Comment by dperfect | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dperfect | Hacker News Reader

I've been burned by the Amazon Affiliate Program on three separate occasions, and as a result I would not recommend it to anyone else. All three cases were for completely legitimate, high-quality websites that I created (all original content, decent traffic, good conversion rates, no gimmicks). Each time, I would be approved for the program, generate a few hundred dollars in referred sales over the space of weeks or months, and then Amazon would send me a message that my account had been terminated (and of course, no way to get any of the commission I had earned).

Each time, they pointed me to a part of the agreement that says you need to have "original content" that isn't primarily just ads. In each case, I know the content was original (I created it: mostly articles about DIY electronics, 3D printing, etc), there were no other ads on the sites other than a few (2 or 3 per page) affiliate links where I mentioned products that I had incorporated into my own DIY projects.

I wasn't able to get any further explanation from Amazon in these cases, so I don't even know why they kept shutting down my accounts - and I guess that's what concerns me the most. Even if they hadn't shut me down when they did, the fact remains that they could, at any point in time, shut down or significantly alter the terms of our "agreement" at their (seemingly arbitrary) will.

What might have happened is that your content was getting copied and the copy was assumed to be the original.

It's happened before; there was a HN post on it. Sorry can't remember the details off-hand.

That sounds plausible. I believe content supplemented by YouTube videos may help in such situations. The fact that there is publish date (I hope you can't change), it is unlikely someone can claim your content.

> The fact that there is publish date (I hope you can't change), it is unlikely someone can claim your content.

That's fairly solid evidence, but it only counts for anything if the person checking on your case bothers to look at it. For a minor affiliate to be terminated, I'd expect virtually no investigation.

Same boat here. We run an ecommerce marketplace that was sending a few hundred thousand of leads to Amazon every month. After a few years they shut us down for a minor infraction to ToS (which we fixed immediately upon being notified). No recourse to get account reinstated, in spite of us trying numerous avenues. And for good measure, they took the $15k worth of affiliate revenue they already owed us but hadn't yet paid out. Classy.

My conclusion: it's nice revenue while you can get it, but that probably won't be very long. Make money with their program and they're coming for you.

Sorry to hear. Unfortunately in the affiliate world once you get big they tend to fuck you over. Knew a guy who was making 50k per day on an affiliate network, they shut his ass down fast and kept all the money. It's best to create your own marketplace where you are in charge - this is what I'm currently working on.

I would not recommend building a business on the affiliate model to anyone, unless they don't mind having virtually zero control.

eBay and Amazon are particularly notorious for draconian "enforcement" and sudden changes in terms and/or payouts.

Also, be aware that coupon and rebate sites generate the overwhelming majority of commissions across networks. While programs claim to want content, that's not where the real money or priority lies.

That's a known problem with affiliate marketing. Whoever you are shilling^Wadvertising for has you by the balls. It's in their TOS that they can refuse to pay out your commission for almost any reason you can think of. They can also lower your payout using software that shaves away a portion of your leads.

Don't like it? Don't do affiliate marketing. Because there is nothing you can do about it.

Quite possibly someone else is copying your work and getting first to SEO. So your site become a copy-cat even though you did the work.

Yikes; usually one really bad experience that costs me more than $100 or so is enough to sour me on a company/service entirely, full stop. You are much more patient than I would've been.

If you lost enough money from this it sounds like it might be worth getting a lawyer involved

No reason to get a lawyer involved. If Amazon owes you less than $5k then file a small claims case against them.

They have to show up or summary judgement is issued.

In some states, the small claims limit goes up to $25K. They closed my account in the past and I took them to small claims for the five figures they owed me and I won.

I know of two other people who also took them to small claims and won as well. (both in states with five figure small claims limits)

Wouldn't work, by participating in the Amazon Affiliate Program you agree to mandatory arbitration.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/shopping/the-arbitration-...

but if they say you copied content that you created yourself that seems slanderous, surely that isn't bound by arbitration clauses.

It's not slander if they just say it to you. They'd have to say in in some kind of public venue.

In these situations (AdSense too), they barely give a reason for your removal from the program. It seems like you almost never have recourse besides trying to raise a fuss on social media, and if you don't have clout, that will almost never amount to anything.

Similar story for me they ruined my side project. I wrote detailed story about it, but in short do not built a business solely on a single affiliate. https://hackernoon.com/dont-put-all-your-eggs-in-one-basket-...

"An attitude I can do whatever I can is not a healthy way of relationship." - they are Amazon, they can do whatever they want; they do this stuff all the time. Arbitrary shutdowns, clueless "support" staff, lack of communication, meaningless replies, seizing funds, and general unethical behavior is par for the course with Amazon.

I remember them changing some kind of agreement at one point, and because I didn't see it and fill out some extensive form in time, they just disabled my account permanently.

It's a pretty weird treatment, but I think that companies just don't give a shit when it comes to fraud prevention and don't allow any wiggle room.

That sounds like a scam that's worth taking Amazon to court over.

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