Here’s the email I received earlier today, notifying me of the change to Amazon’s Affiliate Commissions policies. Relevant portion is highlighted below.

We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.

As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.

This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.

We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Associates Program

What do you think? Does this affect you in any way?

Feel free to comment below (I do “follow” links here in comments .

Performics > DoubleClick > Google Affiliate Network

Google finally completed it’s DoubleClick Performics merger and started operations as the “Google Affiliate Network” on June 30th.

They’re now accepting applications from Advertisers, and knowing Google’s famous processing lag time, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get an application in right away.

I just did, and I guess I’ll finally be able to promote my products using the affiliate network rather than PPC.

Here’s the official email from Google announcing the launch:

We are pleased to introduce Google Affiliate Network . Effective Monday, June 30, 2008, DoubleClick Performics Affiliate will operate as Google Affiliate Network. The integration with Google’s brand is a reflection of efforts to quickly assimilate our business and teams, as well as reinforce Google’s commitment to the Affiliate channel. Together with our new colleagues at Google we are creating new opportunities for monetization, expansion and innovation in Affiliate Marketing.

Within the next couple of weeks you will see some exciting changes to the user interface reflecting the new brand. The platform will continue to be hosted at www.ConnectCommerce.com, but will eventually migrate to a google.com product url.

As noted in earlier communications, DoubleClick Performics’ Search operations are being spun off and sold to a third party. While many advertisers have relationships with both DoubleClick Performics’ Affiliate and Search, there have always been separate account teams and product-specific specialists servicing clients’ search and affiliate programs. These teams remain intact. While the formal separation will occur when the Search business is sold, the businesses are functionally separate today.

We are proud of what we achieved as Performics and this name change signals a new milestone. Google provides world-class resources and enables us to continue to attract the best talent to support our advertisers and publishers. Now as part of Google we have an exciting and unprecedented opportunity to advance our industry. We remain committed to ensuring you receive the quality service you have come to expect from us.

We appreciate your business and look forward to doing great things together.

Sincerely,

Chris Henger

Group Product Manager
Google Affiliate Network

My question was very simple: I wanted to know how I could promote products using CPA (Cost Per Action) on the Google Network and allow publishers who have access to “AdSense Referrals” to promote my products by placing a piece of code on their web sites, and when someone clicked over to my web site and purchased one of my products, the publisher would get a piece of the sale.

Classic “Affiliate Program” stuff – where this time around, I wanted to be the merchant, and not the affiliate.

I contacted a Google AdWords Specialist on chat – who turned out to be not as much as a “specialist” as you would think they would be.

Read the chat transcript below to see how long it takes for the rep to even understand my question, and give out a meaningful answer. It is painfully obviously that I know more about Google Products than her!

But I am glad that she eventually gave in and deferred the question to a “technical specialist” (read: someone who knows their $hi#).

Completely unedited except for minor reformatting for readability, and removing of private content.

Chat Information: Thank you for contacting Google AdWords. Please hold a moment while we route your chat to a specialist who will help you with your question: “”.
Chat Information: AM has received your message and will be right with you.

AM: Hello Ravi. Thanks for contacting Google AdWords. I’m happy to help you.
AM: Could you clarify what you mean by referrals?
AM: Ravi, are you there?

Ravi Jayagopal: yes
Ravi Jayagopal: I meant, how would I advertise through Adsense Referrals?
Ravi Jayagopal: I’m currently using Referrals as a publisher
Ravi Jayagopal: I want to advertise my product through Referrals, so that publishers can promote my product, and then I would pay them a commission based on sale
Ravi Jayagopal: you there?

AM: Well, I am actually an AdWords specialist so I am really not familiar with AdSense Referrals.
AM: However, you can find out more at https://www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/Referrals.html?gsessionid=N8x_KdsMNys.
AM: Referrals Help Center
AM: In the Help Center, there is a Quick Start guide.

Ravi Jayagopal: I don’t want Adsense referrals, actually
Ravi Jayagopal: I want to “advertise” – so wouldn’t that fall under “AdWords”?
Ravi Jayagopal: Publisher -> Adsense
Ravi Jayagopal: Advertiser – AdWords
Ravi Jayagopal: No?

AM: Yes Ravi, but you asked about Referrals.
AM: Referrals is not a part of AdWords.
AM: It looks like you already have an AdWords account.
AM: What do you have questions about in particular?

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, here’s my question: Right now, as a “Publisher”, I pick out referral ads and display them on my site, and I make money when my visitor clicks on those referral ads and goes on to buy something. With me so far?

AM: Yes Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, now I want to put my “Advertiser” hat on and promote my product so that “other” publishers can promote “My” product through the referrals network
Ravi Jayagopal: how would I become an “Advertiser” and promote my product?

AM: Through the Content Network.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ah, that’s what I wanted to know
Ravi Jayagopal: So is there a way to say “Referrals” when I put my ad out on Adwords?

AM: You do already have an AdWords account with the email address <>.
AM: All you will need to do to appear on other sites is to opt into the content network when you create your campaigns.
AM: We don’t use that term.

Ravi Jayagopal: But when I opt-in to the “Content Network”, it automatically becomes just a PPC campaign right?

AM: We call your advertisements ads and we call our publisher sites ‘the content network.’

Ravi Jayagopal: I don’t want it to be PPC, but a CPA item

AM: You can also create a CPM campaign.
AM: Cost Per Impression if you’d like.

Ravi Jayagopal: not CPM. I’m talking about CPA – cost per action
Ravi Jayagopal: which is what Referrals is – CPA.

AM: That is not an option right now Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: then how are all these advertisers on Adsense Referrals?

AM: Again Ravi, I’m not familiar with AdSense referrals.

Ravi Jayagopal: Is there someone higher up who can help me with this question? Because it is definitely not an AdSense question – because AdSense is for Publishers

AM: If you want to contact the AdSense team to ask them about that, you can email them directly at adsense-support@google.com.

Ravi Jayagopal: and I am talking as an Advertiser

AM: Ravi, they will only be able to tell you what I am telling you, that you can create advertising campaigns that you’ll pay on an impression or click base.
AM: Those are the only options right now for our advertisers.

Ravi Jayagopal: So how are these advertisers advertising on a CPA basis? That’s what I want to know
Ravi Jayagopal: If you don’t know the answer, I would appreciate if you could put me through to someone who does
Ravi Jayagopal: But don’t tell me I’m asking the wrong question

AM: Please hold on just a moment Ravi.

Ravi Jayagopal: Ok, thanks

AM: CPA is not an option at this time in your account Ravi. I just checked with our technical specialist.

Ravi Jayagopal: Why? And when would it be?

AM: It’s a limited beta right now. If you give me the best email address to reach you at, I can email you if it does become available.

Ravi Jayagopal: ok…thanks…it’s <>

AM: You’re most welcome.

Bottom-line:
You cannot yet sign up as an “Advertiser” and promote your products through Google “Referrals”. It is in limited beta, and unless you were invited to be part of the beta, you would have to wait until they open it up to others.

As much as I love Google and probably qualify as a “Google FanBoi”, I have to say, Google sucks at most things not handled by their machines (read: Human Beings).

“Our invalid clicks rate – the activity rate – has remained in the range of less than 10% of all clicks every quarter since we launched AdWords in 2002. At Google’s current revenue rate, every percentage point of invalid clicks we throw out represents over $100 million/year in potential revenue foregone.”, says Google’s Inside Adwords Blog.

Yep, that’s $1 billion! Is it really a loss? Because that’s billing that would’ve never occurred anyway, if those were truly fraudulent clicks.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Google. You could even call me a Google fanboy. But when you put it like that, it sounds like Google’s taking a huge hit because of fraud. Doesn’t matter how you say it, sure makes them look like a hero.