20 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
20 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

More Amazon Exclusions For Affiliate Payouts & More

by Jeannie Crabtree
17 replies
If you have not seen it, there is a new email today for more exclusions for affiliate payouts.

Many TV's and a couple cameras.

So if you have something you won't get paid on starting November, Find another source and get it changed over.

Trademark Guidelines

In addition:In the trademark guidelines they point out not to use Amazon in your urls. But these two have been used before by some here

<friendazon.com> - Will this affect the plugin software people that call their product
somethingazon or somethingzon?

<www.uk.com/amazonreviews> They evidently don't want you to use their name on your folders either.

https://affiliate-program.amazon.com...73690_26400960

Jeannie
#affiliate #amazon #exclusions #payouts
  • Profile picture of the author Terry Kyle
    Thanks J - reminds me of the £7 cap on all individual commissions on Amazon UK.

    They may as well put up a sign that says, 'Affiliate Marketers Not Welcome'.

    Not sure if it's still the case with Amazon UK but it was that way for a long time.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7222919].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      The product exclusions is a bad policy and creates a real slippery slope. At some point, a list of 5000 excluded products will not be manageable.

      Not sure why this is happening, as most of these a big ticket items Amazon should be making money on. 8 days notice is not exactly a lot of time, especially as the Christmas season gears up.

      My read of the trademark issue is that subdomain names using Amazon marks are no longer allowed, but subdirectories and file names are fine.

      .
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7222991].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Jeannie Crabtree
        Thanks for your comments Brian. I find the exclusions disapointing and it just keeps building this month. Many people won't catch this and will be sending over free traffic.

        You would know far more about the trademark issues, but it appeared to me to be a subdirectory/file name mentioned, not a subdomain. <www.uk.com/amazonreviews>

        I have not done it that way up till now, and won't be because of the info today. I don't want all my hard work to go down the drain if they enforce that.


        Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

        The product exclusions is a bad policy and creates a real slippery slope. At some point, a list of 5000 excluded products will not be manageable.

        Not sure why this is happening, as most of these a big ticket items Amazon should be making money on. 8 days notice is not exactly a lot of time, especially as the Christmas season gears up.

        My read of the trademark issue is that subdomain names using Amazon marks are no longer allowed, but subdirectories and file names are fine.

        .
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7223901].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
          Originally Posted by Jeannie Crabtree View Post

          You would know far more about the trademark issues, but it appeared to me to be a subdirectory/file name mentioned, not a subdomain. <www.uk.com/amazonreviews>
          That example is in the current TOS, not the new TOS. I also believe it was a mistake as the TOS clearly intended to prohibit trademarks in domains only.

          So the new policy adds subdomains to domains as places where trademarks cannot be located, and deletes the mistaken example where a subdirectory was listed.

          .

          .
          Signature
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7224021].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author 1byte
            What the heck's up with Amazon excluding all of these products???

            When I read that these exclusions are being "added to the list of Excluded Products by ASIN", my first thought was, "Maybe I should go check out what's on the current list."

            Much to my dismay, I discovered that four products I'm promoting on a particular website were inexplicably added to the list on Oct 1, 2012, and I somehow missed it. Of course, these 4 products are among the top 10 sellers for this category. Geesh, I'm sure glad I checked!

            So if someone clicks on the link on my site and goes to Amazon to buy it, I will get nothing for my efforts because they are now "excluded." Thanks a lot Amazon!

            I think it's a bad move for Amazon to start excluding certain products from their category like this... it really puts the squeeze on affiliates who are trying to make a (small) commission on the sale of some popular products. May be time to start looking at other monetization methods/affiliate programs for my marketing efforts...
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7224126].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author Jeannie Crabtree
              In my opinion an affiliate cannot count on any one source for their income nowdays. If using Amazon exclusively, It is best for people to start branching out now.

              Sadly, I think this is just the start of the exclusions.

              Originally Posted by 1byte View Post

              So if someone clicks on the link on my site and goes to Amazon to buy it, I will get nothing for my efforts because they are now "excluded." Thanks a lot Amazon!

              I think it's a bad move for Amazon to start excluding certain products from their category like this... it really puts the squeeze on affiliates who are trying to make a (small) commission on the sale of some popular products. May be time to start looking at other monetization methods/affiliate programs for my marketing efforts...
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7224399].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author 1byte
                Originally Posted by Jeannie Crabtree View Post

                In my opinion an affiliate cannot count on any one source for their income nowdays. If using Amazon exclusively, It is best for people to start branching out now.

                Sadly, I think this is just the start of the exclusions.
                I'm sure your opinion is on target. I currently use Amazon for nearly all of my product review offerings, although I'm also a Commission Junction affiliate. It's just that by promoting one particular merchant like Amazon, I can ramp up my commission % rate more quickly than by spreading it around with other networks.

                Of course, with Amazon excluding products I'm promoting, I have no choice but to use other options. That's probably a good thing!
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7227429].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author cooler1
    When you sell one of the excluded items it appears on the orders report and even appears on your earnings report as a shipped item, but it says commision $0.00. At first I thought I was going to get the commision on the item as it might have been a different ASIN number or something.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7223593].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jeannie Crabtree
      Thanks for that info. So you will get a notice of sorts that you are not getting paid, but I wonder how many people will know what is going on and take care of it.

      Originally Posted by cooler1 View Post

      When you sell one of the excluded items it appears on the orders report and even appears on your earnings report as a shipped item, but it says commision $0.00. At first I thought I was going to get the commision on the item as it might have been a different ASIN number or something.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7223904].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Originally Posted by cooler1 View Post

      When you sell one of the excluded items it appears on the orders report and even appears on your earnings report as a shipped item, but it says commission $0.00. At first I thought I was going to get the commission on the item as it might have been a different ASIN number or something.
      I'm getting a disproportionate amount of these, but to the best of my knowledge, I'm not promoting anything I should not be receiving payment for, plus many of the items are not what I promote anyway. (For example, a book about conures.)

      Every month I contact them asking for clarification on why I'm not getting paid, but they never respond to me.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7229055].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ChrisLyons
    Yep got the good news yesterday. I'm a raw newbie who decided to build a sniper site a month ago to test this IM thing and see if it really does generate money. Hmmm, lets see first Google makes a series of updates designed to kill small EMD sites and now Amazon has excluded the product I selected for my trial site.
    My luck is running true to form.

    Jeannie is there any possibility that products may be removed from the excluded list in the future?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7227035].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Jeannie Crabtree
      Only Amazon could answer that. You can contact them about it, but personally, I think it is unlikely.

      Originally Posted by ChrisLyons View Post

      Jeannie is there any possibility that products may be removed from the excluded list in the future?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7228963].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin McNally
    This list will only get bigger unfortunately, it's not smart to have amazon in your url or name a page with amazon in the title as it restricts you if you want to promote other merchants or if Amazon add that product to the restricted list !

    Maybe in 5-10 years they won't even have the need for affiliates ? This has already happened with some companies in the UK who have such high brand awareness that they know the customer will eventually find the url and buy without the need for an affiliate.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7227094].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
      Originally Posted by Kevin McNally View Post

      This list will only get bigger unfortunately, it's not smart to have amazon in your url or name a page with amazon in the title as it restricts you if you want to promote other merchants
      Not necessarily. A smart play could be to use "Amazon" to attract someone to your page, and then through a comparison recommend a better alternative. The key is that the site is not an Amazon affiliate site so Amazon cannot claim any affiliate term violation.

      This would be for subdomains and page names, but not urls that could be confused with being Amazon properties.

      I have done this with other merchants and it highlights why it is an idiotic move to punish affiliates for using trademarks. Instead of websites being found from trademark searches where affiliates are promoting the merchant, the result is websites being found where affiliates promote a competitor by making a negative comparison of the merchant.

      .
      Signature
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7227126].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
        Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

        A smart play could be to use "Amazon" to attract someone to your page, and then through a comparison recommend a better alternative.
        Enjoyed that.
        Signature

        Do something spectacular; be fulfilled. Then you can be your own hero. Prem Rawat

        The KimW WSO

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7229171].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMSince2003
    Enjoy the affiliate program while it's still available. As I've said many, many times before and I'll say it many times again, diversify your income streams. You should have at least 5 ways of making money.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7229614].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author 1byte
      Just to add another 2-cents worth on this topic. When I started in IM back in 2005, I did the whole e-commerce thing, where I shipped products to customers, or had it dropped shipped from my supplier. It worked pretty well, and I was making money, but I got tired of all of the customer service hassles and I switched to affiliate marketing where I didn't have to deal directly with the customers.

      Fast forward to 2012. After the Panda, Penguin, and EMD updates from Google, as well as affiliate program changes such as this one where Amazon is now excluding products from payouts, I'm reevaluating where I'm going with IM in the future.

      I would like more control over my business, and not be subject to the whims of businesses I have no influence with, but who's decisions can dramatically affect my earnings.

      I'll keep affiliate marketing in the mix, and I probably won't go back into e-commerce since it's hard to beat Amazon and other online retailers on price. But I am definitely going to be creating my own products which I can sell and have affiliates sell for me.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7239543].message }}

Trending Topics