Pros and cons of adding 'Buy on Amazon' link to brand's own website?

Selling on other Platforms Own website
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Is featuring the Buy on Amazon link on your own website considered part of the affiliate program?
If so, they pay commission on sales made through that link. But they would also be charging the Amazon selling fees on the sales, so what’s the incentive for driving your website traffic to Amazon?
Usually 1% commission paid but 15% fees charged. Why would anyone pay fees on sales that originated on their own site? Or am I misunderstanding how the program works.

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If you believe that you will make repeat sales through Amazon that you would not make if the buyer has to return to your website it can be a good decision.

If you are paying less to fulfill by FBA than if you ship yourself, it can be a good decision, especially if it helps keep your overhead down.

If Prime delivery times are a buyer consideration, it can be a valuable option.

The affiliate program Amazon Associates is not targeted at sellers who are linking to their own items. It is targeted to content providers who are driving traffic to Amazon.

When my website stopped generating enough orders for antiques and collectibles reference books to justify dealing with a distributor, we substituted Amazon Associates links and collected the tiny commission on a larger number of sales.

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CON - There are some people that don’t want to buy from Amazon, so they buy direct. Even if you ship MCF (we do) from your site, if the “Buy From Amazon” link is there, it’s a turn off.

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I think paying Amazon 15% is a CON. The website in mind has almost the same amount of sales as the Amazon listings.

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I feel like all the fees I have to pay to sell from my own site ends up equaling the 15% fee from Amazon.

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This scenario would keep the established website and direct the traffic to Amazon for purchases, so the website costs would remain.

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I mean the costs associated with taking payment, calculating taxes, additional security, etc. When all is said and done, it’s just not worth it to us, especially as I wouldn’t expect much in sales to cover those costs.

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If your website does not have a shopping cart, then using the Buy on Amazon link would direct those interested in your product to make the purchase on Amazon. If you are signed up in the affiliate program, then yes you would make the 1% referral fee for sending the customer to Amazon. If it is your product, then this 1% would help offset the 15% (or more depending on your category) fee charged by Amazon on the usage of their site as a shopping cart.

If you have your own shopping cart, then you would want to use the Amazon Pay and just pay the processing fees like you do with PayPal or any other payment processor.

If you wanted to combine the two, then you would use the Amazon Pay to process your website payments and then do affiliate links on your website back into Amazon on other products to create an affiliate income stream.

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Hi @primetime, just coming in late to clarify that no, BOA links are not the same as Affiliate links. The BOA is just another option that shoppers have for payment processing at checkout on your website.

IMO, there are two PROS for adding that option:

  1. Making the cart-to-sales conversion as easy as possible for a shopper. If they already have payment details saved in Amazon, that button (or Google Pay, PayPal, Shop buttons, etc) makes it easier for the shopper to pull the purchase trigger. Delays or perceived inconvenience can lead to second-guessing or cart abandonment (as I know you know!).

  2. Social trust. If a shopper has not purchased from you in the past, just having that option available–even if the shopper doesn’t use it–adds legitimacy to your site/shop. It shows that you are so confident in your product and your customer service, that you don’t even mind involving a well-known Buyer-friendly third party.

…and there are two CONS:

  1. As @ASV_Vites mentioned, while BOA can signal your shop’s legitimacy to some shoppers, there are also shoppers who might rather decide that if you’re in cahoots with Amazon in any way, even this small way, then they don’t want to support your business.

  2. The possibility of “friendly” fraud that could result in scams and/or affect your Amazon Seller account. Some people might see the BOA button as an invite for fraudulent returns/refunds or Seller metric sabotage to an Amazon competitor.

My experience:

I rolled the dice and had a BOA option on my own site for a while, but I had zero orders come through that route. Because of that and the several other options I offered, I discontinued it. While I don’t know if it helped, I don’t think it hurt. And that was several years ago, so shoppers might be in a different mindset with it these days.

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