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Comment by patd | Hacker News Reader

My price comparison tool Shoptimate.com got hit a few months back. It's not Amazon only so I can keep the lights on but it sucks for Pricenoia.

Amazon has been changing the rules lately. They're not allowing installable software anymore and only allowing mobile apps that are not focused on shopping. They also refuse websites optimized for mobile. This is after they excluded affiliates over the state tax issues in the US.

Wikipedia says that Amazon gets 40% of their revenue from affiliates. They're probably dominant enough that they don't need to rely on affiliates as much as they used to.

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Wiki is incorrectly characterizing their cited source. 40% is from third party sellers. (Actually I believe it is much higher now, but the way amazon breaks it out makes it hard to tell how much of their total revenue stream it is, as they only report their commissions). I've made the wiki changes.

I believe Amazon has realized that with their dominate place in the market most people would have gone to Amazon anyways, and they no longer need to pay to get people in the door.

There is no way that this is true. eBay has a similar affiliate program and historically I believe they do around 4-5% of GMB (gross merchandise bought) for the marketplace side of the business.

I'd imagine Amazon would be in the same ballpark. If Amazon was paying out 4-8% on 40% of their revenue they'd be in serious trouble.

"Wikipedia says that Amazon gets 40% of their revenue from affiliates"

It says 40% from affiliates and third-party sellers. The linked source says 40% from affiliates though. But it's 6 years old. I would love to see some current numbers.

This isn't a new thing. Amazon hasnt allowed installable software (without prior approval) nor have they allowed price comparison sites for years and years and years. Actually, have they ever allowed it?

This changed last year. It now says: "Except as agreed between you and us in a separate written agreement (...) you will not use any Content or Special Link (...) on or in connection with: a. any client-side software application" https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/oper...

But it used to say: "You will not include on your site, display, or otherwise use Special Links or Content in connection with any spyware, malware, virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other malicious or harmful code, or any software application not expressly and knowingly authorized by users prior to being downloaded or installed on their computer or other electronic device." https://web.archive.org/web/20130401033525/https://affiliate...

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