Amazon and Pretty Links, Is It Allowed?
Pretty Link is a wonderful plugin that allows you to make your affiliate links look much more attractive on your website.
This makes your customers feel more comfortable clicking on your links. Are you allowed to use Pretty Link for all affiliate links though?
Well, when it comes to Amazon, the answer would be a resounding NO! This is something that many people are not aware of, so if you are using Pretty Link for your Amazon affiliate links, it’s time to stop.
I spoke to an Amazon Associates representative earlier this week and just happened to inquire about it during the discussion. I contacted them to ask where links are allowed and where they aren’t. I was actually surprised at some of the answers.
In regard to Pretty Link, I was informed that if Amazon does a manual review on your site and discovers that you are using Pretty Link, your account can be subject to suspension or termination.
Also, there are a few other things you can’t do with Amazon Associate links. These include linking from an ebook, and linking from an email. Basically, if you are linking from anywhere other than on page content such as your blog or web 2.0 properties, you shouldn’t be.
I just wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention so that you don’t find yourself in hot water with Amazon. Best of luck with those affiliate links in the future folks and thanks for reading!
Recent Comments
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Cool. Thanks for the info. I will be reading my terms of service with them. I know they are VERY picky and if you get banned, it can be for life, so don't mess around with Amazon rules.
Unfortunately Amazon's Terms of Service can be very grey at best. It's not always easy to know what they allow and what they don't, because much of their terms are vague.
Thank you, I have mine all set to the standard link they give you.
I did hear something about when a customer goes through your site to Amazon and they put something in the shopping cart that if they don't complete the purchase within 24 hours you don't get your commission.....and also about other countries, the Amazon store goes to another country and if your not associated with it as well you loose the commission.....There is a plugin called EasyAzon that is suppose to take care of the problem with the associates, but the add to cart on your site is in the pro version....and has a cost. I haven't checked it out thoroughly yet, but really need to check into it.
Hey Kim, thanks for commenting!
With the 24 hour rule, what actually happens is if a customer adds an item to their cart and doesn't purchase, you actually get up to 30 days for them to make the purchase. That one is pretty nice.
Unfortunately, you are absolutely correct on the foreign country site cookies. It's something that Amazon should have resolved on their side, it just hasn't happened yet for some reason.
I agree Ade. It would be nice to have a nice bullet style list outside of the legal jargon of the TOS but it is what it is. Thanks for the comment!
Yes they do and some of the "grey areas" are tough to make a judgement call on. Thanks for the comment!
Be careful with that one Tommy as the same rules probably apply with tinyurl as well. I know that they don't allow goo.gl links either. Thanks for commenting!
Amazon rips people off any ways so I really do not care about them. They are getting to big just like Facebook is. LOL
I've been using Tiny URLs for Amazon kinks for Twitter posts, because their links are so damned long they use up all the allowed characters for a tweet!
It's been a long time since I was an Amazon Associate but I remember that they have never allowed any form of cloaking or redirection of their links.
I guess Amazon is trusted enough that customers don't care too much about ugly links. ~Jude
Yes, I think that they certainly have the authority by now to just be trusted regardless. Thanks for the response Jude.
This also applies to automatic RSS feeds going out when new posts are published. They don't allow Affiliate links in those either! That could be problematic for anyone who uses an RSS feed.
Bryan-
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Thanks Tony you just saved me.