On April 14, 2020 all Amazon Associates got a letter starting :
We hope you are staying well during this time. We are writing to inform you of upcoming changes to the Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement, which governs your participation in the Amazon Associates Program. All changes are effective as of April 21, 2020.
Amazon probably was asking are you well because it didn’t want you to get heart attack when you’ll read what’s changed page.
So what a change Amazon did? It lowered most of affiliate rates twice or more. Here is Fixed Standard Program Fee Rates before and after comparison table:
| Product Category | Before April 21, 2020 | After April 21, 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Luxury Beauty, Amazon Coins | 10.00% | |
| Furniture, Home, Home Improvement, Lawn & Garden, Pets Products, Pantry | 8.00% | 3.00% |
| Headphones, Beauty, Musical Instruments, Business & Industrial Supplies | 6.00% | 3.00% |
| Outdoors, Tools | 5.50% | 3.00% |
| Digital Music, Physical Music, Handmade, Digital Videos | 5.00% | |
| Grocery | 5.00% | 1.00% |
| Physical Books, Kitchen, Automotive | 4.50% | |
| Sports | 4.50% | 3.00% |
| Health & Personal Care | 4.50% | 1.00% |
| Baby Products | 4.50% | 3.00% |
| Amazon Fire Tablet Devices, Amazon Kindle Devices, Amazon Fashion Women’s, Men’s & Kids Private Label, Apparel, Amazon Cloud Cam Devices, Fire TV Edition Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV Devices, Amazon Echo Devices, Ring Devices, Watches, Jewelry, Luggage, Shoes, and Handbags & Accessories | 4.00% | |
| Amazon Fresh | 3.00% | 1.00% |
| Toys | 3.00% | |
| PC, PC Components, DVD & Blu-Ray | 2.50% | |
| Televisions, Digital Video Games | 2.00% | |
| Physical Video Games & Video Game Consoles | 1.00% | |
| Gift Cards; Wireless Service Plans; Alcoholic Beverages; Digital Kindle Products purchased as a subscription; Food prepared and delivered from a restaurant; Amazon Appstore, Prime Now, Amazon Pay Places, or Prime Wardrobe Purchases | 0.00% | |
| All Other Categories | 4.00% |
So Amazon basically doesn’t want to share profit for products which are on demand now while a lot of people are sitting at home and spending money on these products.
I saw some online petitions against Amazon, but I don’t this will make any impact. But I hope this COVID-19 pandemic will create another opportunities because so many business are moving to online nowadays. So I am sure bloggers will find other good sources of income. Thought Amazon Associates program was my favorite until now.
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