9 Key Amazon Affiliate Requirements You Must Know

If you’re about to become an Amazon associate, you must follow the Amazon affiliate requirements because Amazon is rigorous with these rules. 

A rising number of people like you want to join Amazon affiliate marketing, as it is one of the largest affiliate programs in the world. Many of them are not aware of the rules and regulations and end up losing their accounts.

Before joining any program, knowing its policy will always keep you a step ahead.

So in this article, I’ll explain to you 9 key Amazon affiliate program requirements that you must follow in your journey.

What is Amazon Associates?

Amazon affiliate programs, also known as Amazon Associates, are the biggest dominators in the affiliate marketing space because of their reputation and reliability.

It’s the best affiliate program for beginners to join. If you’re a content creator, blogger, marketer, or YouTuber who wants to monetize web traffic to their pages by advertising Amazon products, Amazon Associates is an excellent choice.

To get approval to become an Amazon affiliate, you just need to register for this program. Once you’re approved, you’ll get unique links to promote Amazon products to your audience.

You’ll earn a referral commission every time the customer purchases something from Amazon using your links. Depending on the product category, the commission range could be 1-20%.

Guidelines for being eligible for the Amazon Associates program

Although it’s free to join the Amazon Associates program, you must meet specific eligibility guidelines to participate. These guidelines ensure that affiliates align with Amazon’s standards and can effectively promote products.

In addition to having a valid Amazon account, you should promote the products through active social channels like a website, blog, or YouTube.

Here are the key eligibility criteria:

• Website
• Mobile App
• Social media

Website: Most of the Amazon affiliates promote products through their blog or website. To qualify, the website must:

• Be owned by the applicant.
• Have at least 10 original blog posts, with the latest one published within the past 60 days.
• Be publicly accessible. Private or restricted access platforms do not qualify.
• Your site must comply with Amazon’s content guidelines.

Mobile App: App versions of websites can also participate in the Amazon Associates program. However, your app must:

• Be available in the Google Play, Apple, or Amazon app stores for free.
• It doesn’t look and function like Amazon’s shopping app.

Social media: Social media influencers are also eligible to participate in this program. But to get an entry, there are some requirements.

• You must have an active and public Facebook, Instagram, X (previously Twitter), YouTube, or TikTok account.
• Business account is required for Facebook and Instagram.
• Established following with tangible engagement.

So, what qualifies you as an Amazon affiliate?

Pro Tip: Don’t Make These 33 Fatal Affiliate Marketing Mistakes

9 key Amazon affiliate requirements

Once you get accepted into the Associate’s program, you’re under Amazon law. There are some requirements for the Amazon affiliate program that an affiliate must follow.

• Disclose that you’re an Amazon affiliate
• First 3 sales within 6 months
• Avoid shortening Amazon affiliate links
• Only promote approved products
• Use product images correctly
• Use brand logos correctly
• Correctly display the product prices
• Promotional limitations
• Add a privacy policy

If you violate any of these Amazon affiliate rules or requirements, you are likely to get banned and lose all of the unpaid commissions.

So, to comply proactively and avoid the inconvenience, it’s better to understand the Amazon affiliate program requirements before you join the program.

Disclose that you’re an Amazon affiliate

Amazon strictly wants you to identify yourself as an affiliate. So it’s one of the mandatory Amazon Associates requirements to add a disclaimer and disclose it in a prominent place, announcing yourself as a member of the Amazon Associate program.

Adding a disclaimer is essential for both Amazon Associates and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Since you’ll be promoting and selling products from third parties,  it’s important to let your audience know that you’re not the owner of the products. You’re an affiliate, and you earn a commission on each sale.

For better understanding, Amazon also offers the following disclaimer that you can use: 

[Insert site name] is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to [insert applicable site name].

You don’t need to use the same disclaimer; just specify that you earn commission from each sale.

Previously, it was enough to add this disclaimer at the footer or in the “About Us” section. These days, for better visibility, putting it at the top of the article or page with a brief one-liner is a good idea.

First 3 sales within 6 months

This is the most crucial Amazon affiliate requirement where you’ve got to make at least three sales within the first 6 months (180 days). If you fail to do so, Amazon will close your account.

They’ll allow you to reapply to recover it once you start generating good traffic flow on your site.

Amazon will review your application only if you make the first sale within this period. Otherwise, the account will be in the pending section. So, it’s important to have continuous traffic flow on your site and push them to make purchases.

Guess what? AzonPress cracks this up for you with its ZERO API feature. You can literally sell anything using AzonPress using your affiliate link. There is no need for an Amazon API. 

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Avoid shortening Amazon affiliate links

Link masking is strictly prohibited on Amazon, as it emphasizes transparency. Use Amazon’s affiliate links as per their guidelines. Do not use any link shortener service or alter the links, and ensure they direct users correctly to Amazon’s site.

Only promote approved products

You should only promote products that are approved by the Amazon Associates program. Do not promote any obscene, violent, sexually explicit products or discriminatory, fake materials on your website.

Also, you shouldn’t apply any strategies that target children under the age of 13.

Use product images correctly

The Amazon affiliate requirements for using product images say you must display the images as listed on Amazon. You can’t host any product images on your site. That means you’re not allowed to download the images and then upload them to your computer.

Ensure that the images are correctly linked to the corresponding product detail page on Amazon. Each image should function as a hyperlink to the product’s page.

Any kind of image modification will trigger the Amazon affiliate guidelines, resulting in serious legal implications.

Use brand logos correctly

Only use Amazon logos and badges provided directly by Amazon through the Amazon Associates SiteStripe, Product Advertising API, or other Amazon-authorized resources.

Do not modify, alter, or change the logos in any way in terms of color, font, or proportion, or add or remove any aspects of the Amazon mark. Use them exactly as provided.

Check out Amazon Trademark Guidelines for more rules and regulations on using logos in proper way.

Correctly display the product prices

Another Amazon Associates requirement is that it doesn’t allow you to display pricing information. Because prices often fluctuate unwittingly. It’s not possible to always track them.

To avoid any wrong information about the pricing, you can add a call to action button named “Check on Amazon,” which redirects the user directly to the product page.

Or the best possible way is to use the Amazon API, which ensures displaying the correct pricing and keeping them up to date.

Using the API will adjust the pricing automatically whenever it gets updated on Amazon in real-time.

Want to customize the prices, images, and description as per your wishes? AzonPress will let you do everything. You can add customized images, manually input prices, SEO descriptions, display comparison tables, etc. with this popular WordPress affiliate plugin.

Promotional limitations

There are some limitations on promotional strategies for Amazon affiliates.

• You can’t use any paid advertising to drive traffic directly to Amazon, including PPC ads, paid search placements, or other paid traffic sources.
• Do not include Amazon affiliate links in email marketing campaigns, eBooks, or newsletters without explicit permission from Amazon.
• You can’t share your affiliate links with any private Facebook group or in private messages on social media.
• You’re only allowed to share your affiliate links on your content, website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page.
• Do not use incentives to drive traffic to Amazon affiliate links. This includes offering cash-back, rewards, points, or any other benefit in exchange for clicking on affiliate links or making purchases.

Add a privacy policy

Another key requirement for Amazon’s affiliate program is a comprehensive privacy policy section on the website. Add a privacy section in a noticeable place, mostly suitable for the footer section.

The privacy policy section should specify,

• The information you’ll be collecting
• How it’s getting collected
• With whom do you share the information
• How you’ll use them
• How you’ll protect the information

It should declare that you and your website commit to adhering to all applicable privacy-related laws.

Wrapping up

However, there are more Amazon affiliate requirements that must be followed as an affiliate. It’s not only about making money by promoting products. It’s about doing so by following the rules and regulations.

You shouldn’t do anything that violates the rules. Otherwise, you’ll have to suffer with your account.

So be a part of the Amazon Associates program, obey the rules, and start earning commissions on every sale.

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