Welcome to the Jungle
No, I am not referring to the Guns n' Roses song, although it is one of my all time favourites, but the Amazon Affilate jungle, and its mysterious rules and regulations. Let's try and demystify what is expected of you, and what you can't do.
Joining Amazon
First of all, they are one of the few affiliate programs which accept fairly new sites, and don't have any qualifying conditions to be initially accepted (providing you have nothing illegal on your site). They don't require a certain number of posts or daily traffic.
However, you will be expected to make 3 sales within 180 days, or you will be removed from the program. This is not easy to achieve until you are getting regular traffic. Therefore, although it may be tempting to apply immediately, you may be better off waiting.
What's Next
Once accepted, you have the choice of millions of products to add to your website. Here is a quick and easy video to watch, which explains how to add the product HTML code to your site.
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/training/add-amazon-links-qu...
Once you have added an affiliate link to your site, you need an Affiliate Disclosure. There is a template in Site Content. This is mandatory by law, so don't be tempted to skip this step. It needs to be clearly visible, so don't bury it in your About Me page, for example.
What Not to Do
There are many pitfalls to be aware of, as regards Amazon's rules. Here are the most important:
- "You will not permit, request or encourage any of your friends, relatives, employees, contractors, or business relations to directly or indirectly purchase any product". So, don't go thinking you can meet your 3 sales target by asking friends and family.
- "You will not display or otherwise use any of our customer reviews or star ratings, in part or in whole, on your site". That's quite clear, and it includes taking screenshots.
- "You will not use a link shortening service, button, hyperlink or other ad placement in a manner that makes it unclear that you are linking to an Amazon Site". No using Pretty Links!
- "Because prices for and availability of products that you have listed on your site may change, your site may only show prices and availability if we serve the link in which that price and availability data are displayed". In other words, if you want to show the price, you must use their text + image link, which changes automatically. You can't add the price of the product to your review.
- Images: as far as I am aware, you can only use the one specific image which is provided by the SiteStripe code, and can't just copy and paste any others. However, I haven't found that rule in their terms and conditions.
The Final Stage
Once you have met your 3 sales target, Amazon will then inspect your site to check it meets all its terms and conditions, before its final approval. If you have failed to meet the target, you can re-apply immediately if you wish, but you will be given a new ID, and will have to change all your product links.
So, there we have it, a quick guide to the Amazon jungle!
You know where you are?
You're in the jungle baby
Recent Comments
87
Wow Diane...been in that jungle and I jumped for Amazon too quick before I had traffic and got zapped! Better wait until you have a few hits on your site.
Great article.
Joe
When I started my site here at Wealthy Affiliate, I applied to be an amazon associates. I got approved and started promoting. Not having enough traffic and being new to promotion, I couldn't see anything in those 180 days.
Imagine the rest.
Since then Ihaven't gone on amazon again. But I will, one day.
Thank you, Diane, for this helpful post. It's awesome that you laid out the rules like this in simple terms.
Hello Diane
A true jungle. After working so much, I made the 3 sales, I woke up with the account closed, without any warning. I sent 3 emails to ask what happened and I did not receive a reply; I'm not really good at making another account. what do you advise me to do to get an answer from them?
all the best for you
Carmen
Hi Carmen - I will have a look at your site tomorrow, and see if there are any obvious problems with it.
Thanks, Diane. That is the first time we have seen all the important Amazon rules set out in one post and you have explained them all really clearly. We will be starting with Amazon soon so your post is particularly helpful to us.
Colette and Philip
Love that song too!
Haven't got that far yet but what an altruistic post sharing your knowledge and experience so that others will not make beginners mistakes. Mistakes which you probably had to find out for your self.
Post definitely bookmarked, thank you very much, Diane. Oh, and while I'm here, thanks for following me.
All the best.
Rob
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I've scrolled by this post a few times today and the Guns n' Roses song is now stuck in my head.
Thanks for the info on Amazon, it was very helpful!