Amazon Associates account closed - how do I challenge
Hi everyone,
My Amazon Associates account was just closed. The reason they gave was that they said my content is not original. And they gave as an example the URL of my home page. However, all the content on my site is completely original. I have written all of it. I have been very careful not to either cut and paste or repeat text from other sources. I have been careful also to write any profile post on social media sites differently than on my own site.
They say I can resubmit a request to join again when I have fixed the problem. But there is no problem to fix. Since I use Amazon links for books which I review and are very relevant to my site I am not sure I could replace these with Barnes and Noble links for example and have any success - who buys from Barnes and Noble? I am also careful to write all reviews myself, no plagiarizing or copying.
Any suggestion what to do?
Best regards
Andy
Recent Comments
30
Hi Andy,
Please check if nobody copied your site. Sometimes it happens.
I also find the points made by Diane very useful.
Nellya
Hi Nellya
Thanks for the suggestion. How would I check whether someone copied my site?
Best regards
Andy
Hi Nellya
I had a look using my free goes with Copyscape - the only examples I found were from comments from the two latest posts. The comments were copies of similar comments on other sites. So to fix that I edited those comments to change the words. I checked back about 10 posts. Interesting that it was on my two latest ones. I will check more tomorrow when I get a new quota of free searches.
Thanks much for this - a real lesson!
Cheers
Andy
Hi Nelliya
I did a little more research and checked my site with Siteliner. The report says that my site has 14% duplicate content and notes that the median duplicate content for all sites is 19%. I checked the post which the report identified as having the most duplicate content and going through it would be difficult to reduce that % without twisting the language in unnatural ways.
Thanks again for your help.
Best regards
Andy
Hi - there could be a couple of explanations. One could be your Glossary, as obviously you are explaining a lot of acronyms. For example, I picked a random term - SIMPLE IRA. Your description shows up as 45% copied and pasted, just because you said "SIMPLE IRA stands for Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees, Individual Retirement Account." Obviously, there is no other way of phrasing this.
The other possibility, is if Amazon put your entire site through a plagiarism checker, and that would also check the comments left by visitors. I notice you have a "familiar suspect" among your commenters, who does leave somewhat generic comments on every post regardless of the subject. So, on one of your posts, his comment is 43% copied and pasted, because he has written the same thing for another member's site. (I do plan on reporting him, he has done the same on one of my sites).
To be honest, I would be surprised if you got anywhere with Amazon, I doubt they would be interested. And as Amazon's commission is 4.5% on books, you would make $0.67 on a $15 book, which doesn't seem worth it.
Hi Diane
Thanks for checking my site and I am sure you are correct in your analysis. I wrote everything in the glossary too to be sure it was original but as you say if the definitions are short there is little way around some of the text being repetitive. I guess I was too tolerant of the cut and paste commenter(s) as I didn't realize the damage they can do. And that particular one is pretty annoying as I have a number of the same comments on different posts with barely a few words changed.
I am sure you are right. This is the universe telling me to get up and take a different direction.
Thanks for taking the trouble to look into this. Your advice is thankfully received.
Kind regards
Andy
Hi Andy, threse conglomerates are a law on to themselves. They are answerable to no one. Go your own way, use alternatives, plot your own journey sand never put all your eggs in anyone basket
Good Luck
Trevor
Sorry, but once Amazon closes your account, the only thing you can do is apply for another account and swap out literally every link on your site. That's one of the horrible truths about Amazon.
There are other book merchants out there who are much nicer to work with, who offer longer cookies and higher commission rates:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/affiliate-programs/bookoutlet-us
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/affiliate-programs/the-book-depository-us
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/affiliate-programs/wordery-us
Or you can start all over again with Amazon.
Hi Jeannie
Thanks for the advice and for the links. I was just looking for Barnes and Noble on CJ but can't find it. I must be doing something wrong. I will definitely check out your suggestions.
Thanks again and best regards
Andy
Hi Jeff
I guess its another of those experiences many of us can have when we come up against a juggernaut. All seems fine and benign until we are trampled into the ground. But I am surviving and telling the tale
Cheers
Andy
I know exactly what you mean, Andy! There are much greener pastures to explore out there, my friend! Before long, IMHO, Amazon will be the Titanic!
Some very large companies thought that Amazon was actually a loser during Covid. While they did sell a lot of product, they also couldn't deliver a lot of things for days or weeks at a time. This led to countless consumers looking for non-Amazon sources for products. The migration was huge and permanent.
That is an interesting take. I guess much of that phenomenon comes down to the fact that there is little brand loyalty for a retail provider. I will join the migration.
See more comments
Hi Andy. May I have the link to your site?
Hi Candy
Since we are not supposed to promote our sites inside blogs on WA - you can see my site URL from my WA profile. Click on my picture, under the picture on the right you will see "Follow me on" my website and Pinterest URLs are there.
Thanks
Andy
Ok. Great.
Hi Andy
Dont loose heart the fact that those other book stores are actually open must mean there are people shopping there or they would have been out of business.
Candy Benn
Hi Candy - Very true! TIme to redirect!
Best regards
Andy