Pros and Cons of Being an Amazon Affiliate

In this guide, we shall look at the advantages and disadvantages of being an Amazon Affiliate.

Pros

They are well known

Amazon is the biggest and the most well known ecommerce store.

If you refer someone to Amazon, they are more likely to buy because they already have the trust and loyalty.

Optimized for conversions

People come to Amazon to buy something. The site is optimized for conversions and sales. You can find reviews from other purchasers.

These reviews help sell the product you are pitching as an affiliate.

Anyone can join

Yes you can join Amazon affiliate program if you are in Africa, Asia, Australia or Europe.

And you don’t need to have your own website to be approved as an affiliate.

Cons

Low Commission rates

Most of the products can earn you from 8% to 10% per sale.

Other affiliate programs can offer up to 100% commissions and 20% to 40% is the norm in some niches like softwares and health.

One Time Commissions

You get payed once for each purchase.

Other affiliate programs offer recurring purchases.
If the customer is paying the product owner monthly as an affiliate, you get payed monthly too.

Recurring commissions are usually payed on membership products and software which are payed on regular bases.

Short Cookie Life

Cookies tells the mechant where the sale comes from.

As an affiliate, you are given a special tracking code an affiliate link.

When someone clicks this link, a cookie is set on their browser so that when he or she makes a purchase through the affiliate link of yours.

You get rewarded with commission.

And these cookies have an expiry date meaning

If its a 30 day cookie, you only get rewarded if the refered makes a purchase within 30 days of clicking your link.

Amazon has one of the shortest cookie rates of 24 hours.

That means your get rewarded only if the customer click your affiliate link and makes a purchase within 24 hours.

In Summery

Amazon is a very good program aside from low commission rates and short cookie lifespan.

Its well known and well optimized for conversions making it a favourite for beginners.