Amazon 24 Hour Link and Cookie Enlightenment
Hi everyone,
I have always been confused about the time that Amazon cookies are valid. I have read that the cookies disappear after 24 hours and that just didn't seem right to me.
I recently had a session with one of the Amazon support people and I saved the conversation. I'm going to paste it here.
The quote that I gave her was from someone on the Amazon Associates Discussion Board where I originally went to see if my question would be addressed. I wasn't satisfied so I went to the Feedback link at the top right corner of the Amazon Associates site, clicked that and then chose "Chat With Amazon.com Associate Support."
I'm including the entire conversation because I want you to experience the great rapport I had with her.
You are now connected to Suzy from Associate Support.
Edina MN 55435
Suzy: Hello, thank you for contacting Amazon Associates. My name is Suzy. May I confirm your name, email before we get started?
Me: Cheryl Kohan and my email addresses are cheryl.kohan@gmail.com and clkohan@icloud.com
Suzy: Great, thanks! How can I help?
Me: I'm concerned about how long the links on my site are valid. I just read that after 24 hours if someone clicks on one of my links, I won't receive a commission. Is that true?
Suzy: Links are valid until you take them down, if I'm understanding you correctly. You get commission by having people order from your links, and keep the item.
Me: If you could wait just a minute, I'll quote the person who posted on the discussion board...
Suzy: Ok, sure
Me: Here's the quote: "Yes. But the cookie set by Amazon only lasts 24 hours.So if no one bought anything today and only bought 4 days later, you won't earn anything."
Suzy: Looking into that...
Me: Thanks! It just doesn't seem right to me.
Suzy: This is what I found out: as long as they added the item to the cart during the 24 hour shopping session, the order will still be credited to the Associates account. The cart session will last up to 89 days.
Does that sort of clear things up?
They have 24 hours to place it in the cart and 89 days to buy it.
Me: Oh! So if they click on one of my links but don't order within 24 hours, there's no commission. However, If they come back to my link, later, though and add something to the card they have 89 days to buy it?
That makes sense...if they don't order something of course there would be no commission!! Duh!
Suzy: LOL you've got the jist!
Me: I feel so much better!! So when someone clicks on the link there's a cookie placed that is removed after 24 hours. But the links themselves are valid as long as I have them on my site?
Suzy: Correct.
Me: Thank you! You rock!
Suzy: Aww shucks! Thank you! I'm glad I could put your mind at ease!
Me: You know, there's a lot of misunderstanding about this and I'm going to spread the word among my friends who are also Amazon associates. I'm just as pleased as punch with the support you offer.
Suzy: Great, I'm glad you're helping clear the air. Anything else I can help with today?
Me: No, thank you. Have a great day, Suzy!
So, maybe I'm just not as savvy as the rest of you guys but it took this conversation for me to really understand the system.
If this post helps anyone else, I'll be happy. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!
Cheryl
Recent Comments
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They say, the squeaky wheel gets the attention.
You sure cleared up a major suspicion I have regarding Amazon.
Thanks for sharing, Cheryl. This is very enlightening especially for the newbies joining the amazon affiliate program.
My pleasure. I so appreciate when a WA friend posts helpful hints and this was something that I struggled with...was happy to find that Amazon support is really good. So I had to share that!
Thank you very much for sharing, this is what I really like about WA so many great people willing to share.
Hello Cheryl, this is a great post from you and thank you, for so much information you have given us all here at WA.
This is a subject that I am getting into now and all tips are appreciated.
Thanks for sharing, Patrick
You are very welcome, Patrick. One of my favorite things about WA is that we are all learning from each other.
Hi - that's a "trick" if you like, that some of the amazon plugins now use.
Instead of taking you to a product on amazon, they take you to an "add to cart page" straight away. I think that's fine - if you've done a good enough job talking/reviewing a product, and people click through your amazon link - then why wouldn't they add it to their cart straight away - giving you the 90 day cookie.
I've had stuff in my amazon cart for weeks at a time - just add it in, if it looks interesting - and maybe I'll order straight away, more often thn not, I'll keep browsing - then come back to amazon some time later, and notice I still have items in my cart. I have gone on to then order them - so using this feature is a great tip.
The way to do it, is to add ?cart=y to your amazon link.
Eg. if your link is:
http://yourdomain.com/product/B00ABC123/US/associdhere/
Then change it to:
http://yourdomain.com/product/B00ABC123/US/associdhere/ ?cart=y
(I had to add a space between the / and ? to allow it to be posted here - take out the space when adding to your links).
Then your visitors will be taken to the "add to cart page" by default, and if they do "add to cart" - you'll then have a 90 day cookie.
All the best, Mark
I like how you craft the 90 day cookie Mark..!
This is a great first step for anyone starting off in Amazon as it helps to get those commissions flowing..?
I have not seen this EXTRA code placed before in a link, but then I am only starting in this game.
A big thank you for that information, Patrick
Hey Cheryl...sounds like Suzy doesn't know her job very well with her quick and wrong answer and then she "has to look into it" lol. Basically your cookie will run out in 24 hours unless someone puts an item in their shopping cart. I don't know that it would happen that often that people would leave items in shopping carts and then come back to them after some time. I myself would be more likely to delete those items just in case if I wasn't ready to buy yet...and then it's back to square one all over again lol :)
She wasn't wrong, at all. That's exactly what she said...that if someone puts an item in the cart within 24 hours, they have 89 days to purchase it. If they don't put anything in the cart, the cookie runs out after 24 hours.
And personally, I have periodically placed items in a shopping cart without purchasing while I think about whether or not I really want it. Most of the time, I'll get an email after a week or so asking me if I'm still interested in the item.
And I was not in the least bit concerned that she needed to look into it. That might not be her area of expertise.
But thanks for your feedback...hope you're having a great weekend.
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Thx, didn't know about putting in shopping cart for 89 days...thx! ;-)
You're welcome. I didn't know that, either, so I figured I wasn't the only one!