Information from amazon on family ordering from your website.
I asked Amazon and here is the response. To me, it makes no sense because if it is not for me or by me then WHY does it not count. I mean people you know trust you and people you do not know most likely don't have trust in you so will not order from you. Anyway, here is the official letter.
Amazon
Your Account Amazon.com
Message From Customer Service
Hello Shary,
This is Christina from the Amazon Associates Program, following up on your inquiry.Orders can be marked because our system recognized the orders were placed by the Associate, or on their behalf. This can also happen if we have determined that the orders resulted from you requesting or encouraging your friends, relatives, or other people you know to purchase products through your Special Links. Due to the proprietary nature of the way we make these determinations, we can't share the full list of criteria by which we detect these ineligible orders.
The reason behind this is that the Amazon.com Associates Program is an advertising program rather than a discount program. Our goal is to have our associates refer new customers to us in return for advertising fees. Associates are not eligible for advertising fees when they place orders themselves, or ask people they know to routinely place orders through their links so they can earn advertising fees.
For more information on this, see the definition of "Qualifying Purchases" in Section 7 of the Associates Program Operating Agreement at:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/agreement
See also Participation Requirement 29 at:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/operating/participation
We understand that some orders you place may unintentionally be tagged to your Associates account as you are updating your sites and checking links. These orders are ineligible for advertising fees and will not show in your earnings report.
We look forward to seeing you again soon.
We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the links below to tell us about your experience today.
Best regards,
Christina D.
Recent Comments
23
Hello Shary, thanks for sharing, I had no idea that was a rule but thanks to you now I do. Have a Happy New Year!!!!
I agree, the people we know such as friends and family would be more likely to order things since they know and hopefully trust us.
But, I suppose I can see their point, sort of...although reading through the Associates Agreement is rather confusing, anyways it is to me.
Maybe number 10, Identifying Yourself as an Associate might also have something to do with this...from what I gather we aren't supposed to go around telling people we're an associate, although we still have to tell them on our site with an affiliate disclosure. At least that's what I get after reading it.
My thoughts on why they don't want us to ask friends and family to order through our links is probably because of the possibility of affiliates continually asking their friends or family to order from their links, which would be similar to spamming...giving them a bad image.
That is just my thoughts on the matter, maybe I'm wrong, but thought I'd share my two cents. There could be completely different reasons though...again, I'm not sure what Amazon's exact issue is with us telling people we know to use our special links.
Thanks for sharing this, Shary!
Best wishes :) ~Sherry
Interesting. My partner and his son have the same name. I don't remember any adverse effects from them. To be honest I really haven't checked. Thanks for making me more aware of this.
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Thanks Shary, I agree with you about the trust.