Amazon has announced that they will be raising commissions for a small number of product categories for a limited time. The new higher payout rates come two years after Amazon lowered its fees during the Covid-19 pandemic as consumers turned to buy more online.
Despite the new higher rates, certain product categories are still several percentage points lower than pre-Covid affiliate commission rates.
Below is a comparison list of the new rates.
Amazon Affiliate Program
Amazon pays a commission to affiliated publishers who refer visitors who convert into sales.
Amazon is a trusted brand name and has (in the past) made Amazon a great partner because positive referrals have higher conversion rates on Amazon than being referred to lesser known and trusted brands .
That popularity changed in April 2020, as the pandemic changed the way consumers bought products and started buying directly from Amazon to comply with lockdown rules and avoid risking getting out of the house, catching Covid-19 and perishing.
Due to the huge supply of consumers, the need to pay for affiliates became less urgent, and Amazon did the common-sense thing and lowered affiliate commission rates.
Affiliate commission rates in the luxury and beauty product categories dropped a combined 6 percentage points, from 10 percent to just 4 percent.
Furniture commission rates also fell from 8% to 3%, while grocery commission rates fell 4 percentage points to 1% from 5%.
Amazon increases commission rate
An email has been sent to Amazon employees (Amazon affiliate partners) announcing that the limited-time promotional commission rate will expire on May 4, 2022.
The email states:
“This is a great opportunity to increase your commissions with popular categories. The more your audience buys, the more money you earn.
Promotional price valid until May 4th. “
Moderate increase in Amazon affiliate commission rate
The increase in commissions is not comprehensive.
Amazon has increased commission rates for the following categories:
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- Shoes, Bags & Accessories
- Office Supplies
- kitchen
- Family
- home renovation
- beauty
- Commercial and Industrial Supplies
- Health and Personal Care
Despite the increase in commission rates, the new higher commission rates are still 1 to 3 percentage points lower than pre-Covid commission rates.
For example, the Home and Home Improvement membership rate has increased from 3% to 5%, but this is still three percentage points lower than the 8% commission rate that these categories of products used to require.
The commission rate for commercial and industrial supplies rose from 3% to 5%, slightly lower than the pre-pandemic rate of 6%.
Likewise, commission rates for health and personal care rose from 1% to 2%, but this is still significantly lower than the pre-pandemic 4.5% rate.
Promotional Amazon Affiliate Commission Rates
Here are the new Amazon.com promotional commission rates:
- Shoes, Bags & Accessories (Old Rate) 4.00% (New Rate) 6.00%
- Office supplies (old rate) 4.00% (new rate) 6.00%
- Kitchen (old fee) 4.50% (new fee) 5.50%
- Home (Old Rate) 3.00% (New Rate) 5.00%
- Home improvement (old rate) 3.00% (new rate) 5.00%
- Beauty (old rate) 3.00% (new rate) 5.00%
- Commercial and Industrial Supplies 3.00% (new rate) 5.00%
- Health and Personal Care 1.00% (new rate) 2.00%
Amazon Associates Program
Amazon is one of the most trusted brands in the world, and even with a low commission rate, it’s still a viable affiliate partner.
