Can users post their own Amazon affiliate links?

[salvaje]

I’m thinking about allowing users on my forum to post their own Amazon affiliate links so they can monetize the recommendations they make.

Amazon allows affiliate links to be shared on certain social media platforms as long as they are clearly disclosed as affiliate links.

Does anyone know if this is also allowed on an independent forum like XenForo?
Does anyone here allow users to post their own affiliate links?

 

[smallwheels]

Amazon allows affiliate links to be shared on certain social media platforms as long as they are clearly disclosed as affiliate links.

Does anyone know if this is also allowed on an independent forum like XenForo?

I'd assume that is something that should be outlined in the TOS of Amazon for Affiliates. Do you have a link to the specific rules you mention?

Technically it is obviously not a problem to post affiliate links for anyone within a form post. As there is an add on to create Amazon affiliate Links already since like 2013 or so

Amazon parser

Sep 5, 2017

Adds Amazon affiliate ID to links in messages.

• AndyB
• Add-ons [2.x]

it should not be an issue, the more, as a lot of forums and other websites do use Amazon affiliate links. As long as this is declared on the Website it should be fine I assume and I see no reason why this should be limited to the ID of the forum owner. But then again: This is a question that can in the end only be answered by Amazon.

 

[Mr Lucky]

As long as this is declared on the Website it should be fine

Unless it is disclosed clearly on every page, eg in a widget I would suggest it is mentioned in the actual post.

 

[smallwheels]

Unless it is disclosed clearly on every page, eg in a widget I would suggest it is mentioned in the actual post.

On most sites I am aware of they disclose it i.e. within the ToS of the page prominently.

 

[salvaje]

Amazon has replied to me and, according to what they told me, it would be possible for forum users to share their own affiliate links.

The conditions they mentioned are:

• The user must be registered with Amazon Associates and use their own account.
• They cannot receive incentives for posting those links, as this would violate the program policies.

I’ve sent them a second question to confirm one final point: whether each user would need to add the forum domain as an associated website in their own Amazon Associates account, even though they do not own the forum.

When they reply, I’ll update the thread.