skibum - 4:31 am on Apr 13, 2009 (gmt 0)

I think this is related to the same issue that Google wanted to address last month. The affiliate traffic is good for amazon but there is no real value that the affiliate is adding to earn their commission.

:) I've seen a number of merchants who think that too. They'll come out with a new policy that says no PPC bidding direct to the merchant and then a few months later when the affiliate program tanks and their in-house teams or agencies can't hack it they come back looking for affiliates to fill in the gap. It's surprising what someone doing PPC in their underwear who has to take PPC costs out of an affiliate payout can do compared to an agency getting paid by the hour or on a percentage of media spend.