Amazon decreased its commissions for its affiliate members and that is a real setback for me. And, not just for me, but for maybe the majority of its two million members, who have driven tens of millions of sales for the online shopping monster. This sudden rate cut, without discussion or explanation, smacks of disrespect and a lack of appreciation for the part affiliates played in Amazon’s success. It’s a deliberate display of ingratitude.
That’s off my chest. Good.
Every setback provides an opportunity for growth, either from the experience gained or the wisdom acquired or. There are lessons to learn from disappointment, mistakes, failure, and bad luck, that can be applied to the next venture, the next problem, the next situation.
In other words, I have been on the internet, reading blogs, etc., looking for advice and lessons I absorb right now and use in the future. These are a few.
Acknowledge your disappointment. It seems I come into these programs on the tail end, or after it peaks, when quality, payouts, and affiliate member relationships
Be flexible. I had all my cliched eggs in Amazon’s basket and I wasn’t even working the program. I have no Plan B. I haven’t even really looked at the alternatives.
Deal with change. So, what happened? Why did the policy change? The best answer I have heard is Amazon doesn’t need affiliates anymore. When it was a young company and most of the world wasn’t subscribed to Prime, it needed bloggers, influencers, whoever, to lead people to its website, to link them to products and sellers on its website. Every person they brought to Amazon was a person who didn’t make their purchase somewhere else. Affiliates led people to Amazon and now it’s is the first choice for most online shoppers for any- and everything.
Customers have Prime accounts. They use blogs for gift and decorating ideas, for book recommendations, and music and film reviews. Affiliates still provide millions of sales for Amazon. But, those sales are no longer as meaningful and valuable to Amazon. Affiliates need the income Amazon provides more than Amazon needs the sales.
Ask for help. Or, in this case look for advice on the internet, on affiliate blogs, and on YouTube, mainly among affiliate members who have been affected by Amazon’s policy. They are the best qualified to point me it he right direction. They are where I want to be, so I am, of course, interested in what they are going to do. Stay with Amazon? They will have the best reasons to do so. Move on. They would have a good Idea where the best new nesting spot should be.
Accept defeat/loss. I’m beat. And, further crying about it isn’t going to change anything. Amazon has the high hand and I am just going to have to seek a healthy second income somewhere else.
Stay positive. If not Amazon, then someone else. Simple as that. This advice applies to jobs, dating, acting roles, publishing houses. If not this one, then the next.
When someone shows you who they are… The timing of the announcement is suspicious, coming in the middle of a pandemic, when the world’s attention, and the media’s, is on more important things. Amazon’s policy decisions, and the terrible consequences for its affiliates, are not front-page news. YouTube screws its creators. Amazons screws its affiliates. Amazon doesn’t care about it’s affiliates, and they may never have, and, there is not enough negative press to make them change course.
Turn the one that slipped away into the changed your habits, and then your life. I should have jumped into affiliate sales years ago, back when my sister was first talking about it. I should have stared a blog then and developed the habits and skills that would have made it work for me. But, I didn’t. Amazon was a great opportunity I never took advantage of.
I am not going to let it happen again.
Mark Earnest Johnson 