Forum Moderators: skibum
But having just informed forum members on a new dvd release and having many reply saying they've ordered ( I can almost be certain at least one of those used my link, as many were saying it as if they've just ordered after using my link ).
But although the stats being updated, it shows no purchases which is making me highly doubt the reliability of the program.
Anyone else having such a 'problem'?
i don't think that amazon will shave your commisions, so it must be your fault.
Regarding reporting errors on Amazons side, I only can tell you that they did a correction for some reporting errors they found occurring end of last year and beginning of this year.
do you think they are counting all sales? i doubt it.
The more expensive an item is, the more likely an order will be canceled. This can be due to a credit card not having enough room, or the customer having second thoughts and canceling it before it ships. Also, if your orders for expensive items are through third-party vendors, this is a major problem where many, if not most, are eventually refunded. But these would show up as shipped and then refunded. Other factors that come into play include amazon not being able to get sufficient quantities from vendors to meet all sales in a timely fashion, especially for a new product. Customers give up waiting to get them online, cancel the order, and get them from a brick and mortar place.
I sold 4 items (on 4 different dates) back in May for products that cost about $1300. None of them shipped. I eventually sent an e-mail to amazon asking specifically about those, listing the ASIN for each and the dates ordered. They replied rather quickly that all 4 orders were canceled, although for privacy reasons, they couldn't disclose why they were cancelled.
I've been an Amazon associate for over three years now. I'm currently averaging over 150 items sold a month and have no evidence of Amazon shaving orders.
As one other poster said, there have been minor bugs in the Amazon reporting software program in the past, but they get ferreted out and fixed.
Test your link--go use a friend's computer (the Amazon system will remove clicks and orders made on your computur, as self-ordering is prohibited) and use your link to make an order. The click should show up in your reports the next day. If it doesn't your link is the problem.
If the link is working, well, then I'd say the problem is that you're running a forum. 500 clicks and no conversions is not unusual in this context. Even people who SAY they've used your link to make a purchase may be forgetting that they went straight to Amazon. That's why you have to test.
You could also get on the Amazon Associates boards and post your problem there. URLs are allowed, or you could post the actual code of your link. There are some helpful people there.
Messages like yours appear on a monthly basis, or even more often, on the Amazon Associates boards, and the problem has turned out to be on the Associates end in virtually all cases....
Test your link
That reminds me of one minor issue that I ran into last week:
for static links I use the ref=nosim tag within the link so that the visitor is directed to the item page (and not to the page starting with "you have clicked on this item ...").
When entering this code into dynamic links, the visitor is directed to the item page, but the visit/click didn't show up in my reports.
Anyone having a clue how to fix this?
