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Serious issue for Amazon Associates not getting sales credited from 26 Oct

by UMS
16 replies
Since the end of October, I saw my Amazon sales conversion crash from around 30% to less than 5%. I assumed it was probably a just a normal fluctuation, although it didn't explain why my sales would be so low when my CTR was increasing.

The problem appears to only affect affliates who use remote shopping cart software (eg: Associate-O-Matic).

It's hard to know how many affiliates this is affecting, but there is a thread on the AWS forums where a number of people are discussing the issue (mostly technical discussions)

https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0

The most important part of that thread is the following post of a reply that someone got from Amazon (on Nov 11).

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. The issue you've described is known to us, and we can assure you that our developers are currently working on this. A resolution is expected shortly.

We appreciate your patience and thank you for participating in the
Associates Program.

The big questions are:

1. How many people has this affected?
2. Will Amazon credit people for lost sales?
#amazon #associates #credited #issue #oct #sales #serious
  • Profile picture of the author lutherlars
    This is just the latest horror story that I've read reguarding publishers and affiliate programs, and just another reason for me to think twice before signing up for one of them. Adsense may pay less than Amazon or Clickbank per sale, but at least they pay out when they are supposed too! Go Google.
    *end rant*
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    • Profile picture of the author thedog
      Originally Posted by lutherlars View Post

      This is just the latest horror story that I've read reguarding publishers and affiliate programs, and just another reason for me to think twice before signing up for one of them. Adsense may pay less than Amazon or Clickbank per sale, but at least they pay out when they are supposed too! Go Google.
      *end rant*
      It's early days, lets see how they handle it before having a go.

      I've dealth with their customer care, and found them to be very nice.... I don't think google even have one? If they do, you proabably need a golden ticket to get through.
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      • Profile picture of the author clickforseo
        Originally Posted by thedog View Post

        It's early days, lets see how they handle it before having a go.

        I've dealth with their customer care, and found them to be very nice.... I don't think google even have one? If they do, you proabably need a golden ticket to get through.
        To contact Google, you need:

        1. Mind Control Skills... like one of the X-Men
        2. Be the president of the US, or have his authority...
        3. Be working at Google, or be affiliated enough to be deemed worthy of being heard...
        4. Be an investor spending millions on their promotions..

        That should help
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    Well, I've just contacted Amazon to ask what form of compensation they will be offering (assuming they will be compensating affiliates).

    Will be very interesting to see what their reply is. It would be a tricky thing to calculate, as there is no real way of knowing exactly how many sales have been lost.
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    • Profile picture of the author JJ Remington
      Peter,

      Are you suggesting that the developers of the shopping cart software are somehow skimming these sales and keeping the commission for themselves? Or is it simply that the software doesn't function properly and loses the sale altogether? While the latter is troubling, the former is unthinkable.

      If I understand the situation, your cart was working fine up until October. Are there any obvious changes that could account for this?
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      Copywriters HATE this.
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    JJ, the problem isn't at the shopping cart end, it is a problem on the Amazon end.

    After reading a few more Amazon forum threads, the problem may even extend to standard Amazon affiliate links.

    I'll update this thread once I get more information.
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  • Profile picture of the author stephenwaldo
    Yeah, 30% is astounding. You must be using a list or something, although even then that sounds pretty high. (EDIT - looking through the AWS thread you linked to in the OP, some users are claiming 60% conversions...Wow. Maybe I need to start using more remote shopping carts). But either way I'm not going to be the guy to tell you you're a liar, and regardless it doesn't affect the idea behind the OP.

    It's certainly disconcerting to see sales not being credited. Obviously now everyone's going to be wondering how much money they're losing. From a few of the responses it seems like it could be something to do with an API update that changed link structure or something like that...I'd hate to have to go through and update all the links on my Amazon sites...That would be super annoying. Hopefully this thread can be used to keep Warriors updated on this problem.

    Thanks for keeping us all updated!

    Kindly,
    - Stephen
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    Need an awesome ghostwriter to fill in for you?

    Check out StephenWaldo.com
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    The latest from Amazon is:

    Posted By: ProductAdvtAPI@AMZN
    Created in: Forum: Product Advertising API (formerly Amazon Associates Web Service)
    Posted on: Nov 11, 2011 2:33 PM Dear Product Advertising API Developer,

    We are aware of a recent issue with the Product Advertising API cart operations that affects commissions for some orders placed from the PurchaseURL. The root of the issue has been identified and the issue will be resolved in the next week.

    We will be following up with affected Associates and will be backfilling affected orders.

    We apologize for the inconvenience.

    The Product Advertising API Team
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  • Profile picture of the author wallyw
    This has affected a couple of my amazon affiliate websites every day since November 1st. I had assumed it was a problem with the script i'm using and was about to look for another script.

    Now my question is, how does Amazon know who has been affected so they can compensate them for lost sales?
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    • Profile picture of the author careybaird
      Originally Posted by wallyw View Post

      This has affected a couple of my amazon affiliate websites every day since November 1st. I had assumed it was a problem with the script i'm using and was about to look for another script.

      Now my question is, how does Amazon know who has been affected so they can compensate them for lost sales?
      From what I understand, the "clicks" in Amazon are being registered correctly (hence the drop in conversion rate). So Amazon know that the person came from your site, they just haven't credited that visit to your sale.

      So IMO they should have no problem crediting you with the sales.
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      Owner of:

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      The worlds most advanced Amazon store builder with over 17,000 members.
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  • Profile picture of the author flocon
    I was not necessarily expecting these type of issues with Amazon.

    It seems that the best way is to sale our own products. I am not there yet as far as only focusing on that.
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  • Profile picture of the author WebmasterDeluxe
    Yea.....I saw mine crash and burn to....wonder if that will get corrected??
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    • Profile picture of the author wallyw
      It seems to be getting worse instead of better. Today (11/21) I noticed that Amazon has eliminated about 1/3 of my sales for the month that were there a couple days ago. I hope they get this fixed soon or it will be time to find a different affiliate program.

      This is rediculous IMHO.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidtong
    Stats are back to normal just a few mins ago
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