I agree, Anita. Since amazon is a very common program used by WA members, I suspected someone here knew this off hand. If I've not gotten an answer by midday tomorrow, I'll do just that. The last time I spoke with them I found that they didn't mince words, but laid it all out. One way or another we will have and share the answer here.

If we are investing big chunks of our time in promoting products through amazon, it is only sensible to understand how the process works when visitors buy through our links.

That's correct. I hope you will share the answers you get with us. It would be really nice.

Hi Francia,

I could be sending a lot of customers to amazon, yet getting no credit if they already have items in the cart - or - I could be getting extra commission if there are already items in the cart, and they buy after linking in from my site. It would be nice to know for my business and for others business when I link in from some other site...

I hope someone here has experience with this - I would love to know how it works...

Steve

Thanks, David, but this is about purchase related to friends or family. I already know that policy, and this is not the issue.

Definitely not. As I stated in this question, I'm getting ready to purchase an item through a link on a post by another WA member on their site.

I learned about amazon blocking use of my own links by me, friends, family etc. long ago. This is a step further in my amazon education. While I appreciate you sharing what you imagine about this David, I'm looking for actual knowledge about the policy.

Since amazon generally gives themselves the benefit of the doubt, I assumed that they would block commission if:
-The buyer had already clicked another affiliate link earlier that day (double commission payout - I don't think so),
-The buyer went to smile.amazon.com to direct part of the proceeds to the charity of their choice, or
-The buyer was returning to a link they had used multiple times before to enter amazon from the same affiliate site (this is amazon policy, stated to other members and shared here).

Given these policies or assumptions, I had reason to doubt that a link would count if the buyer was already in the purchase process, such as having other items in the cart. If this isn't the case, where does amazon draw the line: commission on all items placed in the cart for x minutes after clicking the link, but not items there already? Commission on all items purchased in the time window, no matter when they went into the cart?

My past interactions with amazon do not suggest to me that the policy will be generous to affiliates.

Thanks,
Steve

Ok.Oh, I see. That's completely different from what I thought you meant. My apologies. Let's hope someone with more experience and Amazon clarifies this for you.

David