Amazon Associates Review: How Does It Work And Are They Legit?

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written byAaron Chen
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We Give Amazon Associates
2/5 Stars

Want to learn more about affiliate marketing? Or maybe you're looking for new affiliate programs to help you make more money online?

You are in the right place!

At the end of this review, I will also reveal a better alternative that has allowed me to earn full time passive income online.

In this Amazon Associates review, we will tell you about Amazon Associates, and specifically:

- What is amazon Associates?

- How to sign up for the program?

- What is their Commission rate?

- What is their Cookies Duration?

- What are the advantages of Amazon Associates?

- What are the disadvantages of the Amazon Associates?

- When should you use the program?

What Is Amazon Associates?

Amazon Associates is a popular affiliate program that allows anyone with an online audience - website owners, social media influencers and bloggers - to generate referral links and earn income. When someone clicks on those links and completes a purchase, you get credit!

Very simple.

That means you can sell any of Amazon’s thousands of products through your links and get credit for it.

Actually, it’s not just an affiliate marketing program. It falls under one of the world’s largest affiliate programs and the vast majority of other programs like it don’t cost anything to be a part of.

It’s really easy to get started with Amazon Affiliate links: simply add them to your blog or website, write quality articles and blog posts promoting a product that you can purchase off Amazon and earn money for every sale.

There is an even better way to promote affiliate links which I cover in my free 6 figure workshop if you’d like to check that out.

How To Sign Up For The Amazon Associates Program?

Joining Amazon's Affiliate Associates is a quick and simple process. You just need to search Google for "join Amazon affiliate program" and you will arrive at the landing page which has sign-up button.

Click the button to access your Amazon Associates account. You'll want to list all the sites where you intend to advertise products before creating an account.

Try to add at least one website or app in your portfolio. However, if you have a good variety of sites and apps you can up to 50. You will also be asked to confirm that your sites/apps aren't using techniques that are commonly used for marketing to children under 13.

As someone just starting out, these are a lot of questions that you may not know the answer to. Or you might think your profile fits one niche but later learn it suits another.

Many people have a bit of difficulty navigating through Amazon Associates. It's all too easy to begin with the wrong course and find oneself in trouble 10 steps down the line.

The good news is, you can always correct any mistakes you make later on.

Next, Amazon will want to know how your website gets traffic and what revenue you earn from affiliate advertising. Are you relying on paid traffic? Email referrals? SEO?

Be honest with them so they can best assist you.

If you’d just a beginner and haven’t even made a single sale online, don’t worry, we’ll hook you up at the end of this article. ;)

What Is Their Commission Rate?

Amazon pays really low commission rates. They have cut their rates before, but again most recently in April 2020.

Amazon Payments program, through the Amazon Games division, pays a lackluster 20% commission on video games. 10% commission is offered on digital beauty products and other items sold by Amazon Explore.

Other categories pay more, like the consumer electronics category that pays 10%. And, the furniture category pays a measly 5%.

The commission rate might be unimpressive but at least you’ll still make money on all the sales you drive. There’s also the Amazon bounty program.

The Amazon bounty pays commissions for authors in specific categories.

The commissions paid by it can be seen here:

You will earn $3 off when you mutually engage with the Amazon Baby Registry and add on any product.

$5 off for every eligible purchase of an Amazon Prime membership

$15 for driving a successful registration for an Amazon Business account.

What Is Their Cookie Duration?

A review of the Amazon Associate Program without talking about its much-maligned cookie window would not be complete. A cookie window represents how soon you have to make a purchase in order for you to get a commission.

Most affiliate programs also have a cookie duration of roughly 30 days. That means if someone clicks on your link today but purchases from the site another 29 days from now, you still see some residual returns.

The Amazon Associates program operates a little differently. It offers a 24-hour window for when customers arrive via your link and place items in their cart, you’ll earn commission on any qualifying purchases.

That’s really short and will definitely hurt your sales.

Amazon Associates Video Review


 

Amazon Associates Pros And Cons?

Pros:

 
  • It quite easy to set up links

  • Signing up is easy and free

  • There are plenty of products for you to sell

Cons:

 
  • The commission rates are extremely low and it’s hard to make a profit

  • They have a ridiculously short cookie window which again affects your sales

Amazon Associates Review - Final Take

Amazon Associate is a well known and massive affiliate network to sell physical products but they pay extremely low commissions of only 10%. So even though they have a great product line, it is extremely difficult to make big money and profit from this network.

I personally would only suggest using them for supplementary products that will add more value to your customers after they have purchased your other main affiliate products from other sources.

Here’s the thing though…

Amazon Associates is only ONE of many networks where you can find good products to sell online, so you have options.

The other thing is you should be shooting for is networks that give you 40%-60% commissions, NOT 10%.

Networks like Warrior Plus, JV Zoo, Digistore24 and Clickbank are just some to name a few.

I do feel that if you are to start a business online, it’s important to take into consideration a few things…

  • Profit Margins

  • Scalability

  • Automation

  • Overall Cost

  • Barrier To Entry

And affiliate marketing can provide this BUT - you must set your business up in a specific way and work with the right networks and products.


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Affiliate Marketing is the industry that allowed me to 5X my old work salary and quit that job in April 2019 and travel the world.

If you’d like to find out more about how to model my exact strategies…

Jump on my free 6 figure workshop HERE<<


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