Upcoming Changes to Amazon Associate Program every Amazon Affiliate Should Know

As you probably already know, Amazon has decided to make its affiliates who are part of their Amazon Associate Program unhappy during the pandemic/quarantine by cutting the commissions for a set of categories by up to 80%.

Earlier this week, Amazon sent an email to all its associates informing about the upcoming changes to the Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement and mentioned that the changes are effective from 21^st April 2020.

As per their email, there would be some changes in the “Operating Agreement”, “Program Policies” and the “Fee Statement”. There aren’t much to know about the operating agreement and program policies but you should worry about the changes in fee statement if you’re part of their Amazon Associate Program.

Below is their standard program fee structure which will be effective from 21^st April 2020.

Amazon Associate Program Fee Rates

I have prepared a comparison sheet with the current and changed program fee rates so that it will be easier for you to understand.

Who should worry about these changes?

There aren’t many categories which is effected by these changes but these are the major categories most of the amazon associates working on currently. If you’re an amazon associate and working on the above mentioned categories, I would definitely suggest you to look for the alternative income sources so that you won’t be effected by these changes.

If you’re relying 100% on Amazon commission, now is the time to look for alternative income source. I wrote an article “22 Proven ways to earn money through your blog” and I would suggest you to have a look at it to find some other passive income source apart from the amazon associate program.

What you can do to overcome this situation?

Affiliates who are working in the above mentioned niches are going mad since they’ve seen this announcement by Amazon. The commission rate changes are up to 80% which is a very bad news for most of my friends and connections who are making money from these niches.

I would only suggest them to be calm and think about the other income sources they can earn from their blog. Below are few suggestions where they can monetize from their blog immediately.

1. Display Ads on your Blog

Though some of you might already earning money from this method, but for those who didn’t use this option till now, you can start displaying ads on your blog and make some good money from the Adsense. If you’re new to Adsense, you might consider reading my blog “How Adsense Works – for Beginners” to understand how it works and how much money you can make from Adsense.

You don’t like using Adsense on your blog? Don’t worry, there are so many other alternatives to Adsense which gives you more commissions than Adsense.

2. Sell Banner space on your Blog

This is another best option to make decent money from your blog. If you’re using wordpress for your blog, you will find plugins which helps you to manage the banner ad space on your website.

Simply create a page on your website and include the advertising terms, banner sizes and amount that you want to charge for the specific ad space. That’s it.. Advertisers will reach out to you to buy banner ad space on your blog.

Don’t forget to mention why an advertiser should consider buying ad space on your blog.

3. Dropshipping

This is bit typical method but the earning are good from the Dropshipping. All you need to do is find the wholesale store or drop shipper who sells the products you mentioned on your blog.

With Dropshipping, you don’t have to worry about shipping, logistics, stock management issues. You will have to setup an e-commerce store on your website, which can be easily done using WooCommerce plugin and list the products you want to sell.

Your Customer will pay you for the product and once you get the payment, you will go to the Dropshipping website, order the product and add your customer’s shipping address. Sounds simple right.. yes it is. You should definitely think about it and give it a try.

Conclusion

Yesterday was really a bad day for most of the Amazon associates but if you fall into that category, All I ask you is to be calm, this is not the end of the world. You have so many other opportunities to make money online.

In this article, I tried to give the best possible ways to make money through different methods but if I missed any option or if you know any option that can be added here, please don’t hesitate to drop a message in the comments section.

This is the time for you to re-check and re-evaluate your amazon stores and find the best possible ways to make more money out of it.