Think Before You Amazon
I woke up today to find that Amazon had suddenly closed my affiliate account citing "that static prices were built-in to the website".
There was no further explanation however, they provided me with a link to the operating policies section of the program. They also gave me the blog post from my site which allegedly violated the rules.
I was both surprised and angry because I had taken the time before using their program to make sure I understood their rules as many on here have cautioned about the sheer amount of rules they have in the past.
After looking over my post and going through the policies, I finally realized what the issue was. It was a review post in which I listed both the price from Amazon and from the company's website (which I am also an affiliate of).
The price was cheaper on the company's website so I suggested that the reader purchase it there. The odd/creepy thing was that I didn't even have an amazon link with the price. Just provided it without linking.
Further review of the policies found that you apparently can't just give the current price on amazon for something without adding in a lengthy disclaimer from them.
The disclaimer is "Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product".
Before the disclaimer, you have to add the time and date for which the price was current. Example provided by Amazon-Amazon Price: $ 32.77 (as of 01/07/2008 14:11 PST- Details).
I had no idea you had to do that and I don't remember reading it anywhere so I'm not sure if it's new.
The funny thing was that I had listed the amazon price (with link) without that disclaimer on numerous other posts however, I never said anywhere else to buy the product else ware besides Amazon in those posts. It's funny that the second I said that it was deemed an immediate violation worthy of kicking me out.
It's pretty disturbing behavior from a company but I shouldn't be surprised with their history of creepy behaviors.
I was able to reapply to the program and get back into it immediately however, after speaking with a representative I was told that I would have to update every single link on my site with the affiliate code from my new affiliate account.
I unfortunately have many posts that included their links so it took me the better part of 5 hours to go through my ENTIRE site and update every post. I also had to add in the above disclaimer anytime I gave one of their prices, which does not look visually appeasing at all.
What was going to be a day spent writing a new post turned into a day going through every single page of my site.
I unfortunately have several review pages and posts based upon items only available on Amazon so staying out of the program just isn't an option right now.
If you are new here at Wealthy Affiliate, I would urge you to think long and hard before using Amazon links all over your site.
They have a mind-numbing amount of rules for what you can and can't do. I'm just about at 50 posts on my site. Many of which contain Amazon links. Imagine how long it would take for someone that has hundreds of posts?
While I can't eliminate them entirely, I'm afraid of this happening again. It definitely makes me FAR less likely to use their links in the future for fear of violating some rule from the almighty Amazon empire.
Recent Comments
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I like to put them because it's an important part of my niche but I just have to change the way I do it now I guess.
I never post prices unless I use the text & image option in SiteStripe and they're already there. I love SiteStripe. So easy to post to social media and to put into blogposts.
I will have to look into that. I don't really like using their image links but I might have start. I don't use site stripe but I am going to look into it. Thank you for the suggestion!
Sorry to hear that. I would be frustrated as you were.
Thanks very much for sharing your experience with Amazon. I believe it is very informative to who are new with Amazon for being aware of this occurrence. It is for me as well.
You're welcome. If I could save someone else from going through it, it was worth taking the time to write it.
It is really important to keep up to date with Amazon's associates agreement and know that they are very strict with their rules.
I've been an affiliate for a number of years and they send out a notification every time they update their rules so it is a good idea every time you get notification that you check it and make sure you are still following everything correctly.
I do agree that they are harsh, but they are also in my opinion one of the best companies to join as an affiliate simply because their conversion rate is so good so it is quite easy to make sales. I also love all the banners, add types, links and reporting that they provide which makes it really easy for me to promote their products.
I've got 1700+ blog posts on my one website where I promote Amazon products... so let's hope I never get hit :)
I thought I was up to date with their current rules but apparently I wasn't.
The annoying thing is that you just immediately get kicked out. Is it so hard to send a warning e-mail first? I would've gladly fixed the post.
It is easy to promote them and what's frustrating is that I just made my third sale to meet the minimum requirement.
Yes hopefully Lord Amazon never finds that you violated one of their rules! LOL.
Thanks for the advice.
As far as I know I haven't violated any rules. I never put any prices on my website though. I only ever add ads that show the prices just to be safe.
Some of the rules seem to be a bit vague and from what I can tell, are selectively enforced. Like their links in newsletters. I've seen some do it and don't seem to have a problem. I'm sure if you use their links with the images and prices like Chery does that there isn't an issue. I understand their point about the prices changing but it's just crazy you get kicked out right away.
Yup that's what I hear - that they are brutal when they kick you out.... which is why I have always been so careful!
I was cautioned about this likely when I only had about 20 posts, and still hadn't been officially accepted with them. I went back on my reviews and either stated it was under $X or stated the price was around $XXX. That seemed to work for them.
Sorry about your wasted day changing everything.
I wish I got a caution. Nope. Just closed. Didn't even get an answer to my response e-mail. Not sure why it matters what I said the price currently was without a disclaimer since they make it very clear in their rules that I as a blog owner don't represent or work for them in any way lol. Just odd in my opinion.
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Thank you for sharing this, I had no idea about these rules from Amazon! Will be sure to take my time before I decide to use their links.
All the best,
Anya
You're very welcome. It's pretty frustrating to deal with their never ending list of rules, but as most other have pointed out it's usually the easiest place for people to order from. Just be careful and never say you can get something cheaper else ware like I did and I'm sure you'll be fine LOL.