I will say it was not the best of news, but it wasn’t the worst, either. Yes, Amazon is making some changes as of March 1, 2017, and it’s going to affect a lot of people who are using the Amazon Associates program. Some of the affiliate fees are going down, while others are going up.

How the Affiliate Program Worked

The old fee structure (current as I write this) involved two pay structures. One was fixed fees based on about 16 categories with fees ranging from 1% of the purchase price to up to 10%. All other categories fell into a variable fee structure and increased with the more items sold within the month. In this program, fees start at 4% and can move up to 8.5%.

The New Amazon Affiliate Fee Structure

As of March 1, 2017, all items will have a fixed standard fee structure. The bad news is that Amazon has eliminated fees for certain things that they use to pay for, such as gift cards and wine. They’ve also lowered the overall fees for some items so no matter how many of those items you sell the overall fee structure will not increase.

A case in point: toys. The new fee structure is 3% whether you sell one toy or 1,000 pieces in a month. I know many bloggers that this will hurt. They have sites exclusively to sell toys during the holiday season and count on reaching 7, 8 and 8.5% in those few months. Now, they may have to expand into other categories. Or look for other retailers who may pay them a higher commission. But, I wouldn’t count on it. Those retailers are looking to Amazon as well to fix their fee structures.

So What Good About This?

There are a lot of categories that you can start making larger commissions on right away. In the past, if you sold house type products, you would’ve had to sell 631 individual products before you could reach the 8% commission. Starting March 1st you get 8% on the first home product you sell. And there are lots more those products with those higher commission rates.

Take a look at the table below for the new commission structure. And to decide what makes sense to get the most from your affiliates sales.

Also, Amazon is making upgrades and adding more product to their bounty program for referring customers to their various services such as Prime and Kindle Unlimited.

That’ Changes happen all the time, especially with Amazon. But rather than bemoaning the change, use this as an opportunity. Find those new items to sell that will make you more money for the effort. It really is up to you how you look at these changes. And how you use them.

Good luck,