Thanks for the information! Newbie question, why does Amazon call earnings and fees the same thing? It makes me think I'm owing Amazon money.
Do we ever have to pay Amazon a percentage for using their links/promoting their products? I used to sell college textbooks on Amazon so I'm curious if it's a similar fee structure.
Earnings are called 'referral fees', it is paying you for referring customers to the website who purchased products. Unfortunately due to space, it is shortened and only called fees in most cases.
You don't pay Amazon any amount for links, banners and all the advertising material. They are 100% free. In this case you are an affiliate and not the merchant selling products inside Amazon.
l hope it makes sense.
Seems like you got the answer. You will NOT pay anything to Amazon as an affiliate (or associate as they call it). The only fees that Amazon charges is when you become an Amazon seller and sell your own products on their platform.
In this case that you didn't use your website, it would seem like you made money out of thin air. But the truth is, there is something that you used, which I believe everyone including me should harness to become very successful: The MIND.
Thanks Alex, you're a great inspiration. I wish to get to the point where you're in right now.
I do this with small items on Aliexpress and I have resulted in a few sales. Think its now time to do this properly with a higher ticket item now that I know it works. May be gonna pick one item a week and just work on it and see how it goes. Well done for the high commissions and as you say no out lay in ads or anything :-)
I enjoyed reading this so much I bookmarked it just so I can come back and read it again later. You inspired me to try out this method for sure. I'm new to WA, my first day actually, so I'm looking for every opportunity possible for profits. You did great work!
that sound awesome see with research and experiences of knowing what is what and having ideas it shows that anything is possible when you put your mind to it,i'm still trying to finish off my first website and i know once that is completed and the experience i will have more knowledge with building another one so thank you for your post was very educational for me.
Hi Alex, thank you for sharing, appreciate your time and effort in putting this up.
I am a Newbie here at WA, still trying to build a website, I think this will really help me, It's an eye opener for someone like me, will definitely need to know (learn) more in this area, once again, thank you so much Alex.
Olla
Alex you got it ! We become the "representation" of the quality of people that we "hang around"... Your business self awareness has improve with time, CONGRATS :) You are a great learner and a solid teacher :) And thanks for sharing your business spirit. I need that kind of wake up call :) Cheers, Jeff
Thanks for reading Jeff.
Famous quote states: "You are the Average of the 5 People You Spend the Most Time With" and I think it isn't far from the truth.
Hang out with 5 people who are broke and always complain about being broke, you'll end up broke. Surround yourself with 5 successful people who give out positive vibe and you'll become just like them ;)
That's awesome! I've been part of a facebook group now for a little over 2 months that is related to my niche. I've contributed to it during that time, but I've always been worried about posting affiliate links in there especially if it's a certain product (in that niche) that has a great sale going on, because I don't want to break the rules and get kicked out as it seems a lot of groups frown upon affiliate links even if it is a product that is in the niche that the group was created for.
Glad you found a couple of groups that allow you to do that. I've created my own group, but trying to get members.
To be honest the groups rules state we are not allowed to post links to items sold on Amazon/Ebay. However, seeing that some items were discounted up to 10 times, the admins didn't seem to mind (in fact one of the admins encouraged me to post all items that I found on that sale).
I guess it really depends on the situation.
How did you know the items was on a huge sale?...was it like the deal of the day or just someone that "accidentally" sold something way cheaper?
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Thanks Dear , What attracts me and I dont get it when you said "I took my amazon affiliate links to these items and posted them inside these groups. Members who were awake (and active in the group) started thanking me and started ordering the items!" can you give details how those people attracted to your product from amazon?