Building an Amazon affiliate website - what do you think so far?

Aside from the aforementioned trademark issues, I guess I really just don't get the point.

What's so compelling about your site that would make someone want to buy from you rather than just going to Amazon directly? Are your reviews better than the ones they can read there? And even if they are better (1) how will people know they're better without visiting you? and (2) isn't part of the appeal of Amazon reviews that you get a diverse perspective from different people who actually have used the products? I just don't see how you can compete with Amazon by having a single review when you probably haven't even used the products yourself.

But of course, multiple reviews aren't the only things your missing. You don't have prices. You don't have navigation (apart from a few very high-level categories). You don't have accessories, related products. Etc, etc, etc.

So why should someone shop on your site? Because maybe -- if you're lucky -- Google happens to rank you semi-decently? But of course, to get great rankings on search engines, you need to get backlinks. But you have the same issue as above: why would someone link to you instead of Amazon directly?

And even if you are successful in selling someone a vacuum cleaner, what are the chances that the person who buys from you will ever buy from you again? Most likely, once they've bought their appliance, they'll never need you again. And when you look at your own site, can you honestly someone recommending your site to a friend in need of a vacuum? I can't. The point is you don't build something according to a formula, you build something that people want and need -- and your site doesn't do that right now.

I don't mean to be overly harsh. These problems are by no means unique to you -- they're really problems inherent in the "review site" school of websites. They aren't insurmountable, but if you think you can just choose the top 10 products from an Amazon category, write some reviews about them and then watch the money roll in, I think you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Likewise, it should be noted that there's no such thing as an Amazon Affiliate Website. Amazon Affiliates is a monetization method, not a business model. And there are plenty of ways you might incorporate Amazon Affiliates into your business model. But even though what you're doing seems to be a popular model, I just don't see it as an effective one.