02-24-2013, 03:58 PM | #31 | |
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several years ago, they said that they had >2 million affiliates, so .1% is a fair number. Most of their 'affiliates' are completely inactive, but count against that grand total. |
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02-24-2013, 04:20 PM | #32 | |
Is that a sandwich?
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02-24-2013, 05:46 PM | #33 | ||||
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02-24-2013, 05:52 PM | #34 |
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How will this affect aggregrator sites like viglink?
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02-24-2013, 06:31 PM | #35 | |
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At least this isn't an account closing offense (as some are), but it will be a big wakeup call to some. None of us know how many free ebooks are purchased via our links, only the clicks that are registered. Once there, any one of those could buy dozens of free books ... or none. None of used the free book sales as a model (not the small bloggers anyway; the big freebie sites that are programatically set and sell placement advertising did, obviously) - freebie hunters don't buy much other than the freebies, IME. They do purchase some and no doubt that helps increase reads on sites (so adsense is happier), but they are not a significant source of sales for Amazon or earnings for most affiliates. Amazon is smashing the little guys with a hammer, when the big ones they are likely seeing as the major source of traffic (who probably hit 20K a day) will continue, but find other revenue sources (which won't solve Amazon's problem). re: author sales. Presumably via one site, as they have been paying for placement at the big ones. $150 in placement = many, many thousands of downloads == higher ranks == avg $600-$700 in actual sales in next few days of same or related titles. I was actually a bit surprised at the numbers, as I had not been following the forum where they were discussing this much lately. I suspect aggregator sites will have to crack down on those they allow to share their site (viglink, squidoo and others). That or lose what is no doubt tens of thousands in referral fees each month. |
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02-24-2013, 07:08 PM | #36 |
Is that a sandwich?
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Then there must be something else happening that Amazon isn't sharing with us. They must have known the KDP Select free promotion would drive large numbers to their site and Amazon encourages it with their free bestseller lists and recommendations.
I thought that perhaps Amazon was paying out too much money to affiliates but then they added Ebates to their affiliate program although only 3% on jewelry and gifts. |
02-24-2013, 07:26 PM | #37 |
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So, when I go to get a free ebook from Amazon--I should use private browsing since that does not store cookies.
bernie |
02-24-2013, 07:50 PM | #38 |
Is that a sandwich?
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I clicked on an affiliate link and 7 Amazon cookies appeared. None expired in 24 hours so I can't determine which one is the affiliate tracking cookie. Or even if one of them was the affiliate if it's named something else.
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02-25-2013, 05:38 AM | #39 |
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02-25-2013, 09:39 AM | #40 |
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02-25-2013, 05:29 PM | #41 | |
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I truly believe this to be something that originated strictly inside of the Affiliates section, and is not a part of some larger strategy. The reason being the poor way this was implemented, had it been vetted better as part of a coordinated policy change, the very very poor way it is being done would have surely been brought up. I truly don't believe they realize yet the impact that this will have on how (un)attractive an option KDP Select is for authors now that they have made promotion of free books a death penalty for any affiliate site. |
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02-25-2013, 05:33 PM | #42 | |
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Amazon is not against doing that, clearly, so that is not the issue. |
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02-25-2013, 05:37 PM | #43 | |
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Plus, if that person clicks through to get 1 free book from my site, and in the "Also bought" ads sees another free book, the affiliate will get knocked for 2 free books on that transaction. I am a very very very small site, and I'll be over that limit, easily. |
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02-25-2013, 05:41 PM | #44 |
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Amazon has stated that this interpretation is wrong. That the criteria are how they will determine if you will get paid or not under the rule. They have stated it clearly, and unequivocally.
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02-25-2013, 05:44 PM | #45 | |
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Sorry, but this argument that people make to claim this policy change makes sense is really not valid. I still stand by affiliate division seeing a lot of these sites and deciding independently that this is a "problem" that needed to be solved, and rolled this out without vetting it internally with other divisions before implementing a really awful set of rules. A lot of the people who are saying "this makes sense" clearly have no grasp on how the affiliate program works, or of its history, or they would know that amazon has actually encouraged affiliates to use the "link to other items/get the cookie set/get paid for other purchases" method of making money. |
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