I'm Giving Up On Amazon!

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Looks like Amazon is making it harder and harder for affiliates. Now with them lowering there commissions to 1-3% it's just not worth working with them anymore. I have relied heavily on Amazon for 3 of my websites.

I have made a few hundred dollars from there program but have found sales have been going down and what sales I do get is just a few dollars here and there. Nothing that's financially sustainable for the long run.

I believe Amazon is phasing there associates program out. That's fine it's now time to move on and find other more profitable affiliate programs. I know there are many out there and I'm just starting with some of them now.

We have a great feature here where you can search for affiliate programs right from our profiles! Kyle and Carson have thought of everything and I can see myself utilizing the affiliate programs feature more as I look for better affiliate programs and ween myself off of Amazon.

I'm excited for the future and can't wait to start using some better affiliate programs that I know are out there.

How has this change in Amazon's commission structure affected your business? What do you see yourself doing different going forward?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

Cory

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Recent Comments

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I had joined Share-a-Sale years ago, but found most of the merchants there didn't offer free shipping, and that hindered a lot of sales. But in reviewing them just today, a lot has changed! Many offer free shipping, or free shipping over a reasonable dollar amount. I've signed up for three good vendors today.

There are many merchants on ShareASale that offer free shipping with various criteria - sometimes they have a special offer for free shipping, sometimes they have free shipping if you buy the right product, sometimes they have free shipping if you buy a sufficient amount of product.

Your copy will help your readers decide whether it's worth paying the shipping cost to get a product which is superior to what might be found on Amazon. Amazon no longer always has the best price on items, rarely offers special deals like coupon codes, so the free shipping isn't really quite as free as you might think.

Hi Cory,

Great post! I've actually only just started as an affiliate and as such haven't seen any sales through Amazon and by the looks of it I don't think I ever will!

I currently sell my own product on Amazon and let me tell you that it sucks just as much for Amazon private label sellers as it does for affiliate marketers. Their fees are ridiculously high. They place ads for their own Amazonlabel brand right next to our product and sell at a much cheaper price so customers end up buying theirs. They obviously hold all the cards because they know what sells well and what doesn't so they hold an unfair advantage there.

Finally their storage fees are ridiculous as well.

So I hear you and I'll be looking at other ways now to diversify my income with the different affiliate programs out there. All the best.

I've been doing Amazon FBA on and off for a couple of years now and I feel your pain. Their fees are just insane.

Absolutely! So I’ve even tried diversifying and playing around with 3PLs/Shopify, etc.

All the best.

Since you're based in Australia, do you have enough products to start your own affiliate program on Commission Factory? That's a great network! It would be so much better and give you more opportunity than working through Amazon.

Hi Jeannine. Wow! I’d never even heard of them before! To start my own affiliate program on it is something I didn’t even know I could do. This is why I love the community on WA.

I’ve only got the one product for the moment. But it is definitely a route I will look at down the road especially if I start to expand here.

Thank you so much for the tip!

Glad you found that useful. There are other merchants on ShareASale with a single product, so you may be able to consider it sooner rather than later.

Thanks so much Jeannine.

Mmm market changes are inevitable I fear. I have one site has drop off substantially and all the services related to the topic have closed in the community because of social distancing. So Im letting it sit and focusing on another site that's remained active and promising. I will write some content for the slow one in the mean time too. Thanks Jen

Sounds like a plan! I'm sure the slow site you have will speed up as soon as this crisis is over. Good time to keep writing content for it now so that you will be on top of your game when things straighten out.

I could see the writing on the wall more than a year ago. Shortly after a commission structure reduction I remember seeing a gray Amazon delivery truck in my neighborhood. It was a brand new, grey Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van with Amazon Prime arrow swoop on the side.

So I did some research and discovered that Amazon had full intentions of developing it's own delivery fleet. To get started they ordered 40 of these MB Sprinter vans costing in the neighborhood of $30,000 each. How do you think Amazon helped financed the deal?

Sadly the current Covid-19 pandemic is what Amazon was built for. Home deliveries of almost anything you might need during a shelter in place situation. But there is an additional cost of doing business under these conditions. Keeping Amazon employees healthy and safe from the virus.

I believe this is accelerating the long term plan at Amazon to slowly phase out the Amazon Associate program.

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