The Problem With Wizzley and Amazon Associates

However, recently things came to a screeching halt when Amazon sent me an email saying they were worried about the fact that I had no referrals, clicks or sales on Amazon Associates as their membership agreement required. That’s odd, I thought, I’m seeing clicks on Wizzley, so why aren’t they being converted to views on Amazon? Could Amazon be referring to actual sales? I wrote them and said I didn’t understand how I could be held accountable for sales since there was no way I could force anyone to buy a product. Further I wasn’t responsible for placing the Amazon ads in my Wizzley articles, Wizzley did all of that.

I was really curious about what was going on. I even sent Amazon a link to one of my posted Wizzley articles and asked what they thought the problem could be. Beck E. of Amazon replied:

“I have reviewed the Associates link on the web page, and I have found that the link is not formatted correctly. Therefore, we are unable to track any activity and sales placed via this link.”

Huh? Since I’m not responsible for the formatting, I emailed back, how could I make a correction? I even posted the problem in the Wizzley Forum – but there was no response. At the same time Amazon suggested I “rebuild the link,” which I didn’t understand because, again, I’m not responsible for building links – Wizzley does that (or so I thought).

I continued my correspondence with Amazon and to their credit they tried to help, but eventually they sent the following, very final, message from Michelle S.:

“I understand the website you applied with, is being hosted by Wizzley and that they add links to your site. I've looked over your website, and it appears it was created as a generic shopping site. This type of site does not meet the criteria for acceptance into Amazon Associates, or provide added value to a visitor of the site. [Underline my own]

“Unfortunately, at this time we're not accepting sites that have only Amazon.com products on them. The reason for this is that as a part of our criteria for membership, your site has to be established with enough unique content to make it of value to customers. If someone wants to see a list of Amazon.com products, they're generally going to go directly to Amazon.com.

“What we suggest is making a site that contains unique and original content. A good way to start is to figure out what you're passionate about, or what you can talk about with expertise. After all, it's your input on the products you're recommending that's going to drive traffic to your site. You know your visitors best, which places you in the best position to choose specific items to feature. Making regular recommendations that fit well with your Web site's subject matter can help to increase return traffic.

“We’ve determined that we're not able to approve your application to become an Amazon Associate based on the site that [you] have applied with.

“Because this decision is final, further requests to review your application will not receive a response.”

 That was the last word from Amazon. So, it seems that my inquiries have led to my being bumped off Amazon Associates. More importantly for other Wizzley members is the question: What’s going on here? If Amazon is saying they don’t accept what Wizzley is doing and isn’t seeing any clicks or purchases, how is Wizzley accounting for all of this? How are any readers making money on Wizzley, at least through Amazon (which I assumed would be one of the biggest revenue generators)?

I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but something smells about all this and I’m more than frustrated – particular with the silence I’ve gotten from Wizzley when I’ve inquired about this.

I’d like to continue writing for Wizzley, but I’m skeptical that I’m wasting my time (yes, I like to write, but the promise was there were earnings to be had here as well, right?). So, until I get a very good explanation and some corrective action I think I’ll just stand on the sidelines and consider where my writing efforts can be best applied.