Earlier today Amazon announced that it is planning on starting monthly payments to its affiliates effective January 1, 2007.
With almost all affiliate and advertising programs paying at least on a monthly schedule, with some programs paying even on a bi-weekly basis, Amazon has remained one of the only programs that continued to pay quarterly. This payment frequency (or infrequency, I should say) was reflective of its roots, being the first major affiliate program in 1996 when little competition was grabbing attention of potential affiliates. Today, Internet has dramatically shifted to become the affiliate's market with merchants trying to outbid each other in the hopes of securing the precious real-estate of the in-demand web sites. Amazon's monthly payment was not only making affiliates look the other way, it also affected those affiliates that remained in the Amazon court but had severe cash-flow probems, such as those bidding Amazon's products on various PPC sites such as Google.
With its introduction of monthly payments, Amazon quickly catapulted to respectability in the affiliate space, matching Google and almost all major affiliate programs. The following table reflects the new tiered structure given monthly payments, making the old quarterly tiers obsolete:
| Monthly products sold | Cumulative fee % on non-electronics products |
| 1-6 | 4% |
| 7-30 | 6% |
| 31-110 | 6.5% |
| 111-320 | 7% |
| 321-630 | 7.5% |
| 631-1570 | 8% |
| 1571-3130 | 8.25% |
| 3131+ | 8.5% |
As before, all Electronics products are commissioned at 4%, regardless of how many you sell during the month. Electronics products, however, do count towards the product count, so selling electronics does contribute to your jumping to the next commission tier, even if the higher tier will only apply to non-electronics items.
In order to allow for returns, Amazon will pay commission fees 2 months after the end of the calendar month, so you will see payment for any items you sell in January on around April 1.
If you are not already an Amazon affiliate, you may join Amazon's Associates affiliate program here for free.
Gene Kavner, Former World-Wide Director, Amazon Associates Affiliate Program, 2005-2006.
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