Skimlinks & Commission Junction Banned from Amazon Affiliate Program in April 2020

[Ryuzaki]

According to Pesach Lattin at Performance Marketing Insider, who stays on top of the legal happenings in the industry, Skimlinks and Commission Junction have been banned from Amazon Associates.

Anyone directing traffic to Amazon through those programs will no longer receive commissions for those sales.

"Many in the industry" say that there was a lot of fraud and over-collection of commissions. I'm not sure how that works. The customer either buys an item or doesn't.

In other news, Walmart cut its ties with MagicLinks and Rakuten for their Influencer Affiliate Program.

 

[CCarter]

I brought this up before but I never understood why Amazon was giving credit to purchases that were not direct links.

If someone continued shopping when coming through a link that’s all on Amazon’s brand.

I believe that option is next to go.

I know - unpopular opinion: “boo, boo, ComradeCarter.“

From the looks of it Amazon is starting to tighten it’s belt after achieving complete market saturation thanks to affiliates. Big Business gonna Big Business.

 

[mikey3times]

From the looks of it Amazon is starting to tighten it’s belt after achieving complete market saturation thanks to affiliates. Big Business gonna Big Business.

Do we think they will eventually wipe out the program completely? Or do they need it to keep competitors like Walmart from taking market share?

I don’t think Amazon needs us. I will still read reviews and then just go to Amazon to buy. Although, I’m not your average consumer and I’m always baffled by how normal people use the Internet.

I think people stay with Amazon for the free Prime next day shipping and for the breadth of offerings more than for the trust. WalMart, Target, HomeDepot, etc are trusted brands, but they don’t sell everything and their shipping options aren’t as great.

I’m not sure WalMart could implement free same day shipping and a 3-8% affiliate program while still keeping shareholders happy. But, if they did, could they suck up market share from Amazon?

 

[CCarter]

I never bet on the past (Walmart) always the future. Amazon has a grip on e-commerce like Microsoft used to have a grip on personal computers. Amazon has to do something to hurt their brand to get people to stop using them. Difficult to see someone taking them out TBH. But it was similar to how Microsoft was seen as difficult to destroy, but now no one cares about MS so anything is possible.

But Amazon’s culture is hardcore about customer service, so again difficult to overcome.

But if corona has people discovering they don’t need to buy all that extra shit all the time- that’s a wrap.

 

[Ryuzaki]

There's a few legal blows coming down the tracks that'll hurt Amazon a bit, like being responsible for quality control with third-party products and fraud, instead of just having an amazing return policy.

 

[JasonSc]

I brought this up before but I never understood why Amazon was giving credit to purchases that were not direct links.

If someone continued shopping when coming through a link that’s all on Amazon’s brand.

Agree to a certain extent. I can see them dropping commission rates to 1% for all non-category items related to the direct link.

Do we think they will eventually wipe out the program completely? Or do they need it to keep competitors like Walmart from taking market share?

Personally, I don't think it will be wiped out, but its going to look a lot different 3-5 years from now. As they gain market share in specific categories those categories commissions will decline.

A couple of missed earnings and that is when affiliates should really start to worry.

 

[CCarter]

Here comes some changes - source:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/compare

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I don't know what it was before cause I don't do Amazon stuff, so someone let us know - increase or decrease?

Edit - I was able to acquire an image from March 2017:

 

[miketpowell]

According to a piece of shit who copies from other actually good blogs, Skimlinks and Commission Junction have been banned from Amazon Associates.

Anyone directing traffic to Amazon through those programs will no longer receive commissions for those sales.

"Many in the industry" say that there was a lot of fraud and over-collection of commissions. I'm not sure how that works. The customer either buys an item or doesn't.

In other news, Walmart cut its ties with MagicLinks and Rakuten for their Influencer Affiliate Program.

I'd just like to say Pesach is a complete lying piece of shit scumbag and should be shunned from our industry and society in general.