eBay Affiliate Program vs Amazon Affiliate Program

eBay and Amazon are massive online marketplaces, so it’s not surprising that you’d want to be an affiliate partner for either. What is the best program to join if you want to advance your online marketing career? That’s what this eBay Affiliate Program vs Amazon Affiliate Program comparison will reveal.

How Do Affiliate Programs Work?

To those on the outside, the inner workings of affiliate marketing networks may appear complicated and perplexing. Some marketers even believe it is a channel that can be turned on and off, similar to paid search but it does not.

While affiliate partnerships can be complicated, they are built on transparency and long-term relationships rather than one-time transactions.

The overall goal of an affiliate program is to create a win-win situation for both brands and their affiliate partners.

It’s a structure that, when properly implemented, can account for a sizable portion of a brand’s online revenue. The objective is to have a high ROAS and a low CPA.

Comparison of eBay affiliate program vs amazon affiliate Program

Now that we’ve covered how affiliate programs work let’s look at two of the most powerful eCommerce platforms. We will look at them in terms of their features

Products

The range of items available on eBay is astounding. There are hard-to-find niche items as well as fantastic deals on gently worn items.

eBay also has a large selection of new products and retail arbitrage items. Several buy-it-now options are available for those looking to make an immediate fixed-price purchase.

Amazon’s affiliate program may offer the most diverse range of products to promote any affiliate program on the planet. It is applicable to a wide variety of physical product categories.

Whatever the topic of your website, there is almost certainly an Amazon product related to it that you could sell. As a result, when it comes to monetizing your blog posts, Amazon’s affiliate program is an excellent place to start.

Commission Rates

Affiliates on eBay receive a percentage of the sale price ranging from 50% to 70%. This amount is derived from the referral fees they receive.

Other categories have different commission percentages. The cookie, however, is only valid for 24 hours. This is comparable to Amazon’s, but over half of eBay’s sales are seven-day auctions.

Most bidders attempt to snipe auctions, meaning they will bid in the final hours of the auction. A bid is required to gain credit for a sale as an affiliate.

The good news is that eBay is increasingly shifting its business to buy-it-now transactions.

Amazon’s commissions are competitive in most niches. The cookies have a one-day expiration date. However, if a customer adds an item to their cart, the cookie is extended to 90 days.

You get a commission on any purchases made within 24 hours of using your cookie, which is a nice added bonus. Amazon is a master of upselling and customer conversion.

Customers may click on your Amazon link to buy a hairdryer and leave with a lawnmower.

Network Tools 

eBay really stepped up in this area when the program was last revamped. There are many ways to insert links, as well as conversion-boosting software.

Affiliates can log in to their Publisher Portal via the eBay Partner Network. This is where you’ll find ideas and instructions for using all of the connection tools.

Here are a few examples:

Share Wisely

Smart Share is a Chrome extension that lets you browse eBay. It will allow you to pause a product while receiving an affiliate link. You can even share it right away on social media platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest.

Generator of Links

Your affiliate ID will be added to any deep-link to any product or website created by the Link Generator.

Linking Across the Site

This is comparable to eBay’s Viglinks. Any eBay link has the potential to be profitable. A small amount of code is added to your website. It can also generate banners on its own to help with conversions.

Bookmarklet Program

This generates a link containing your id and bookmarks a page.

Let’s take a look at some Amazon tools that you might find useful. There are numerous options on Amazon to help you make more money, but I recommend focusing on just one: OneLink.

OneLink works by redirecting visitors to the Amazon store in their country. If you do not have OneLink, visitors from outside your region will be directed to Amazon’s website for your country.

This will be inconvenient for many of your visitors and will reduce your earnings. OneLink increases your earnings per click for visitors from outside your country.

This is especially important if you live somewhere other than the United States. Because, no matter where you live, the United States will most likely account for a large portion of your sales.

API Tools such as Prosociate use the API to find relevant products and automatically submit them. Your products will then be WooCommerce products, complete with all of their inherent features.

You can upload single products, graphics-enhanced products, product categories, wish lists, and so on. In addition to Prosociate, there is a system of other tools that you can use to manage eBay affiliate products.

Unlike Amazon, which only allows existing affiliates to use their API, eBay allows all affiliates to use it. This enables Save & Exit access to product data if you are a programmer or use professional tools that interact with eBay.

How Do I Get API Keys?

Obtaining API access is a simple procedure. eBay has a simple and quick setup for receiving your keys. They provide a straightforward how-to guide for getting started.

The Amazon API isn’t necessary for everyone, but it can be useful. As previously stated, Amazon does not want you to do the following things:

• Bringing up product prices
• Making use of Amazon reviews
• Pulling images directly from Amazon (doing so will likely result in account suspension) You can get around these restrictions by using the API. The API gets data directly from Amazon and is always up to date.

As a result, if you obtain pricing through the API, it will be the same as what visitors see on Amazon.

It’s also fine if you’re displaying reviews via the API. And Amazon won’t mind if your photos come from the API.

With Amazon’s permission, the API grants you access to more dynamic Amazon features. If you can use the API, Amazon gives you a lot more flexibility.

Anyone could previously use the Amazon API. To use the API these days, qualified sales must be made within 30 days. To keep your API access, you must make a sale using it within 30 days of receiving it.

You will be unable to obtain the API if you do not have any Amazon sales. You will lose access if you receive it but do not sell anything.

The API also has a function that restricts your access based on how many sales you make. If you obtain API access but do not generate enough sales, you may be unable to use it. Your usage is most likely still throttled.

Product Linking 

The “Product Linking” tab on Amazon’s dashboard is an extremely useful feature. Here you can create standard links, banners, native shopping advertising, and mobile popovers.

There are numerous options, but they are all highly specialized. These banners are frequently used to promote current Amazon promotions.

Please keep in mind that the offer is subject to change at any time. That same banner may change and become irrelevant to your reader.

One of the most useful features on the Product Linking tab is the Native Shopping Ad.

Native shopping ads are advantageous because they can be used in place of traditional advertisements on your website. If you can’t get approved for Google Adsense, Amazon is your best bet.

This also applies if you are dissatisfied with the earnings of your current ad network.

These native advertisements can take many forms and sizes. You can create ads that suggest products to your readers based on their Amazon browsing history.

You can create ads that allow readers to search for their own products. There are also advertisements in which you must manually enter information.

These advertisements can be placed anywhere you want, including your sidebar, content, and footers.

A mobile popover is another effective way to incorporate advertisements into your website.

Analytics

The eBay Partner Network handles all payments. Invoices and tracking data, which are common in other affiliate programs, are no longer required.

In order to file tax returns, eBay issues 1099s to its partner affiliates, who earn more than $600 per year.

Users who follow eBay’s rules and conditions are eligible to apply for the affiliate program, and acceptance is not conditional.

Reports and targeted analytics that assess or monitor performance help affiliate partners understand their production insights better.

By tracking the activity of a linked website owner, eBay can post revenues on the partner’s dashboard following sale day.

The performance of your account can be examined in Amazon’s “Report” section. Clicks, ordered products, shipped products, and earnings are all accessible from this page.

One thing I like about Amazon is that you can have multiple affiliate IDs. These IDs can be used to test various page layouts or items.

Amazon monitoring can assist you in determining the source of your clicks and conversions.

You’ll be able to see which links, banners, images, and native advertisements are generating the most revenue and converting the most.

Final Verdict: eBay affiliate program vs amazon affiliate program

People frequently argue about whether to join the eBay or Amazon affiliate programs (Amazon Associates).

Amazon, like eBay, employs cookies that expire after 24 hours. Visitors frequently add products to their shopping carts but do not immediately purchase them. In that case, Amazon will extend the referral period to 90 days.

The eBay affiliate program has a distinct advantage in terms of commission rates. Amazon’s commission rates, which vary by category, range from 1% to 10%, which is significantly less than eBay’s fee.

Amazon, on the other hand, is a more well-known and trustworthy brand.

Furthermore, many consumers still think of eBay as a place to buy used goods. It’s something I bring up frequently in my affiliate program reviews, and it’s something I’ll bring up again.

Rather than deciding which program is superior and selecting one, test both and see which one earns you the most money.