Amazon Cans PPC Affiliates

I don't get this move. Isn't this just giving up marginal sales?

Anyways, I personally wouldn't use their program except as backfill in the event other merchants didn't carry something. Only getting paid if a visitor converts in the same session is RIDICULOUS crediting theft.

Not surprisingly, this post didn't get a lot of fan fare or engagement, but it's actually huge news and I appreciate you posting it.

This could potentially lead to a large boom for agencies that provide direct PPC management services for large Fortune 500 clients.

A lot of the big companies like Amazon.com probably already have sophisticated internal bidding algorithms. It doesn't really make sense to outsource paid search on such a site when they already got all that data in databases, realtime sales data, a search box on their own site, and probably a good bit of leeway with Google AdWords quality scores.

it wouldn't be hard for amazon to collect kw conversion data, as long as most ppc traffic is not cloaked (i'm not sure if they accept cloaked traffic). at that point, the ppc traffic is just driving up their CPCs. they could just wipe out all competing traffic and run ads for kw's that they know are converting. wouldn't surprise me, and wouldn't surprise me if other big companies follow. and if they're passive about it and don't actively wipe out competitors after may 1, then it's free traffic for them since they're not paying out commissions.

Hey Aaron,

I know that UK affiliates of Amazon have been hit by a SEO slap as well as Amazon won't be paying any commissions on links that show up in the SERPs. But do you know anything about U.S. traffic? Amazon is currently holding my December & November commissions for me having pulled some sales off the SERPs. It's a small amount probably but Amazon has nixed all my commissions (5 figures).

Any precedents?

Bummer to hear that. Not sure what to say about it though...other than I expect some other big companies may follow in their path.

Yes. It hurts as a blogger to lose that much money in a month. But I am glad I didn't put all my eggs in one basket. The funny thing is, I am not even sure how to contact Amazon other than their online form. So far no one has gotten back to me to tell me why my commissions were removed when they don't mention anything about free search in their U.S. agreement. I do agree with you that Amazon and other companies will use this practice in the future. But is it even legal or ethical to do that when it's not in their affiliate agreement?

Is it just me or the affiliate marketing business is getting destroyed by these moves and all the talk about Internet tax.

Its not just you...and don't forget Google whacking tons of affiliates too ;)

I just hope this is a bad joke as Amazon never warned US affiliates on free search traffic. But what do I know?

@aaron. Thanks so much for taking time to respond to my comments anyway. If there is anyone here who can help me get out of this mess or have any suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Hey guys.

Just wanted to give you an update on my situation. Here is the e-mail Amazon sent me:

We have found that you are sending users directly to the 6” Kindle detail page from general search results on Google through a Special Link that includes your Associates tracking id. As stated in the Operating Agreement, we will not pay referral fees for any purchases made by customers referred to us through Special Links generated or displayed in response to general Internet search queries or keywords. Based on this, we have made a deduction to your account balance for the referral fees generated from this activity between December 1 and December 31, 2009.

I am a U.S. affiliate. Got all my commissions written off for this incident even though this link was probably responsible for a third of our commissions. And they haven't responded to any of my emails arguing that I should be paid for the other items I have referred to them. Too bad. I used to like Amazon.

That is brutal. It seems many companies love affiliates when they are new, and as they reach maturation that love slowly disappears.

@Aaron. I agree with you, but I have never seen a large company such as Amazon being so miserable in dealing with affiliates. No phone number, no direct access to affiliate managers, takes them weeks to respond, and they don't really listen to anything we have to say.

Have never had that problem with Apple or other top affiliate programs. I mean if you are going to reject something, do it in a week or 2 not a month :) Well, I hope people who read my story learn who they are dealing with as far as Amazon is concerned. What I found funny was how they tried to tell me how it was my fault for my link getting ranked on Google.

Lots of the affiliate networks (especially the spam/scam rebill offer type folks) shave your commissions and clone your campaigns...while what Amazon.com is doing might not be awesome, it is no worse than what is common elsewhere.

Whenever markets get somewhat monopolized the leaders start behaving like that. But that leaves a market opening for someone else to run with. Over time the above behavior will be harmful to their brand and their market position.

Think of how arrogantly Google behaves (they don't even tell their publishers the ad share rates ). If they had a smaller marketshare & more competition they wouldn't behave that way either. This is why it is so important to promote competition amongst market leaders. And when you see a market of a couple near equal quality options I like to chose the smaller player because it forces the big play to stay a bit more honest.

Yes I have Google Chrome installed, but Firefox is my main browser because it is independent. The same sort of strategy applies to monetization if possible...often the #2 players will pay more to buy marketshare and/or be flexible in their approach with partners.

I completely agree with your assessment on smaller players. I have learned from my time here in the U.S. that some small companies do innovate and think outside the box more often than those larger companies.

I used to like Firefox. But it seems to be getting worse as they add more things. But I get your point.

My issue with Amazon is trust. Once you break that trust, there is no going back. Thank god I diversified. You are right though. They are not the worst. But my hands are tied as far as what I can say about them at this point :)

I agree that Firefox is trying to get too broad...but they bring in so much cash from their partnerships with search engines that I think it forces them to do some counter-productive stuff to help justify that they are trying stuff and spend the funds.

Lots of it is worth next to nothing, but that is how innovation works...throw crap at the wall and some of it sticks. :D

Without them we likely wouldn't have got improvements to IE or the release of Google Chrome.

As old verticals close, new ones will always open.
Innovate or die - same goes with affiliation.
Happy to chat further with anyone that is interested: phil (@) goojibear.com

Hi!

Nice to e-meet you!

I'd love to contribute an article to the Seobook blog, is that possible? I've created awesome content for other sites about getting rid of pests from your lawn and natural remedies to control them. I'd be honored to do the same for you!

I'm happy to send over some ideas, what are you thinking?

Best,
Darlin