In my post, I explain why your Amazon affiliate account is not showing earnings.
In your Amazon Affiliate account, you see clicks and sales but no earnings. You sent customers to Amazon through your affiliate links, but they haven’t paid you any commission.
Let’s look at the reasons why you haven’t received payment.
Three Reasons Why You Haven’t Earned A Commission
1. The Customer Cancelled Their Order
The first reason could be that the customer cancelled. If they cancelled, it shows on your account as a return. Returned items do not earn you a commission.
2. Amazon Can’t Send The Order
Once Amazon receives an order, they immediately start the process of shipping the items to the customer. Occasionally, Amazon can not fulfil the order. The delayed shipment could be due to two reasons.
The first reason is the item could be out of stock. The product is sent to the customer once it becomes available. After shipment, you get paid.
The second reason is the item could be a pre-order product. Amazon allows customers to pre-order selected products before officially launched. The products get sent after launch day then you get paid.
3. Non-Commission Item
Amazon does not allow affiliates to use their affiliate links to sell items to friends or family for commission. Amazon deems this as an unofficial discount. Should you ask friends or family to purchase an Amazon product using your affiliate link, Amazon won’t pay you.
I recommend you don’t encourage friends and family to purchase items from Amazon through your affiliate links. Amazon could cancel your account.
No Clicks With Sales
When you send a visitor to Amazon through an affiliate link, Amazon tracks that visitor with a cookie. Should the visitor purchase items within 24 hours, you get a commission on all items bought.
Sometimes a visitor will put items into a basket but not check out by paying for the products. For each visitor that does this, Amazon assigns another 90-day cookie. Should the visitor return to pay for the goods in their basket within 90 days. You get a commission.
When this happens on your account, you see the sale but not the click because the visitor went to Amazon using your affiliate link many days or weeks before.
To learn more about links, check out my ‘How Do Amazon Links Work?‘ post.
How Often Do Amazon Update Affiliate Accounts?
Amazon Affiliate accounts are updated once every 24 hours.
How To Check If Your Affiliate Link Is Working
When you are new to the Amazon Affiliate program with a new website, it takes a while before you see clicks and sales on your account dashboard.
If you want to make sure your affiliate links within your blog posts are working, Amazon has a tool for you.
Go to your Amazon affiliate account and hover your mouse over ‘Tools’.
From the menu, select ‘Link Checker’.
Next, paste your affiliate link into the box and select ‘Check Link’.
A message appears below your link to confirm.
When Do Amazon Affiliates Get Paid?
Amazon pays affiliates on the first of each month. Payments are one month behind. For example, sales in January get added to your affiliate account on the first of February. In preparation to be paid at the end of February.
To ensure you are paid on time, select your preferred payment method and complete your tax information.
For more information about how Amazon pays affiliates, check out my ‘Amazon Payment Methods‘ post.
Conclusion
The Amazon Affiliate program is one of the leading affiliate programs. It is free to join. There are thousands of products to promote.
Should you make a sale but have no earnings show on your account, it is probably due to one of three things.
- Number one – The visitor you sent to Amazon purchased an item and then decided to cancel.
- Number two – The items purchased has not been shipped to the customer. For out of stock items, there is a delay in sending the product to the customer. Affiliates get paid after the customer receives the product they ordered. Amazon also allows customers to pre-order selected products. Again, affiliates have to wait for the item to reach the customer before getting paid.
- Number three – The item is a non-commission product. If Amazon believes you have sent family and friends to Amazon through your affiliate link, they won’t pay you a commission. I recommend you refrain from doing this. Amazon could cancel your account.
Should you have any questions about my post, please leave them below. I try to reply to everyone.
Are you interested in becoming an Amazon affiliate? Check out my ‘How To Sign Up For The Amazon Affiliate Program‘ post.
