Amazon Rules: Amazon Affiliate Links You Should Not Attempt
As you know, Amazon has its own TOS.
As an Amazon affiliates, you need to strictly adhere to these rules. Breaching one of them will cause you a pain as it only takes one mistake, you will be banned forever.
While most of us agree there are so many grey areas with Amazon TOS, there are straight forward operating guidelines that you should not compromise.
I am sharing with you the answers to two (2) questions which may be seldom discussed but you might have the idea to attempt on your Amazon niche site.
Link Redirection
Link redirection is a method to redirect your site visitor when they click a link to another page or site. Normally, this is done by a plugin. There are a lot of plugins which can do this task.
If you try to make a redirection of any link on your site to Amazon affiliate link, Amazon will know.
True Story
One day, my old Amazon site made 38 sales. And the sales were made through a method which redirected visitors who opted to leave my site to Amazon page embedding my affiliate link.
Can you guess what happened next?
None of the sales were credited to me. And I was lucky my Amazon affiliate was not suspended.
So, play safe. No redirection is allowed.
Links In Pop Up
If you are using a pop-up on your Amazon site, make sure there is no affiliate link on the ads.
As you can see above, it is a no-no for Amazon. You can use a link to one of your post or page, but not your affiliate link.
Again, better play safe than sorry.
For Amazon, there is no such thing as an 'appeal'. Once your account get banned, its forever gone. And being one of the top affiliate merchants, Amazon will not entertain any request to appeal, regardless your site performance.
If your site is making good money now, its good to have a self-audit from time to time to make sure all the TOS are in compliance. Bear in mind that Amazon will update their Operating Agreement from time to time and as Amazon affiliate its your own responsibility to get your site updated.
Be Compliant For Sustainable Business
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Joe
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Recent Comments
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Good afternoon Joe,
I think I am on the safe side. I only have books and when people click they see it on Amazon. Never sold anything up till now.
Amazon CA kicked me out for not selling within a certain time frame. U, S, and the European Amazon have not yet.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thanks Joe for this info... I knew we couldn't redirect but I actually didn't realize you can't Amazon's site open in a new browser window - does this include a new Tab? A new tab would be the same browser window or do they mean they must leave your site all together so no open to any new window at all?
Hi Grace,
Loved your Vegas training. :)
The restriction is only on pop-up.
But if the person clicks a link on your site and he is redirected to the product page on new tab or new window, that's fine. (This is not considered a pop-up). :)
Hope that answered your concern.
Joe
Thanks Joe, appreciate it! That first image though "can I redirect to Amazon.com", the last bit of the last sentence talks about new window.... that's not related to pop up right?
It is not related to pop-up.
There are 2 items discussed here.
1) Redirection
2) Pop up
In my previous case (the 38 sales), I have a redirection plugin where when a visitor landed on my site and decide to hit the 'back' button, he will be brought to a product page on Amazon. This is not allowed.
Another example:
People do search on Google and see your post https://yoursite.com/apple-laptop. When he clicks the link, instead of coming to your site to read the post / review, he is automatically redirected to Amazon site showing the apple laptop. This is not allowed. Even the person make the purchase, you are not going to get the credit.
Hope that clarifies.
Joe
Hi Joe, I could see how those two situations would not be allowed for redirection.
I'm asking about if I had a link on my site, the person clicks, and it opens a new tab, is that allowed, even though it's not a new window or is that also considered a new window?
That is allowed Grace.
That's not considered redirection in the context of Amazon TOS .
Thank you for this great information.
I would appreciate if you could confirm if the plugin prettylink is okay for an amazon affiliate link. Is that not a form of link redirect.
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Thank you for asking.
One of members has written the answer to your question. Although this was written back in 2014, I believe it's still valid.
Please read it here: Amazon and Pretty Links, Is It Allowed? Joe
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Hi Joe,
I don't fully understand the "redirect link", you mentioned.
I just use the link Amazon gave me on the sideboard and when I click on it it goes to Amazon as advertised.
I don't use any pop-ups of any kind.
So I guess I am ok in both cases.
Thanks for sharing.
Bill
You are not the only one that doesn't understand. I also use the link that Amazon gave me in my blog and it takes an individual directly to Amazon.
I this is wrong - how else can you do it?
That should be fine. It's not a redirection.
That should be fine. It's not redirection.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the clarification.
Bill