Associates Compensation Overview
With Amazon's leadership status in Internet e-commerce, Amazon Associates have many ways to make money: not only will you earn money on the sale of books, music, and DVDs, but also on toys, electronics, kitchen, apparel, jewelry, and more. The Amazon.com Associates program differentiates itself from other affiliate programs by offering millions of products to choose from, industry leading conversion rates and competitive referral fee rates that produce more money for our Associates.
Our compensation philosophy is simple: reward Associates for their contributions to our business in unit volume and in growth. Amazon is a fast growing business and we want our Associates to grow with us.
Compensation Details
We offer Associates a choice between two compensation plans, the Classic Fee Structure and the Performance Fee Structure. You may select either structure at any time during the month. The deadline for making a selection is 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on the last day of the month. At the end of the month, your most recent selection will be used to calculate your fees for the whole month. You will remain enrolled in the plan for the following month unless you choose otherwise.
To get you started out on the right foot, when you join the program you will automatically be enrolled in our Performance Fee Structure. After reading the descriptions below, we think you'll agree that the Performance Fee Structure is the most lucrative option. We hope that the additional earnings opportunity offered by the Performance Fee Structure will motivate you to start referring a high volume of traffic to Amazon.com as soon as you complete your application.
Option 1: Performance Fee Structure
When you join the program you are automatically enrolled in our Performance Fee Structure. The Performance structure allows you to earn higher fees when you generate a sufficient volume of referrals that result in sales at Amazon.com during a month. The higher your referrals, the greater your earnings will be.
Under the Performance Fee Structure, your referral rate will range from 4% to 10%, and be based on your total number of shipped items from both Amazon and third-party sellers. The same rate will apply equally to both Amazon and third-party items and will apply to all referred items shipped during the month. Please refer to the referral rate tier chart below for additional details.
Option 2: Classic Fee Structure
This is our fixed-referral-rate plan. You earn a 4% referral fee on items offered by Amazon or by third parties.
Caps: Personal computers (both desktops and laptops) have referral fees capped at $25, and Unbox Video Downloads are capped at $1.50 per item. No other product lines have their referral fees capped.
Fine Print: Please note that the information above is only a summary of the two fee structures offered for the month. Other terms and conditions apply. The classification of a Qualifying Product unit as a personal computer will be determined by us in our sole discretion. Please refer to the Associates Program
Operating Agreement for complete details. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between anything on this page and the Operating Agreement, the terms of the Operating Agreement will control.
