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Why don't you pay affiliates for Kindle sales?
Dear Amazon.com,
I wanted to set up a site that would be a sort of "portal" for a certain author's bibliography.
I bought the domain.
I set up my Amazon Affiliates account.
I go to set up the first link to the first product.
I get this error message:
"We're sorry. This tool does not support direct linking to this product. Please direct customers to another product or the category for this product instead."
I do some quick research. I find out that you don't pay affiliates for Kindle book sales.
WHAT?!
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
First of all:
1. I understand that Kindle books are cheap, but why on earth would you not allow affiliates to send you potential Kindle customers? This baffles me. Do you realize that you are potentially keeping the Kindle market from booming? Do you realize you might even be preventing reading from "making a comeback"?
2. If you state it at all, you don't make it obvious enough before signing up that affiliates cannot link to Kindle books. You need to say that in big print somewhere on the Affiliate introduction page. You know, before people waste money on domain names.
3. I hear you are actually linking to Kindle books in ads on affiliate sites, but when your customers buy them through the ads, you don't pay the affiliates. This is just wrong. You need to stop linking to Kindle eBooks in these affiliate ads.
Oh well, Barnes & Noble pays affiliates for eBooks, so I'll just make a portal for their products. No skin off my back. Their iPhone application is a million times better anyway.
Good luck with Kindle, Amazon.
Love,
Matt
I wanted to set up a site that would be a sort of "portal" for a certain author's bibliography.
I bought the domain.
I set up my Amazon Affiliates account.
I go to set up the first link to the first product.
I get this error message:
"We're sorry. This tool does not support direct linking to this product. Please direct customers to another product or the category for this product instead."
I do some quick research. I find out that you don't pay affiliates for Kindle book sales.
WHAT?!
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
First of all:
1. I understand that Kindle books are cheap, but why on earth would you not allow affiliates to send you potential Kindle customers? This baffles me. Do you realize that you are potentially keeping the Kindle market from booming? Do you realize you might even be preventing reading from "making a comeback"?
2. If you state it at all, you don't make it obvious enough before signing up that affiliates cannot link to Kindle books. You need to say that in big print somewhere on the Affiliate introduction page. You know, before people waste money on domain names.
3. I hear you are actually linking to Kindle books in ads on affiliate sites, but when your customers buy them through the ads, you don't pay the affiliates. This is just wrong. You need to stop linking to Kindle eBooks in these affiliate ads.
Oh well, Barnes & Noble pays affiliates for eBooks, so I'll just make a portal for their products. No skin off my back. Their iPhone application is a million times better anyway.
Good luck with Kindle, Amazon.
Love,
Matt
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?A few months ago they actually did pay the affiliate fee and you could get the links, then ... flop. My sites are actually still full of Kindle affiliate links ... what burns my noodle is that I'm sending them customers and I get nothing for this.
The ONLY reason I leave the links in there is that they pay my publsher $3.50 (out of a retail price of $11.99) for every sale, and this is how I earn my royalties, so facilitating a sale makes it worthwhile leaving the link up. But -- really! Amazon sells used books for $1, and afifliates get 6c for referring the buyer. A $12 Kindle would earn the affiliate the princely sum of 72c, and Amazon is too measly to pay this -- even though no physical object has to be mailed. Where's the justice?! Or the sense, come to that.
One more thing that annoys me: My publisher still charges $9.99 for my books. Amazon put the price up to $11.99 on the Kindles ... and they don't pay my publisher one more penny, even though they slapped 20% on the retail price. My pub should get an extra 70c (meaning, I'd get a bit extra too), but nope. 20% price rise, *and* a freeze in royalties, *and* no affiliate payout...
Leaving one asking oneself is Kindle is quite so lucrative for Amazon. Because it it were, they'd still be paying, and they wouldn't have slapped on the 20% price hike!
Cheers all,
Mel Keegan
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?I'm sure it's not lucrative yet. And it may never be if they keep doing the wrong things.
I’m apathetic, now
