Posted on 07:37, July 3rd, 2009 by Share
Well, a couple of days ago we put in the requirements that Amazon have forced upon affiliates in order to comply with the new Associates Programme Operating Agreement. A couple of changes were needed to be made, one good and one not so.
Potentially one change could mean an increase in commission for some affiliates. We will now show your classic Amazon ID (where you have given it on the My Details page) on all orders over £175, whilst those under will show the Performance Plan ID (if you’ve put it into the My Details page). This relies on you providing the correct ID’s for the category you’re using at Amazon.
The other change that Amazon have inflicted on us, means that the units can look distorted, and it’s for this that we would like your help. Amazon’s new terms had a line in which relates to showing their items in a price comparison page and is quoted below:
“In addition, if you choose to display prices for any Product on your site in any “comparison” format (including through the use of any price-comparison tool or engine) together with prices for the same or similar products offered through any web site or other outlet other than the Amazon.co.uk Site, you must display both the lowest “new” price and, if we provide it to you, the lowest “used” price at which the Product is available on the Amazon.co.uk Site.”
OK, this has really taken away any choices affiliates had about which product to promote and whether it’s through Amazon direct or a Third Party Seller. Lots of affiliates hate to promote the third party sellers prices as they have extra delivery to be added, and are of course not Amazon. Now we have to show the ‘Best New Price’ whereever that may come from and the ‘Best Used Price’ on all of their products.
One thing that blesses this (which I have noticed) is that the landing page for the product shows the best price – so if it’s a 3rd party seller, that’s the one shown, and Amazon is in the sidebar under other sellers. So the change might help with clarity for the customer. However this has posed us with a headache.
How do we fit in the extra prices? Well to be compliant, we have just ’stuck them in’ but this is not great, and certainly takes away the good look that the units have. We’re trying lots of different ways to implement this, but coming up blank really.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
If you do please let us know in the comments below, or send in a support ticket through ECU.
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With regards to the issue of showing all the prices on Amazon it seems that their policy has been around for at least 6 months and I have yet to see any associate links anywhere that adhere to the policy. Where I agree that it may be an advantage to the buyer to have all the prices visible it does has some negative effects especially in layout terms.
Could you just scrap the whole compliance issue for the time being and see what other comparison vendors get up to first.
It is rather annoying but I cannot think of how best to display the prices.
this is what one of mine looks like:
http://www.bluraydvdplayer.co.uk/sony-bdvfs350fs.asp
why do we need 3 prices? cant we just have 2 little prices next to each other and therefore keep the row height the same as the other bigger prices?
Hi Jimmy
This one makes sense. I have had a read through the terms, and it is compliant for them. The product when clicked on takes you to a landing page at Amazon with the lowest new price on, so from a users point of view the information is spot on.
The only downside is that as affiliates we cannot choose to only show Amazon products (not 3rd party) – which I know will cause some annoyance, but hey.
We’ll go with your suggestion for now, until there’s a better idea put forward
Thanks
Jason
cool i see you implemented it
i think thats better than it was
doesnt look quite right in firefox 2.0, height wise, but unless you have resorted to playing office golf through lack of work and boredom, i’d dedicated your time else where
cheers guys!
No problem. We’ll take a look at the Firefox issue in due course.
If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to add them below!
Jason
Previously, it would show the standard amazon price as the main price, with the 3rd party new and used prices in small font below. It also sorted the prices using the standard amazon price. I quite liked this layout.
As of today the layout has changed and it is no longer showing the standard amazon price, yet it is still sorting them using the standard amazon price, so it looks really strange!
For example on:
http://www.racing-game.co.uk/racing-game-product/RG00002_Midnight+Club+Los+Angeles.aspx
The Amazon price for the PSP version of this game is £15.05, and it is showing in 3rd position after the PowerplayDirect and MyMemory prices, yet it isn’t showing the £15.05 price it is just showing prices of £10.15 (new) and £8.99 (used).
Please can I have the old layout back?
Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve
Oops, I’ll get the price sorting rectified this morning. As for the layout, I think we’d be best leaving it as is, for the majority of affiliate’s units, the 3 prices were screwing up the layout which meant a large amount of white space in them.
When you click through to the product, Amazon are featuring the cheapest new price seller on the page, whether it’s them or a 3rd party. So from a users point of view, the £10.15 is the price that is shown on the landing page. Amazon’s £15.05 is on the side bar with the other sellers.
Unfortunately, Amazon have taken away the choice of working only with Amazon’s own catalogue, in favour of promoting the cheapest price. Whether this is a good step we’ll await to see.
Kind regards
Jason
I had only selected suppliers that offered Free Delivery (the Amazon price effectively did with the supersaver option).
Now the Amazon is getting listed first on many of my products as the new price is generally a 3rd party price that doesn’t include delivery.
It seems there is nothing we can do to change this, so I think I will now need to remove all the amazon prices, otherwise it is misleading to my visitors (as my site states all products are delivered Free).
Hopefully Amazon may change there mind on this in the future.
Thanks
Steve