More Amazon idiocy

[julesjones]

Not censorship this time. Just weaselling their way out of paying commission. I got the following email from Amazon US today. Note that I have *never* used paid search ads for anything, let alone to drive traffic to Amazon. In other words, they're either incompetent or lying through their teeth about why they're going to renege on paying the money they owe me for any sales made after the end of this month.


Dear Amazon Associate:

You are receiving this email because our reports indicate that you have sent users directly to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca or www.endless.com through paid search advertisements that were displayed to users who searched on keywords which you bid upon and purchased in search engine keyword auctions. As a reminder, starting May 1, 2009, we will no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca or www.endless.com through paid search advertisements on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. Of course if you use keyword bidding as a component of your strategy to drive traffic to your own site, you may continue to do so. Associates will continue to be paid referral fees on qualifying sales that result from traffic coming to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca or www.endless.com from a customer affirmatively clicking on a Special Link on the Associates’ site(s). If you're not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.

We appreciate your continued support and participation in the Amazon Associates program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.

Comments

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

I'm no longer buying from them, anyway, since they have yet to properly apologize for the censorship nonsense. From what I've read about it so far, it's pretty clear that it wasn't a mistake, other than that they completely misjudged what the reaction to what they did would be.

[julesjones]

I'd already decided not to buy from them where I can avoid doing so. But this is an added incentive to spend some time going through my website to switch the links to Anyone But Amazon.

[supermouse.livejournal.com]

...I think it would be worth searching out other authors to see if this is happening more widely and making a bit of a fuss about it, if you have the energy?