Amazon Associate Disclosures

Amazon.com Associates’ program recently updated their terms. To keep your Amazon associate status safe, you’ll need to make sure your websites comply with the new terms.

The important thing to know is this, copied directly from the Amazon.com Associates Central Agreement, Section 10:

You must, however, clearly state the following on your site: “[Insert your name] is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to [insert the applicable site name (amazon.com, endless.com, smallparts.com or myhabit.com)].”

Please visit the Amazon.com Associates Central site for complete information. Your agreement with Amazon is far more detailed and complex than that one blurb.

Always stay current with changes in that agreement, because your income may depend on it.

Are you current with your Amazon Associate agreement?

I recommend adding that kind of blurb to every website where you recommend (or might later recommend) Amazon-related products.

If you’ve bought one of my websites based on an Artisteer theme, you’ll add that via your WordPress dashboard, in Appearance > Theme Options, in the section where you can edit the footer. Then, be sure to click to save the changes.

If you’d like to add that automatically to your site, via a plugin, you can use the WP Amazociate plugin. (Yes, I did buy this plugin for my business use.)

The plugin isn’t necessary if you’re comfortable adding the blurb to your website, in the footer, in the sidebar, or on your legal pages. Frankly, I’m trying to reduce my websites’ load time by using as few plugins as possible. So, if I can accomplish my goals with a quick code change, that’s better than adding another plugin. However, I’ve been writing HTML since the mid-1990s.

If adding code makes you uneasy, the WP Amazociate plugin is excellent. So far, I haven’t seen any free plugin that does this. (Yes, someone will probably create a free version of this plugin. However, time is of the essence. Don’t risk your Amazon-related income; don’t delay complying with Amazon.com’s Associate agreement.)

Whether you use a plugin to add the essential blurb or you hand-code it into your website, make sure it’s on every Amazon-related website you own.