What Is Amazon Playing at?
What Is Amazon Playing at?
My original blog post about this issue was a couple of months ago:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/phil1944/blog/has-amazon-really-done-this
Amazon had announced that the Image and Text+Image options would be removed from SiteStripe from December 1, 2023 and any existing links would stop working after December 31, 2023.
I believed them, and put together a demo site containing several instances of each.
It was my intention to create training that would show how to overcome the issues caused by this Amazon decision.
But it hasn't happened.
Yet.
First of all, the options didn't disappear (except very briefly) after December 1.
Which meant that theoretically, if you didn't know what was supposed to happen (and it would appear that not all Amazon affiliates got the warning email) you could fill your site with Image and Text+Image links on December 31, only to have them stop working the next day.
How unprofessional is that?
But now, three days into the new year, I've just checked my demo site and all the links are still working!
Good news?
I don't think so.
What is Amazon playing at?
We all need certainty and that's totally missing at the moment. We don't want to pay for a plugin that will fix the problem is there's no problem to fix.
And we don't want our Amazon affiliate links to suddenly stop working without warning, at a time of Amazon's choosing.
It's a mess, but I'll keep you all posted.
Recent Comments
65
Good morning Phil,
A very happy New Year to you. I do hope that you had a great time with your family over Christmas.
I believe that the name "Amazon" is so strong now that they don't need or want affiliates any more, unfortunately! I could be wrong. If we need anything for the house, the first thought is to look on Amazon, it's easy and it will probably be delivered the next day! I guess it's a bit like the phrase, "Let's Google it" rather than "Let's Bing it"!
I do feel sorry for everyone who is using Amazon as it's a real pain! Although I said what I said, I am trying not to use Amazon and find smaller alternatives! But sometimes it is easier said than done!
Have a great day.
Roy
Thanks, Roy. Yes a great time with the family in Melbourne.
I agree, Amazon is culling the small affiliates.
That's great to hear, Phil, it appears that you make the most of life, which is fantastic!
I always think it's a shame when companies or people dump you when you have been part of their success! It's good to remember people who have helped us over the years and to try and stand by them.
Roy
There was some discussion on live chat earlier about capturing screen shots of the product images from the Amazon pages and using those on affiliate websites. I was quite busy with some other issues, so I didn't capture all of the back and forth replies in the live chat.
I believe the chatting was between Jay at Magistudios and Diane Scorpio. There might have been others involved.
I believe the perception in this chat session was that it might permissible to do that. Do you have any thought on that?
After all, the product images at Amazon are served up to the Internet by the Amazon servers. I suppose if an affiliate was able to take those images and upload them to the media library of the website(s) here at WA, that could be permissible.
I pulled a product up at Amazon today and double clicked on the primary image that is displayed when a consumer clicks for the product, pricing and other details. After double clicking, up came the primary image and it was simple to copy and paste it into my Paint Shop Pro program.
Just for fun, I reduced the image to 250 px X 250 px and uploaded it to my media library. I then placed that image on my gadget website and it came out exactly the way it was before Amazon brought down the images.
When Amazon took down the images, I still had the coding in place on my pages. Their coding indicated the image was 250 px X 250 px when I extracted it from SiteStripe.
Any thoughts on this?
Eric
I believe it contravenes Amazon's tos. They say fairly clearly that the only allowable way to display product images that link to the Amazon page is by using their code.
I had commented earlier that I though Amazon may have “stepped in it”. On second thought, I think they know exactly what they are doing.
For the most part, Amazon no longer has a need for the thousands, perhaps millions, of small websites that were promoting products found at Amazon. Amazon has become a 'household” name over the years and the bulk of their customers likely come to the Amazon website directly, and not through a link from other websites....my opinion.
It is a simple process to download an Amazon App link to one's mobile devices. I believe most consumers have done this. In many cases, the Amazon App comes pre-installed when a mobile device is purchased.
I browse the Internet with the Mozilla browser. The very 1st Icon below the Firefox image/Icon and the Google Search bar is the familiar Amazon “a” with the smiley beneath it. This is a “Sponsored” tag or shortcut to the Amazon website. I can delete or dismiss the shortcut, but why do that? I like purchasing products from Amazon.
In the Chrome browser, it is a simple process to add the Amazon shortcut to the Chrome homepage.
As consumers continue to purchase products directly from the Amazon website, I personally see no need for the merchant to pay small commissions to the Amazon Associates. In other words, the tracking and reporting process is likely paid for by the merchants in addition to the commission. The tracking and reporting process is quite sophisticated and I doubt that Amazon pays anything toward that process.
For me, the bottom line is NOT to rely too much on the small commissions from Amazon. Others here at Wealthy Affiliate may be raking in large commissions, but I believe that will change over time. Marketing strategies are continuously evolving and I think Amazon is ahead of the game.
Absolutely. Amazon is culling its non-performing affiliates. Even their complex PA-API requests don't work unless you've made affiliate sales in the past 30 days.
01/03/2024
I had to place 2 sites, with over 1000 images and links to Amazon products, on hold and "Down" for the time being. Images to products had disappeared as Amazon stated they would. I didn't bother to see if the text links were still working.
The present method Amazon put in place to retrieve images to products is very cumbersome and not even working in most cases.
I am thinking that Amazon "stepped in it" and will regret this change in the long run. Just my opinion.
Eric aka RVsRock
Hey Eric,
I've just checked mine and they are still all up and clean as a whistle. loading instantly to the linked page. all the images and all the text links are fine. are you sure its not something else causing the problem.
I am in the UK so it might be coming down the line, country by country
Hello Darren,
The issue came down as Amazon had promised.
Not less than 12 hours ago, I checked the 2 sites and they were in good shape....all images appeared, as well as links that followed right to the products as intended.
I did not make any changes at that time, so I am sure that my relationship as an Amazon Associate will soon come to an end.
Thanks for your update.
Eric aka RVsRock
Just checked this morning. All the Image and Text+Image links on mt demo site are broken. Amazon has carried out its threat/promise, just a couple of days later than they said.
Just checked this morning. All the Image and Text+Image links on mt demo site are broken. Amazon has carried out its threat/promise, just a couple of days later than they said.
Just checked this morning. All the Image and Text+Image links on mt demo site are broken. Amazon has carried out its threat/promise, just a couple of days later than they said.
Just checked this morning. All the Image and Text+Image links on mt demo site are broken. Amazon has carried out its threat/promise, just a couple of days later than they said.
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One good news is that even so, it is far from ideal!
If you don´t sell enough, you can use all things as it was using AAWP API! And they are thinking about to sell it if people need it (when you start there, they let you have 3 months licence in Amazon to help you to start).
Thanks Johann.