For Amazon Associates, you need to read and understand more than 12,000 words of affiliate rules. So, to help you out, here are 10 things checklist, you need to know before you join the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program.
The Amazon Associates program requires 3 qualifying purchases to Amazon.com within 180 days of your account sign-up. If you do not meet this requirement, your application will be rejected and your affiliate account will be closed.
When you request to become a Amazon Associates Affiliate, your website will be checked by before your affiliate application is approved. Amazon recommends at least 10 public posts before you apply, to ensure you have enough content to add value to readers.
Amazon only offers a 24-hour cookie. This means that when you refer people to buy a product from your Amazon affiliate link, they must buy within 24 hours for you to get credit for the sale.
This is a very BIG NO NO. Don’t make this mistake as an affiliate. Do not purchase Amazon products using your own affiliate links. This will get your Amazon affiliate account banned. This is also a standard rule for every affiliate program. Not just Amazon’s.
Prices on Amazon fluctuate often. Therefore, you cannot hardcode prices for products into your content. Fortunately for you, Amazon offers you options to get around this. You can show product prices by using a free Amazon provided affiliate tool called SiteStripe or their API.
It’s a common affiliate marketer strategy to offer special bonuses along with your affiliate offers. This strategy works to encourage people to buy from your link instead of other affiliates. You can’t do this strategy with Amazon products or affiliate links. Incentivizing is in direct violation of Amazon’s Operating Agreement
Your agreement with the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program only approves you to use affiliate links on approved websites. Therefore, you can only use your affiliate links on your website. You cannot include your Amazon affiliate links in emails, eBooks, PDF downloads, or anything other than your website.
You are only allowed to have one Associate account. You cannot set up multiple Associate accounts. You can use one affiliate account to create links for multiple websites, as long as they are approved by Amazon.
Amazon is a large, global company. They are very protective of their business, assets, and sales. You cannot use the same layout or colors to make your website look like Amazon.com.
Never save Amazon product images to your computer. This is a common practice, although this can get you into copyright infringement trouble. Doing this for product images on Amazon.com will get you banned from the Amazon Affiliate program.