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How Come Amazon No Longer Pays On Personal Purchases?

by Jon Tees
6 replies
They stopped paying anything on personal purchases through your own affiliate links. Does anyone happen to know why they did this and why they try and discourage personal purchases? Other companies provide you with commissions (full or partial) when you buy through your own link, it’s like any other sale, but Amazon doesn’t and never did pay much even when they’d give you some meager amount again to make you think “why bother?” before buying through your own link again.
#amazon #longer #pays #personal #purchases
  • Profile picture of the author NatesMarketing
    I've been using Amazon affiliates for the last 2 years...and for those full 2 years - I've never been able to make purchases through my own links.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stevie C
    Always been against their TOS as far as I know;

    What is Amazon's policy for Associates placing orders for themselves?

    You may not purchase products during sessions initiated through your own Associates links and will not receive referral fees for such orders. This includes orders for customers, orders on behalf of customers, and orders for products to be used by you, your friends, your relatives, or your associates in any manner.

    Who else lets you buy through your own affiliate links?

    I know for sure that JV Zoo, Clickbank and Warrior Plus don't.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Stevie C View Post

      Who else lets you buy through your own affiliate links?

      I know for sure that JV Zoo, Clickbank and Warrior Plus don't.
      ClickBank actually does allow it. (They even credit those purchases toward the Customer Distribution Requirement, and allow the purchase of a $3 product through your own link to re-set the 90-day clock for the Dormant Account Charges, too).

      JVZoo and Warrior Plus don't.

      Originally Posted by Jon Tees View Post

      They stopped paying anything on personal purchases through your own affiliate links.
      Yes ... they've never done that since I've been an affiliate. (I think they haven't done it since I've been online, at all.)

      Originally Posted by Jon Tees View Post

      Other companies provide you with commissions (full or partial) when you buy through your own link
      I'm sure there are others, too, but ClickBank's the only one I know that allows people to buy through their own affiliate-links. I seem to see it specified everywhere else I look that it isn't allowed.

      Originally Posted by Jon Tees View Post

      Amazon doesn’t and never did pay much even when they’d give you some meager amount
      Amazon commissions haven't changed for many years: with some "specific category and country exceptions" they pay between 4% and 8.5% according to the number of commissionable items accredited during each month. They can have very high conversion-rates, though. There's a large number of people here making their full-time livings from Amazon.

      .
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      • Profile picture of the author HumanProof
        Amazon's logic is that they don't make a huge profit on all purchases, especially as a lot of them are third-party. If they're giving up another 6% or so to affiliates then they're going to damage their profits.

        They also state that commissions are only supposed to be awarded for the affiliate "generating a new customer that otherwise wouldn't have bought at Amazon".
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        • Profile picture of the author dana67
          I would never use my own affiliate links to make a purchase. In my opinion, it's really best to keep your business and personal stuff completely separate.
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          Working online for over 10 years
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    I can concur that my own amazon sales have never registered in my affiliate statistics.

    (I could see that I visited the items, but items were never credited).

    (Not that I was maliciously trying to cheat the system or anything. I think at this point my own Amazon cookies are hard coded into my system).

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