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Gene,
In the past there have been questions concerning what Amazon considers an order. Would you please explain this procedure? Does payment need to be made first? I ask because some orders never ship and others are refunded. myhart |
Thanks for your question, myhart.
Amazon considers an order when someone makes a purchase of any one item from the Amazon catalog. If the same person purchases two products at the same time, this is considered as two different orders. It is therefore possible for someone to purchase 10 different products on the same purchase and for you to be credited for 10 orders towards your next payment tier (see my post on the Amazon Associates Payment Tiers).
If you referred a customer who purchases an item, you will receive credit for the item as long as it is sold or placed in the cart within the 24-hour period of the original click (for more details see my post on how Amazon tracks affiliate orders). If the customer places an order and then returns immediately to make another purchase directly to Amazon, you will not receive credit for the second purchase, unless the customer returns through one of your links.
On your Amazon Associates Central report, you will see a separate Orders Summary and Earnings Summary. The reason for this separation is because while you see the order placed right away (usually within 24 hours of the order), you do not receive any earnings on the order until the order actually ships. This can be the next day or it could be a week later, depending on the shipping preference made by the customer at check-out. Because Amazon makes it easy for the customer to cancel the order before it ships out, Amazon waits to make sure the order ships before you are credited with the sale.
If the customer cancels an order or returns an order after he/she receives it, the Amazon system is smart enough to track it and reduce your fees by the amount you originally earned on the product purchased and then returned.
Hope that answered your question!
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