Dear Amazon-Associate,

We are posting this message to inform you of an update to the Amazon Associates Programme's referral fee structure. Through our referral fee structure we strive to allow Associates to maximize their earnings as well as to reward Associates who are able to refer as many sales as possible to Amazon. We also try to keep the Programme's referral fee structure as simple and transparent as possible while adapting to changes in the online marketing environment. With these objectives in mind, we are updating our referral fee structure as described below. The Associates Programme Operating Agreement will be updated to reflect these referral fee structure changes, in addition to several other changes we have made to bring the Operating Agreement in line with our current processes. All changes to the Programme will take effect on July 1, 2009. The details of the changes to the referral fee structure are discussed below. If you have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Click here for our contact form.

Have you checked our Amazon MP3 offers recently? The Amazon MP3 store now features more than 5 million tracks, from all the major labels and many leading independent labels, all free of Digital Rights Management (DRM), so the music can be enjoyed on any MP3 player, including the iPod, and transferred within seconds to popular music libraries, such as Windows Media or iTunes. Qualifying Amazon MP3 downloads earn a referral fee rate of 10%.

Changes to Referral Fee Structure

• Referral Fee Rates Increased - Earn up to 9% (and 10% for Amazon MP3s): We have raised the top referral fee rate in our tiered model. Most Associates can now earn up to 9% on Qualified Products, an increase of 1.5% from our previous referral fee structure. See table below for details, and don't forget, Amazon MP3 downloads earn a referral fee rate of 10% and gift certificates redeemable on the Amazon site earn a referral fee rate of 6%.
  
   

• Elimination of "Bonus" Structure: Over the past several years, we have developed many new features for Associates such as our new Flash Widgets and the Site Stripe. In order to give you more choice as to which tools and link types you use for linking to Amazon, we believe that you should earn the same amount of referral fee regardless of link type. Therefore, we are eliminating all bonuses based on link types, preferring instead, as per above, to focus on paying higher "base" referral fee rates. It does not matter anymore whether you choose widgets, graphical banners, product feeds or deeplinks generated with our Site Stripe, you will get paid the same revenue share for every sale. We would be remiss though not to remind you that deeplinks improve conversion in many cases and easylinks remains a great tool to discover the best products for your site to promote.
• Standardization of Cap in Tiered Model: In the past we had product line-specific Revenue Share caps and have received feedback that it can be difficult to understand which product lines have revenue caps, at which levels, and which do not. Therefore, starting July 1, 2009, we will apply a standard cap of £7.00 GBP across all product lines. As a reminder, the cap applies only to individual items and not to the overall value of the shopping basket. It also applies only to Associates who are enrolled in the Programme under the Performance Fee Structure.
• New referral fee rates for “Paid Search Placements” and “Downloadable Application/Browser Extension” Associates: Associates will be required to categorise themselves based on the method by which they will send users to the Amazon site. Associates who promote Amazon via paid search placements (i.e., Associates who send users to the Amazon site through keyword bidding or other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, or other search engines) or by placing links to Amazon within downloadable applications (e.g,. browser extensions, desktop-applications etc.) will earn referral fee rates uniquely matched to these activities. If you are a Paid Search Placements Associate or Downloadable Application/Browser Associate, you will soon receive further information by email detailing the referral fee rate applicable to you. If you send traffic to the Amazon site through either of these types of activities but did not register as a Paid Search Placements Associate or Downloadable Application/Browser Associate, please contact our Associate Support to be re-segmented. If we determine that you send traffic through either of these types of activities and are not categorized as such, we may in our sole discretion adjust your categorisation.
• One account per Associate category:For each Associate account, an Associate will be permitted to select only one category that describes the method by which they will send users to the Amazon Site. You may not have multiple accounts for the same type of activity, i.e. if you are sending users to the Amazon Site through paid search placements, you must use the same single Associates account for all paid search placement activity. However, if you send traffic to the Amazon Site using more than one method, you will have to register another Associate account for each method and categorise yourself accordingly during signup. If your existing account is not categorized accurately (i.e., the category associated with your account does not accurately describe how you send users to the Amazon site), please contact Associate Support.