In its December affiliate newsletter, Amazon.com gave a preview of what's going to change next quarter in its commission structure. They definitely seem to be about to address long-standing sore points, and those changes should be for the better:
The 15 percent direct-link referral rate - that was so restricted affiliates were rarely eligible - will be replaced by an "incremental premium that applies to direct links for all products, in all situations."
"Items in new categories will earn a special premium in addition to the base referral rate, and will not be subject to caps." This is coherent with Amazon.com's effort to leverage its affiliate network in order to jumpstart its new categories and cross-sell beyond media products (books, DVDs and CDs).
"Electronics items will no longer be subject to caps, but there will be a slight reduction in the referral rate for such items offered by Amazon.com. This will be in place for at least six months." Amazon was shooting itself in the foot by capping commissions on electronics to $10, which in relative terms to items worth hundreds or thousands of dollars was not competitive at all.
Amazon said it will provide more details next week.
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