Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Today’s post and Podcast episode comes from email subscriber, Joe. In his email, Joe asked if I could compare the Amazon associates affiliate program to the Walmart affiliate program, which I did and I also threw in eBay, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot and most recently, Etsy and Wayfair as well!If you do happen to be an Amazon Affiliate, I highly recommend the EasyAzon plugin, to help you bring in additional income and save you time as well. Through my link you’ll get the plugin for over 35% off and additional bonuses including the Ultimate Amazon Affiliate guide and two premium WordPress themes as well.
Also, if you are interested in creating your own location independent, freedom business selling physical products on Amazon, I recommend you check out my review of these great training programs for selling on Amazon.
Amazon Associates Affiliate Program
Amazon Associates Program Details
Average Commission Rate: Varies, but 4% is general starting rate for most items, 6% for Amazon Gift Cards
Cookie Length: 1 day default; Using add-to-cart feature of EasyAzon = 90 days
Affiliate Program: In-house affiliate program
Payout Threshold: $10 for Amazon gift card or direct deposit payout; $100 for check, $15/check fee
Ebay Partner Network Affiliate Program
Average Commission Rate: Ebay’s program differs from Amazon, in that the commission is a percentage of the eBay fee that is charged to sellers. They pay between 40-80% of the eBay fee, not the final sales price of the product. You can also earn a bonus of 200% for bringing in new or re-activated customers to make a purchase. Re-activated users would be someone that hasn’t made an eBay purchase in the last 12 months.
Cookie Length: For “Buy it Now” items, you will be compensated if a user makes a purchase within 24 hours. For “Bid” items where a bid is placed within 24 hours of the initial click, you are credited for winning auctions for up to 10 days, which is the maximum length that an auction can last.
Affiliate Program: In-house affiliate program
Payout Threshold: $25 payout threshold via either PayPal or direct deposit
Wayfair Affiliate Program
Average Commission Rate: 5%, with average order sale of $300
Cookie Length: 30 days
Affiliate Program: 3rd Party – Share a Sale
Payout Threshold: Not sure
Etsy Affiliate Program
Average Commission Rate: Minimum 4%
Cookie Length: 30 days
Affiliate Program: 3rd Party – Zanox/Affiliate Window
Payout Threshold: $20 payout threshold via direct deposit or check
Walmart Affiliate Program
Walmart Affiliate Program Details
Average Commission Rate: 1-4%
Cookie Length: 3 days
Affiliate Program: 3rd Party – LinkShare
Payout Threshold: $50 payment threshold for ACH and check payouts
Target Affiliate Program
Target Affiliate Program Details
Average Commission Rate: 2% for Electronics and Games; 5% for most other items; Baby care (wipes/diapers) & Gift Cards 0%
Cookie Length: 7 days
Affiliate Program: 3rd Party – Impact Radius
Payment Threshold: $25 payout threshold for ACH payment
Best Buy Affiliate Program
Best Buy Affiliate Program Details
Average Commission Rate: 1.7% Laptops/Tablets; 5% for Appliances and 6% for Musical Instruments
Cookie Length: 3 days
Affiliate Program: 3rd Party – LinkShare
Payout Threshold: $50 payment threshold for ACH and check payouts
Home Depot Affiliate Program
Home Depot Affiliate Program Details
Average Commission Rate: 3%; Custom blinds 5%
Cookie Length: 1 day
Affiliate Program: 3rd Party – Commission Junction
Payout Threshold: $50 ACH deposit; $100 check
How To Sell On Amazon
A popular alternative to being an affiliate, is to sell products on Amazon yourself. There are two popular training programs that I recommend for anyone wanting to get a bigger share of the profits, selling on Amazon directly.
The primary one that I recommend is the Proven Amazon Course by Jim Cockrum, the other is Amazon Bootcamp by Jessica Larrew.
The Proven Amazon Course contains everything from where to find the best products to sell, how to get your own private label products created overseas, how to have Amazon fulfill all of your orders for you through their Fulfillment by Amazon program and even some info on how to sell on eBay as well.
They also have a private members only forum and Private Facebook group, staffed with moderators that are highly successful Amazon sellers themselves.
In Amazon Bootcamp, Jessica and Cliff Larrew show you how to sell on Amazon in an 8 module video training course, complete with a private FB group as well.
You can check out my review of both programs here.
Links Mentioned in the Podcast
Shop Amazon – If you find this site helpful and would like to say thanks, you can click the Shop Amazon link and at no additional cost to you, I would receive a commission for any purchases you make within a 24 hour period. I sincerely thank you ahead of time!
Conclusion
Hopefully this post & Podcast episode gave you several different ideas for affiliate programs to consider. Promoting products as an affiliate can be a great way to monetize your online blog or website.
If you’re just beginning and are not sure how to get started, be sure to check out my step-by-step guide on How To Start a Blog/Website and you can be up and running, with your own website, in 10 minutes or less.
Just to clarify – for which state allows amazon.com affiliates it’s not whether the state allows it, it is a matter of which states allow amazon.com to collect sales tax. If the state does not allow them to collect sales tax amazon.com does not allow affiliates in that state. This is rapidly changing – several states that weren’t allowed before have changed their laws and as soon as that happens the affiliate program opens up to residents in that state.
Read more here : http://problogschool.com/top-earning-pages-amazon-associates-program/
Actually I had it a bit backwards – it’s really amazon.com deciding to collect sales tax from NC residents, not the state allowing it (sorry, that didn’t even make sense, of course NC wants them to collect sales tax!)
Melissa recently posted..OMG I’m a Knitwear Designer!
Thanks for the comment Melissa! Based on your response, I dug a little deeper and I now understand what the issue is.
It is called the Affiliate Nexus Tax. States argue that even if an online retailer (Amazon for example) doesn’t have a physical presence in their state, they claim having an affiliate in the state represents a physical presence for the business, because they are helping to sell the online retailers goods in their state. So once there is a physical presence established in the state, the state then says they can collect sales tax from these merchants because of the affiliate relationship. BS if you ask me.
The list of states where Amazon bans affiliates is listed in their Associates Agreement, item 2 for enrollment and it currently includes the following states:
Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Missouri, or Rhode Island
For the latest info, here is the Amazon Associates Agreement:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/agreement/
me again – sorry —
The only issue with Pretty Links is that some amazon.com affiliates have been banned using Pretty Links. The affiliate agreement prohibits cloaking links. In other words, the person who visits your site has to know you are an amazon.com affiliate and that by clicking the link you will be brought to amazon.com. There is some discussion whether Pretty Links is okay as long as you are clear about being an affiliate.
http://marketingwithsara.com/amazon/warning-to-all-affiliate-marketers
Just something to be aware of.
Great show – I didn’t know anything about Walmart/Target/Best Buy affiliate programs. Good to know!
Melissa recently posted..OMG I’m a Knitwear Designer!
Very interesting, thanks for the additional comment/info Melissa.
I was unaware that there is a possible issue with shortening/cloaking links for Amazon. It was my understanding that as long as you have a site-wide affiliate disclaimer page, that should cover you in most cases.
I guess it’s not 100% clear, but always best to err on the side of caution and either leave them as standard links or identify them as such on the page where the links are located.
I have very few Amazon links on this site, only for the microphone that I recommend/use for my Podcast, so it was easy enough for me to switch those over.
An added bonus, using EasyAzon provides the enhanced image preview for my links, as well as listing current prices as well, so they look better that way anyhow! 😉
It is weird though, I understand why Amazon prefers link standardization, but most other affiliate programs recommend the use of link shortening techniques.
Either way, Pretty Link is still an essential tool for any online adventurer to have in their virtual tool chest.
Thanks again and glad you liked the show!
Chris recently posted..7 Simple SEO Tips To Get Your Content Ranking