Don't Get Banned as an Amazon Affiliate!

byJVanDerLaan

2K followers

8 years ago

We all work very hard on our websites and a lot of us depend on the Amazon affiliate program to generate revenue from our efforts, but I see a large number of websites violating Amazon's terms of service.

This is no joke! Amazon will ban you from their affiliate program if you are caught in non compliance and it can be very difficult to get back in.

Here is a list of the most common violations.

1. Send Amazon Affiliate Links In Email

Amazon explicitly bans any use of affiliate links in “offline promotion or in any other offline manner,” and it can surprise some new users that that applies to email too.

2. Affiliate Link Shortening or Link Cloaking / Hiding

Amazon is very concerned with affiliates misdirecting audience, as the reputation of the Amazon depends on how affiliates are referring the site to visitors. The e-commerce giant wants users to know where they are being directed to.

3. Including links in eBooks or PDF documents

Just like email, these two mediums are easy to access offline, which is a big no-no for placement of Amazon Affiliate links.

4. Using Your Affiliate Link for Items You Purchase

You will not purchase any Product(s) through Special Links for use by you or for resale or commercial use of any kind.

5. Operate More than One Account

In an effort to limit spam and make sure that their bans carry weight, Amazon only allows one account per individual.

6. Use Amazon User Reviews as Your Own

You will not display or otherwise use any of our customer reviews or star ratings, in part or in whole.

8. Link from Sexually Explicit and/or Violent Sites

9. Auto-Tag Amazon Sessions (iFrame, Automatic Cookie install)

10. Buy Paid Search Placements

“Prohibited Paid Search Placement” means an advertisement that you purchased through bidding on keywords, search terms, or other identifiers

11. Violate Amazon’s Trademark Policy

No matter how big your Affiliate site is, Amazon can shut down things quickly if they believe you are in violation of their trademark rights. To clarify, Amazon owns a ton of trademarks, not all of which have anything to do with the phrase “Amazon.”

12. Mentioning Price in Niche Site Contents Manually

If you choose to display prices for any Product on your site in any “comparison” format (including through the use of any price-comparison tool or engine) together with prices for the same or similar products offered through any web site or other means other than the Amazon Site, you must display both the lowest “new” price and, if we provide it to you, the lowest “used” price at which the Product is available on the Amazon Site. You may not otherwise include price information on your site.

13. Avoid Social Media Promotion without Knowing The Rules

13. Avoid Social Media Promotion without Knowing The Rules

While Amazon generally does not allow you to share affiliate links on sites you do not own, social network sites are something of an exception. However, there are afew important rules that govern sharing links on social media.

14. Promote Amazon with Copy Content

In general, Amazon wants to be sure that Affiliates are sharing links on high quality sites only. That means that if your site is all advertising copy, or totally devoid of content, Amazon won’t look at you favorably.

15. Offering Rebate

You will not offer any person or entity any consideration or incentive (including any money, rebate, discount, points, donation to charity or other organization, or other benefit)

16. No Sales In 90 Days

It has been brought to my attention that this has been changed to 180 days.

Again, we work way too hard on our websites to risk losing it all over one of these easy to follow regulations.

You should strive to follow the Amazon terms of service and enjoy a long profitable relationship with this retail giant.

Source: https://marketever.com/mistakes-get-banned-amazon-affiliate/