HUGE New Amazon Rule Changes!

Certainly, it's all about cost reduction for Amazon. Yet this may open up a few opportunities and services for non-U.S. internet entrepreneurs.

That's the way I understand it Tiffany.

Not sure how they would know if you send them to your own site, but if they are no longer providing feeds, guess it's just a matter of time before they catch you and shut you down.

Scot

I smell a great opportunity here!

I think it applies to traffic from those areas, so no.

What he said. Except I still think affiliate marketing is very profitable.

Ha ha. Now people will have to do some actual work to set up a web page instead of just leeching off amazon's reputation to make money. The only people this'll affect are the parasites. Good riddance.

Affiliate marketing can be extremely profitable - no arguments. However, if you don't make huge sums of money where your long term business model may not matter, the affiliate model (you being the affiliate) is weak at best.

There are 2 reasons an affiliate manager could want your traffic stats

1. to prevent you from using crap/scam traffic

2. to get your traffic sources so you can be replaced

Now, given the amount of crap and outright lying on some of these networks (especially with CPA offers), I have a hard time believing their concern has much to do with altruism. So, that leaves to get your traffic sources. If they get your traffic source why do they need you?

YOUR traffic sources are and always have been YOUR intellectual property. Why would you give them to some affiliate network when your compensation is tied only to performance? If they were to pay you for trying it might be different, but they pay you only for results. Since you are paying for these results (many times through unprofitable trial and error), not them, they have no business asking you for your sources. If they pay, no problem.

Some of you have been hoodwinked because you are not high enough on the food chain. These guys do it to you with their arbitrary set of rules only because you let them. You will never have anyone do ANY of this to you if you own your product.

Don't be so lured by the temptation/promises for easy money that you are temporarily blinded. (like the Madoff investors)

I know many people are tempted to blame only Bernie, but he could not have done what he did without his flock being complicit in his con (deep down, many people knew). The confidence man strikes at your very desire to believe that which is not possible. And, he is able to do it by first establishing fake credibility by being part of the establishment. Once he has faked his credibility, it's a matter of reeling in the followers. If he is a smart con man, he even turns people away to make himself seem even more exclusive and even more desirable.

Sound familiar? It should. We have these same tactics being used in IM right now and many of you refuse to see it/believe it. You are so blinded by the idea of making money that you don't care who you have to become or hurt to do it.

Anyway, I hope you see that affiliate networks doing their own PPC is inevitable. Isn't ironic that the organization who is credited with inventing the affiliate program is also the FIRST to throw them under the bus once they've served their data gathering purpose? Man, I can only laugh.

lol.. if it's such a great threat to article marketers and bloggers, maybe they should re evaluate their marketing approach (or at least expand on it)

I know if I thought article marketers were giving me too much competition, I would just join them

Personaly, my results with direct linking were never worthwhile. It may be different with amazon, but it just doesn't like a very sound strategy overall.

I'n a little in the dark on this.

If you are buying the clicks, how does banning said clicks reduce Amazon's costs?

I would think it would be cheaper for Amazon if you're paying for that traffic, and not them.

Please enlighten me.

Commission goes up to 10% IIRC, so if you sell a lot it would be $5. If you sell $200 products (a lot of hardware/electronics stuff, for example) it would be similar to a moderately priced clickbank product.

But you can sell a flat screen TV as an affiliate and pocket $70 to $80. There are plenty of high-ticket items you can sell. Actually, during Christmas I was profiting on $50 items using PPC to drive traffic to my site. In October-November, hot Christmas gifts have PPC prices around 5 to 10 cents. Once you get a customer to Amazon, they do a great job of closing the deal, conversion rates are high compared to a site like Clickbank.

Art