Is Amazon Affiliate Program Worth It?: The Pros and Cons of This Program

Is Amazon affiliate program worth it? Many people find that the Amazon affiliate program is not worth it because Amazon Associates pays some of the lowest commissions of any affiliate program, with most affiliates earning around just 4% per sale. In comparison, other affiliate programs like Clickbank pay upwards of 75% or higher. Furthermore, many affiliate sites with Amazon affiliate links have reported losing substantial traffic because of recent Google Algorithm updates in 2023 and 2024. These Google updates are pushing small blogs and niche sites lower in the SERPs while placing real brands and authoritative sites like Forbes at the top in an effort to combat low-quality content generated by AI. 

The owner of the Amazon affiliate site, Padres Frikis, details what many Amazon affiliate site owners are currently going through. Padres Frikis claims to have lost over 80% of its traffic in a matter of months due to Google’s algorithm updates at the end of 2023. 

Even so, the Amazon affiliate program has some benefits that can make it worth it for content creators looking for ways to monetize. Most notably, online shoppers have high trust in buying through Amazon. In fact, a Feedvisor survey found that 89% of customers prefer buying through Amazon than other Ecommerce retailers, indicating that Amazon affiliate links are likely to convert at a higher rate than other affiliate links.

The Amazon affiliate program also offers an effective way for social media influencers who use Amazon products to earn money through the Amazon Influencer program. With the Amazon Influencer program, you can earn money by creating video reviews of your favorite Amazon products. Unlike traditional affiliate marketing where you drive traffic to a merchant's website, these videos can appear directly on the Amazon product listing that you’re promoting. Therefore, there are fewer friction points to prevent the sale. 

One Amazon affiliate notes that it took them uploading 400 videos over the course of around 5 months to start earning $100/day through the Amazon Influencer program. 

If Amazon's slim affiliate commissions don't seem worth it to you, local lead generation is another online business to consider. Instead of earning a small commission for each sale, you can earn upwards of 90% profit margins by selling organic leads to local business owners. 

In the following article, we discuss the major pros and cons of the Amazon affiliate program to help you decide whether it's worth starting in 2024. 

What is Amazon Affiliate Program?

The Amazon affiliate program is an affiliate marketing platform by Amazon that allows bloggers, influencers, and content creators to make money from promoting Amazon sellers’ products. It is also called Amazon Associates or the Amazon Associates Program. By joining this program, you become an official Amazon Associate. You can earn affiliate commissions whenever a potential customer clicks on your Amazon affiliate link and purchases Amazon products.

Amazon Affiliate Program Pros and Cons

Amazon Affiliate Program Pros

Amazon is a long-standing e-commerce company that started in July 1994, while the Amazon Associates Program kicked off in 1996. This makes them an established brand in the affiliate marketing industry. Amazon’s almost 1 million affiliates are a testament to its success. Moreover, the company promotes safe transactions among Amazon sellers, potential customers, and Amazon affiliates.

The Amazon Associates Program has a simple joining process. Aspiring Amazon affiliate marketers can go to the Amazon Associates Central website and sign up. It is totally free. After the sign-up process, you can immediately start finding profitable products, promote your special link, and earn your very first Amazon affiliate commission.

Content creators and publishers can easily showcase their Amazon links through their websites, social media accounts, or YouTube channel. These advertisements can be in the form of a blog post or a product review.

Accumulating significant Amazon affiliate sales is effortless because of the diverse niches and products available on Amazon’s affiliate network. From home improvement and clothing to health products and the latest technologies, Amazon affiliates can surely profit from any of these product categories. This is also the reason most beginners in affiliate marketing choose Amazon Associates. Additionally, joining the best Amazon affiliate marketing courses gives you more insight into what affiliate products and niches are profitable.

Amazon influencers have strong support from the affiliate program. They do this through follow-up emails or prompts commonly called email marketing. This eases an affiliate marketer’s journey when starting with Amazon affiliate marketing. Besides helping you make an affiliate sale, Amazon also wants to minimize cart abandonment.

Amazon’s affiliate marketing program has a 90-day cookie extension apart from its 24-hour cookie window. So, the affiliate marketer can still earn commissions on all the items that the customer adds to the cart within the 24-hour window, given that the customer checks out within 89 days. Additionally, you get an affiliate commission whenever your customer purchases other items using your Amazon product link. This gives you more opportunities to increase your Amazon affiliate earnings.

Amazon Affiliate Program Cons

Amazon Associates Program has an affiliate commission rate of 1%-10%. The percentage you get from each affiliate sale depends on the product category. For example, you can only get a 1% affiliate commission for grocery items, while luxury beauty products can offer a 10% affiliate commission. You can only get a 20% commission if you manage to sell Amazon Game products. This niche has a high commission rate because it’s more difficult to sell online games due to increased competitors like Gamification Summit and Crazy Games.

Another factor that leads to a low affiliate commission is Amazon’s return policy. According to Awesome Dynamic, Amazon has an average return rate of 5%-15%, which can go up to 40% for products like jewelry and electronics. Take note that affiliates can’t claim the affiliate commission of a sold Amazon product unless the 30-day return period has passed.

If you want to promote Amazon products to different countries or regions, you also need to sign up for its different international affiliate programs. This is a hassle for affiliate marketers since creating numerous accounts takes time, and the whole process makes it complicated. The Amazon Associates Program has operations from 17 locations across the globe. Its four major territories are in Asia and Australia, America, India and the Middle East, and Europe.

Being a successful Amazon affiliate means understanding the 24-hour cookie window. Amazon’s tracking cookies last for 24 hours from the time your customer clicks your Amazon product link. You only get to earn commissions on the products that your customer buys within the 24-hour duration. Realistically, this amount of time isn’t enough to drive potential customers to make a purchase.

Maintaining your Amazon affiliate website takes a lot of work. You need to update your Amazon link whenever one of your affiliate products is out of stock. Let’s say you have 10 comprehensive articles for 15 products from the same vendor. If your supplier closes their shop, that’s 150 Amazon links you need to update. Amazon is also strict with putting product links in promotional emails. This decreases your chances of simplifying the customer purchase journey using your special link.

One thing to note when selecting product images is that they should be from Amazon. You need to use SiteStripe or Amazon’s API when doing so. This means that the images generated by Amazon are random and you’re stuck with what image they choose.

Amazon affiliates who have joined Amazon Associate Programs in the US, the UK, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy can be paid through bank transfer in their local currency. However, this payment option is only possible for 52 countries in the US, Eurozone, and UK regions.

Amazon Associates in countries like Asia, South Africa, and Australia still receive their payments via check or Amazon gift card. Additionally, Amazon’s affiliate marketing program is still not open to using the PayPal platform. This is a huge disadvantage for affiliate marketers not included in the list of 52 countries, as check delivery may take some time.

Is Amazon Affiliate Program Dead?

No, Amazon affiliate program isn’t dead. According to Peng Joon, Amazon affiliate marketing is still alive, given that you promote high-ticket products that are recurring. Software, supplements, and subscriptions are great examples of these profitable products. While there have been significant cuts in affiliate commission rates during the COVID-19 outbreak, it doesn’t mean that the Amazon affiliate program is dead.

Amazon influencers, affiliates, and content creators can make around $600 to $110,000 yearly. And since the affiliate marketing industry’s spending is growing 10% every year, the expected growth of affiliate marketing in 2024 is $14.3 billion. This benchmark report from Influencer Marketing Hub validates the fact that the Amazon affiliate program is still alive.

Amazon Affiliate Program FAQs

What are the Benefits of the Amazon Affiliate Program?

These are the five major benefits of the Amazon affiliate program. However, the benefits you get from other affiliate networks or programs like CJ Affiliate, eBay Partner Network, or ClickBank vary.

What are the Risks of the Amazon Affiliate Program?

Is It Profitable To Be an Amazon Affiliate?

Yes, it can be profitable to be an Amazon affiliate. You can make sizable money if you know how to utilize Google Analytics for site performance tracking, amplify your Amazon affiliate sales, and maximize the Amazon Associates Central platform. But becoming a successful Amazon affiliate takes time and effort. According to ZipRecruiter, the average income of an Amazon affiliate in the US as of 2024 is $7,118 monthly and $85,416 yearly. While this amount is workable for some, expert affiliates also venture into other ways to make passive income on Amazon, like Amazon FBA.

How Much Do You Make From the Amazon Affiliate Program?

You can make about $50-$10,000 in passive income monthly from the Amazon affiliate program. This value depends on factors like content engagement, website traffic, and sales volume. The more potential customers you drive into clicking your Amazon affiliate link, the higher your monthly income will be. You can earn as much as $110,000 yearly from the Amazon affiliate program.

Some affiliate marketers even use paid advertisements like Facebook Ads and Google Ads to boost their earning potential since Native Shopping Ads will no longer be allowed starting on the 25th of July 2024.

Is the Amazon Affiliate Program Legit?

The Amazon affiliate program is legit. Amazon is an established brand that has been operating for over 25 years. In fact, many Amazon affiliate websites are well-known because of their legitimacy and high performance. According to Ahrefs, The Prepared, Homegrounds, and Dog Food Advisor are successful Amazon affiliate websites because of their high organic traffic, ranking keywords, and referring domains.

Does the Amazon affiliate program work? Yes, it does. The Amazon affiliate program has over 900K affiliates and more than 86K businesses transacting with it. Is Amazon affiliate marketing profitable in 2023? Yes, it is. Back in 2015, Amazon affiliates made about $10 billion in revenue. These facts show that the Amazon Associates Program is constantly growing year after year.

Local Lead Generation is Still Better Than the Amazon Affiliate Program

Local lead generation is still better than the Amazon affiliate program. It has nothing to do with physical products, so you won’t have to create multiple product links just to make a commission. This business model focuses on digital real estate like websites and blogs to make up to $50K in passive income monthly.

The Amazon Associates Program can give you up to 20% of affiliate commission on a single product. However, this percentage depends on the type of product you sell. While Amazon affiliate marketing offers an abundance of profitable products, making consistent monthly revenue is challenging. You need to track your link performance, affiliate sales, and site traffic constantly to develop robust product linking strategies or create engaging content.

The local lead generation business model offers a more stable way of making money online in 2024. Aspiring online entrepreneurs must create local service sites and rank them organically to capture high-value leads. Once you have local leads calling for niche services, you can then forward them to local business owners. This method provides you with a simpler, more scalable passive income for years to come.