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      Amazon Changes TOS for Free Kindle Downloads
      by The Happy Housewife on March 12, 2013

      Amazon recently emailed its associates with changes to its TOS, effective March 1, 2013.

      According to the new TOS:

      “In addition, notwithstanding the advertising fee rates described on this page or anything to the contrary contained in this Operating Agreement, if we determine you are primarily promoting free Kindle eBooks (i.e., eBooks for which the customer purchase price is $0.00), YOU WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE TO EARN ANY ADVERTISING FEES DURING ANY MONTH IN WHICH YOU MEET THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:
      (a) 20,000 or more free Kindle eBooks are ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links; and
      (b) At least 80% of all Kindle eBooks ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links are free Kindle eBooks.”

      There has been some debate as to whether this is an either/ or clause, but it seems pretty clear that both conditions must be met to lose affiliate revenue for the month.

      amazon TOS changes for Kindle

      Many bloggers promote free Kindle eBooks as a way to drive traffic to Amazon and increase their total Amazon affiliate sales, since the customer is on the site with their cookie. While I think this will hurt a few larger blogs who have the ability to drive at least 20,000 downloads I think this has a bigger effect on people who write eBooks and offer them free on Kindle for promotion.

      With many bloggers relying on Amazon for a large source of their income, I believe people will be hesitant to promote free eBooks like they have done in the past. This hurts independent publishers who are trying to build sales through this marketing method.

      What do you think? Will you still promote free Kindle eBooks after March 1st?

: Leave a Comment

  • andi on March 12, 2013 at 2:39 pm
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    NOT happy about it – but as bloggers, what options do we really have? We need to be obeying the policies of ALL those that we have affiliate agreements with….

  • Stacie on March 12, 2013 at 6:01 pm
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    I don’t consider myself a big blogger at all, but I’ve found over the past few weeks, I’ve “sold” more free Kindle books than I thought—and it adds up quickly!

    I agree that it really is hurting those independent publishers who are trying to get the word out–and many bloggers will be hesitant to post them.

    I still plan to post free eBooks without my referral link once I get too close to the threshold. I personally I like free eBooks and want my readers to know about them, so I’m not going to stop sharing them…but I’ve definitely scaled back on the number of them I post.

  • Kristen on March 12, 2013 at 9:19 pm
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    I will still promote free Kindle books, because I love them myself. However, I don’t get near the 20,000 books so perhaps it doesn’t affect me at this point? Still, I might start sharing some of them without my Amazon code link, like Stacie suggested.

  • Jenn @Spend Less, Shop More on March 12, 2013 at 9:47 pm
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    I used to promote free Kindle books all the time, but eased off around the holidays. I find my readers are just as interested in the 99 cent – $2.99 range in books — especially multi-volume Kindle downloads — and they have a tendency to shop more than folks who are strictly looking for freebies.

    So I think including a mix of recommendations is a good idea for affiliates, as well as Amazon itself!