What is Amazon?

Amazon is the largest e-commerce platform. (at the time of writing this post.) E-commerce simply refers to buying and selling products and/or services through the internet.

What is Amazon Affiliate Program (Amazon Associates)?

This is a free-to-join affiliate marketing program where website owners, bloggers, and marketers can earn by referring buyers to the Amazon e-commerce website. In simple terms, you get a referral link from Amazon, share it on your website, and when someone clicks through and buys a product on Amazon, you get a percentage of the sale.

The BAD News

For years Amazon successfully operated this program and thousands of marketers joined. This gave birth to millions of affiliate websites promoting all kinds of products.

Unfortunately, Amazon recently announced shocking cuts on commissions some of which are up to 80%.

Here is the old commission chart:

Here is the new commission chart:

The GOOD News

On the bright side of things, there are some product categories that are not affected by these new changes in affiliate commissions.

These product categories include;
– Amazon devices
– Watches
– PC and PC components
– Physical books and music
– Automotive
– Shoes, handbags & accessories
– Toys and video games
– DVD & Blue-Ray
– Jewelry & luggage

Now, this should not make you feel comfortable. There is no guarantee that commissions on the above products will not be slashed in the future.  But if you're to go into Amazon affiliate marketing, go for the above categories.

On the flip side, take a moment to research and really understand into depth what commissions are on the product you intend to promote.

What You Should Do Instead?

Become Amazon Yourself. Basically what Amazon does is to provide the platform and act as a middle man. Connecting sellers (retailers or manufacturers) to the buyers, and managing the whole process of procurement, delivery, etc.

So the wise thing to do at these times is to become the middle man yourself.

And that always seems to be a very difficult thing to do. (The exact reason why people decide to become affiliates) I found this awesome post from Entrepreneur.com about dropshipping.  It contains the 6 basic steps to start your own online e-commerce business. I hope that helps.

Conclusion

While there is a tonne of ways to make money online, affiliate marketing is still one of the best. Especially with the level of freedom it provides. Additionally, there are many other affiliate programs out there. If one doesn't work, you can always join another.

But, you should keep in mind that affiliate marketing should not be your sole income stream. WHY? Because you don't own the system, and the owner can decide any time they wish to reduce commissions or close the program.

Thanks for reading, and I would love to hear what you think about affiliate marketing and the Amazon commission cuts.

This post was previously published on Yukusite