Comments on: Amazon’s Affiliate Program Ends PPC Arbitrage

By: JoJo

JoJo — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:51:00 +0000

Everyone has a work around until they get caught. If people put the same amount of time they put into cheating the system as the did in publishing decent content, the internet would be a better place. JoJo's last blog post..Kindle Personal Documents Update

By: mark

mark — Sun, 03 May 2009 06:36:08 +0000

A landing page could work. I'm not a member of the program, but it sure seems a way around the direct referral rule. mark's last blog post..Free XBox 360! Get A Free XBox 360 Elite/Premium Now!

By: JoJo

JoJo — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:36:57 +0000

The deal has to be cost savings. Suppose you are paying $1 per click for a Kindle and when you sell it you get $39.50 from Amazon. If I was Amazon I would rather spend the $39.50 on PPC and hope to sell more Kindles for less cost. JoJo's last blog post..Free Kindle Book

By: Jordan

Jordan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:12:23 +0000

. What do you want to bet Google’s going to have a committed searchbox: GoogleAmazon, Googazon, Amagoog, in the near future? They’d lock up commissions on everything Amazon sells through its channel and Amazon would only have to write one check.

By: Amazon shuts the book on PPC arbitrageurs | Drama Blog

Amazon shuts the book on PPC arbitrageurs | Drama Blog — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 07:02:00 +0000

[...] programs, appears set to target PPC arbitrageurs by making it harder for them to ply their trade. It send out an email to affiliates informing them that, starting May 1, it will no longer pay affiliate fees to [...]

By: basmin

basmin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:55:34 +0000

why should a headache thinking amazon. whereas many other affiliate programs like clickbank?

basmin’s last blog post..Kampanye Damai Pemilu Indonesia 2009

By: Linda Bustos

Linda Bustos — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:19:01 +0000

Ahh, I like the channel conflict point by Kirk. Another possibility is Google is putting the pressure on. Like Serps full of subdomains to the same site, a page full of Amazon links isn't what the searcher wants, most likely. And other advertisers can get annoyed. Linda Bustos's last blog post..Price Guarantees: No Substitute for A Unique Value Proposition

By: Clint Dixon

Clint Dixon — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:15:54 +0000

@Ed

I am not speaking of using a redirect link in Adwords….send straight to your website landing page that matches the product being sold…..I use AOM script to build out sites and my conversion numbers are very nice. My ads run along side Amazons with no problems….in fact I try to write better copy just to pull the traffic…..

@ Kirk as noted above using the AOM script the product page on my site looks almost exactly the same as the product page on Amazon, if I were more of a designer / developer I could probably do an even better job of building the trust factor. There are always hurdles to overcome in business. This one tells me to keep pushing my SEO efforts for my sites.

By: Kirk Ketefian

Kirk Ketefian — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 00:03:22 +0000

@Clint Dixon Good point. But adding that layer to the "funnel" (i.e. your own landing page/site) introduces a large hurdle in the economics of PPC arbitrage for a variety of reasons (trust being a big one). So, it makes life a whole lot more challenging for the arbitrageur affiliates, to the point of driving many of them away from the marketplace. One could make the argument that these affiliates would just switch over to other e-tailers and hurt Amazon in the process. Amazon clearly thinks that the pros outweigh the cons here, but I'd love to hear people's opinion about this potential risk. Kirk Ketefian's last blog post..Second-Tier Social Networks Struggling

By: Ed Kohler

Ed Kohler — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:54:48 +0000

@clint Good point, but conversions drop with a 2-step. And google has cut down on ads with redirects. Google has also cut down on the display of multiple ads from the same domain so if Amazon and an affiliate were to both advertise on the same term, only the higher revenue ad for Google would display. Ed Kohler's last blog post..Run Minneapolis: Shingle Creek

By: Clint Dixon

Clint Dixon — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:49:18 +0000

@EdKohler

As long as you use your website as the destination URL in your ads its not a problem.

@ Kirk Ketefian

The only issue is direct linking to Amazon from PPC ads ,.,,no longer allowed,.

Linking to your own site from PPC ads is still allowed….

Has nothing to do with what keywords someone bids on other than protected terms…..

Remember its important to read everything involved before just adding random comments….

By: Kirk Ketefian

Kirk Ketefian — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:35:50 +0000

Channel conflict. Assuming that Amazon is expanding its internal SEM initiatives and getting more sophisticated about playing in the tail, they will begin competing with their affiliates more and more, which would drive up CPC costs. They'd rather cut out the middleman and get those leads directly themselves. It's nice to have multiple listings on SERPs if it's a competitive marketplace (i.e. head/torso terms), but it's better to have the only link in shallow marketplaces (i.e. the long tail). -kirk Kirk Ketefian's last blog post..Second-Tier Social Networks Struggling

By: Ed Kohler

Ed Kohler — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:15:04 +0000

In my case, I've bid on a large portfolio of model #'s of obscure under-advertised products. It's not hurting Amazon's brand to be associated with this tactic. I think you'll see more wildcarded strange PPC ads for Ebay since it's more of a flea market. It is also influenced by how companies incent affiliates. Ed Kohler's last blog post..Run Minneapolis: Shingle Creek

By: Robert Skelton

Robert Skelton — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:55:22 +0000

Perhaps Amazon decided that people seeing Amazon ads like “Get Pink Monkey Soup at Amazon” when they search for Pink Monkey Soup, will conclude that Amazon are idiots, and that it diminishes their brand.

By: Clint Dixon

Clint Dixon — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:10:37 +0000

The new policy does not allow Amazon Associates to link to Amazon via paid search using their associate ID links.

You can use your website or blogs and send traffic to those via paid search, and then send the traffic to Amazon through your associate links….. however be sure to not use Amazons protected keywords…..

By: Donna Zelzer

Donna Zelzer — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:34:31 +0000

Here’s the FAQ about it, for what it’s worth:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/promo/paidsearch

This appears to answer Allen’s question

Q: If my paid search advertisement directs a user first to an interstitial page, then to www.amazon.com, www.endless.com, or www.amazon.ca, will I earn referral fees?
A: No.
However, if you place paid search advertisements to send users to your own website, and then your website displays links to www.amazon.com, www.endless.com, or www.amazon.ca in accordance with the Operating Agreement, you may earn referral fees for qualifying purchases made by users who click on your paid search ad, click through to your site, then click through to an Amazon site.

Donna

By: Andy Beal

Andy Beal — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:34:08 +0000

@Linda & @Jaan – maybe the top affiliates aren’t doing PPC arbitrage, so Amazon’s cutting of the little fish that do more harm to the Amazon brand and not hurting the bigger affiliates. I guess we need either more info from Amazon or someone that’s heavy into Amazon Associates to chime in.

By: Jaan Kanellis

Jaan Kanellis — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:18:33 +0000

Linda your right. This doesnt make sense. Their has to be more to this story than is public right now. Jaan Kanellis's last blog post..Back To Work and Happy About It?

By: Web Knowledge for 4-6-2009 - Search Engine Marketing Blog

Web Knowledge for 4-6-2009 - Search Engine Marketing Blog — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:01:59 +0000

[...] Marketing Amazon’s Affiliate Program Ends PPC Arbitrage Twitter Opinion on this Item Jennifer Slegg aka @jenstar: “Wow, Amazon won’t allow [...]

By: Allan

Allan — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:39:30 +0000

Qestions not answered by Amazon:
Does thois affect direct PPC linking to Amazon.com only? Or (indirect) ppc to affiliates’ sites as well?
How does this apply to astore.amazon.com?