Do Not Display Amazon Prices!
Hi everyone,
A couple of weeks ago I had an email from Amazon.com regarding displaying prices on my site. And because of that I broke the rules and my account was closed.
You can imagine that I wanted to rectify this straight away. I checked to see which reviews I needed to alter to appease their rules.
I quickly changed those reviews and emailed them again. I eventually got a reply and they said the same thing again.
I have many other revenue streams besides Amazon, so I do have prices for other products and services.
Even though there are no prices for Amazon products I do not know whether I am still breaking their rules. I have messaged them again but I am still waiting for a response.
Anyone else have this same issue?
My Amazon.co.uk account is still open although it is not as busy for me as my Amazon.com account.
Thanks for your feedback,
Owain
Update:
I’ve just had an email from Amazon and my account has been reinstated. Let this be a warning to all of us.
Recent Comments
29
Hello Owain and thank you for such an informative post. I am glad to know that you eventually sorted it out
You're welcome. I did think that it was going to take ages to sort out but thankfully it did not.
Glad to see they reinstated your account. Amazon is correct about using static prices. They can be a disadvantage to anyone who uses them. By displaying prices in a review post or an article would give a reason for a reader NOT to click your link to the Amazon (or another vendor) sales page.
Thanks. I’ve learned my lesson on this one. Luckily it wasn’t shut down for long and I was quick to act.
Thanks for this reminder! I only use Amazon Image Plus Text links (which show the prices live and should update automatically) and don't say anything about the price at all. That way I can't get in trouble!
I think people used to list Amazon prices and thought they could update the prices as they changed but that is unrealistic with most products since we don't know when Amazon will put them on sales and with lots of posts and links you would spend all your time checking prices.
I am so glad they reinstated your account!
Yeah I was thinking every so often that I would check the prices and update. I didn’t have many Amazon products listed with prices anyway.
I thought having prices may make it more appealing and informative for the visitor. But anyways.
I now understand why Amazon does not want static prices listed on an affiliate's website. I think there are a few posts of mine from a couple of years ago where I did that, but I read from another member here that it was a no no and so I stopped doing it on future posts, but I need to go back to those posts and remove the prices.
Yes you better before Amazon comes along and checks your site. This was totally out of the blue. I'm just lucky I got it fixed straight away.
Thanks for the warning Owain. I am not using Amazon yet, but it is good to know. I leave a few comments on member's websites and I do notice some of the products have prices.
You’re welcome. I was too eager to provide as much information as I could in my reviews. I didn’t realize that I was breaking a rule by doing so.
Luckily for me my account has been reactivated.
You can still have prices Rika, just use amazon Image plus Text links (there are three options, text only, image only and image plus text). With that option, the price shows but it is connected and updates automatically from Amazon so you don't have to worry about keeping the price updated yourself.
So by using the SiteStripe menu to place the ads, I'm not in violation? Because almost all of mine have prices. I'm scared. I got a feedback saying prices are not allowed.
You CAN have prices as long as they are part of the link from Amazon. If you use the link from Amazon (from Site Stripe or otherwise) that shows the price, it will automatically update whenever the price changes on Amazon. That way the price is always correct.
You CANNOT type in or otherwise add a price on your own because it is static and will not automatically update when the price changes.
Amazon just wants to make sure the correct price is shown so they make it simple and just require that we cannot add any prices ourselves. As long as the price is show from their own live link, you are ok.
All of my image ads show the price and I get them from the Site Stripe. I have never had a problem. I have had my site for 3 years.
It is interesting to hear that they tell you not to display prices but when you use their Text and Image link it shows the prices automatically.
So if that is the case they are contradicting themselves about not displaying prices unless their links given are the only way to do so.
That’s because that code will show the current price. They don’t like it when you display ‘static prices’ as they called it.
I’ve made the changes and my account has been reactivated.
Fair enough I thought it strange for them to say one thing and yet provide prices within out links.
The main part is you got reactivated so well done on that. Guess lessons learned for all reading this.
Enjoy the rest of your week
Andre
Sadly Amazon doesn't usually rescind their bans. Once banned you are pretty much out of luck with them unless you create a new account with another email. They may even track your IP so you might want to sign up again with a new email from another location.
Hi owain sorry this happened to you. Another member that I follow had that exact same issue a few weeks ago. They were able to ring Amazon and demonstrate the changes on their site and they got their account reactivated. Sorry I have forgotten the members name. Anyway, the price issue is real - but so is a positive solution. I hope you also get a great outcome.
Thanks, my account has been reactivated. I was just too eager to display all information to my visitors that I didn’t realize I was breaking their rules.
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Hey Owain
I had my amazon account closed for lack of sales. Have not tried to reopen. No need until I get more traffic.
Hi Joe,
Yeah I had my Canadian Amazon account closed because I thing any sales. Luckily my other Amazon accounts are though.