Amazon quietly restructured its Associates affiliate program over the past several months, cutting commission rates by as much as 50%, eliminating milestone-based bonuses, and worsening reporting that affiliates relied on to optimize campaigns, according to seven publishers and partners who spoke to Adweek.
The changes were never publicly announced, with publishers learning about them through individual conversations with their account managers after seeing rates in some categories drop from as high as 10% down to 4% or 5%. Adweek notes that the cuts have not been uniform, with several publishers with longstanding relationships with Amazon retaining more favorable terms than publishers running paid-media-driven affiliate businesses, which have been hit the hardest, with one publisher marking its 2026 Amazon revenue forecast down by 50%.
Recurrent Ventures chief executive Andrew Perlman told Adweek:
“Amazon halved the affiliate rates across the publisher ecosystem. Between Google’s AI overviews collapsing organic traffic at the top of the funnel and Amazon paying less at the bottom, the business of converting organic search into affiliate revenue has become super challenging.”
Isn't this like the 50th fucking time Amazon has screwed over its Associates since the program began in 1996?
I used to be a heavy driver of traffic to Amazon through its Associates program via my travel website, but after watching my affiliate revenue get slashed in half multiple times when Amazon arbitrarily changed its commission rates, I pulled back from it. There were more profitable programs to focus on.
It seems, from this Adweek report, that Amazon is continuing to degrade its affiliate program and sour relationships with publishers, which is a great opportunity for TikTok Shop and Walmart if you ask me. “Not making enough money from Amazon Associates anymore? Our doors are wide open.”
Amazon's attitude towards publishers over the past two decades has essentially been: “Where else are you going to send your traffic that converts as good as we do? You need us more than we need you.” — and unfortunately, Amazon has historically been right. They have been the best option over sending traffic to individual D2C websites or other marketplaces, and they've known it. Though maybe that's changing?
