The Amazon Associate program is one of the easiest affiliate programs to achieve results in because almost everyone recognizes and trusts the Amazon brand.
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But how much do affiliates earn? Commission rates are low compared to many other affiliate programs, so doesn’t this equate to lower earnings?
No, and here’s why…
Firstly, Amazon is a trusted and familiar brand, which means more clicks on your affiliate links and graphics. More clicks equals more sales.
Secondly, affiliates are paid for purchases made within a 24-hour window. This means that even if the visitor doesn’t checkout and make the purchase immediately, the affiliate still gets credited, provided the checkout is completed within 24 hours.
Thirdly, affiliates are paid for all items the visitor purchases during the session. This can really add up when you consider that Amazon shoppers typically purchase multiple items in a session.
I’ll explain that last point with an example:
Let’s say a visitor, we’ll call her Amy, arrives on your website and clicks on a link promoting a dog bed, which is priced at $40. She is redirected to the Amazon page that sells the dog bed. She’s not decided if that particular dog bed suits her needs, so she looks at a few others. Eventually, she chooses a different one and adds it to her shopping cart. She then starts browsing the Amazon website, searching for other items she wants. Ultimately, she adds two more items to her cart, spending a total of $78. As the affiliate, you will be paid a commission on Amy’s total transaction value, regardless of whether she purchases the item promoted on your site.
What are the highest-paying product categories?
Amazon Games is at the top of the list, paying affiliates 20% of the visitor’s purchase value.
Next is Luxury Beauty and Amazon Explore, at a 10% commission rate.
Music, Videos, and the Handmade category all pay a rate of 5%
Books, Kitchen, and Auto have a payout of 4.5%
Most other categories, such as Garden, Pets, Tools, Sports, Home Improvement, Toys, and Furniture, will earn affiliates between 3% and 4%, except Televisions, which pay 2%, and Groceries, Health, and Game Consoles, which pay 1%.
Which category should you promote?
The simple answer is to choose a category that aligns with your interests. It will be much easier to create content and stay motivated if you’re interested in the subject of your website or blog.
Try not to make your decision based on the commission rates of the different categories. While Amazon Games (only on the Amazon US marketplace) has a very high payment rate (20%), it would be difficult to know how to create the right content for your site if you’re not into gaming.
Also, higher payment rates don’t always mean higher earnings for the affiliate. In fact, it’s often the opposite. For example, if we take the ‘Luxury Beauty’ category. It pays a 10% commission, but there isn’t a mass market for $70 handwash, a comb priced at $53, or face serum that costs $325. But, if we compare that with the regular Beauty & Personal Care category, which pays out just 3%, the market for those products is enormous. In fact, it’s one of Amazon’s most lucrative categories, worth over $30 billion a year, and is forecasted to grow by 26% in 2024.
Most (although not all) successful Amazon affiliates promote items from mainstream categories like Kitchen, Home Improvement, Toys, Pets, Beauty, Garden, Baby, Outdoors, Sports, Camera, Apparel, Luggage, Handbags & Accessories. While these categories pay lower commission rates than some of the more niche categories, affiliates generally get more sales and higher earnings overall.
How much does a typical affiliate earn?
That’s a difficult question because I don’t believe there’s such a thing as a ‘typical’ affiliate. But, there are types of affiliates.
There’s the type of affiliate that dabbles for a while and then loses interest. Their earnings are likely to be very low. There’s the very part-time type, perhaps just two or three hours a week. Their earnings will vary greatly depending on how long they’ve been an affiliate and how productive they are when they do put some time in. And then there’s the serious affiliate that works towards goals and understands that success takes hard work and consistency. Those affiliates are likely to earn much more than the others. And then, of course, there are all of those who lie somewhere in between!
So, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to talk about the typical affiliate’s earnings, but what we can say is that if you work your way up to the top 10% of affiliates (there’s no reason why you can’t!), you could be making up to $175,000 annually or even more. Or, if you want a side gig without giving it too much commitment but are willing to be consistent in your efforts, $25,000+ per year is definitely achievable.
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