Amazon cuts affiliate commissions. (Photo: Ioan Panaite / Shutterstock)
04/17/2020, 04:28 AM
Note: We used commission links in this article and marked them with “*”. If an order is placed via these links, t3n.de receives a commission.
Amazon will drastically cut affiliate commissions in its affiliate program – initially in the United States. This should cause many companies and sole traders to suffer severe losses.
At first glance, it seems that Amazon will benefit greatly in the corona crisis: The share of the e-commerce giant has recently reached record levels, the group has to prioritize product deliveries due to the rapidly increasing demand and is currently hiring tens of thousands of new employees. All the more astonishing is the drastic reduction in commission for affiliates that Amazon has just announced in the United States.
Affiliate commissions collapse
According to a letter from Amazon to the participants in its partner program, the CNBC, the affiliate commissions should be cut from April 21. In some categories, the share that affiliate partners receive for each purchase they buy breaks by more than half.
New affiliate commissions on Amazon in the United States. (Screenshot: t3n.de/Amazon)
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For the direct mediation of the sale of a piece of furniture, for example, Amazon then pays out only three instead of the previous eight percent of the sales price. Headphones or beauty products are down from six to three percent. Several other product groups also have to accept sharp declines – with the previous four to 5.5 percent, Amazon is cutting commissions down to one or three percent each.
Amazon has confirmed the upcoming changes to CNBC, but did not want to give the reason for it. It is still unclear whether Amazon will cut dividends to its affiliate partners due to expected profit declines or whether the cuts have been planned for some time. It is also unclear whether and to what extent the decrease in commission will also come in Germany.
Amazon partners fear loss of revenue
In the meantime, it is clear that many smaller and larger companies and website operators in the USA are now facing massive drops in their earnings. Many users unloaded their disappointment with the reduced commissions in the corresponding Reddit forums or via Twitter. However, Amazon had already informed major media companies a few weeks ago that the special affiliate contracts negotiated with them would be terminated. Rival Walmart has also made changes to its affiliate program.
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