Amazon and Barnes and Nobel

which to use?

[Craig_F]

Both have the books I need to sell, and I'm currently offering a few from Amazon. However, I was surprised to see that the window for the sale at Amazon is only 24hrs. Is that normal now? Last time I was involved with affiliate programs most gave you a month or more to get credit for the sale, but that was a while ago.

Anyone know what it is at Banres and Nobel? Checked their info and didn't see any mention of it.

[Brad]

>>24hrs

I think that is all you are going to get from any of them. Frankly, on books if they don't buy it right then and there they will probably go straight to Amazon or Barnes and Noble later to buy.

[Craig_F]

the 24hrs really bothers me. in my case I'm pretty sure most potential customers will have to get approval from their manager/boss/purchasing before buying and that could easily take longer than 24hrs. it gets worse when you add to it that most of these same people wouldn't know these books even existed if it wasn't for my site...

[Drastic]

I always said Amazon's aff model is one of the worst. I still have trouble understanding how people find success with it.

I don't know about Barnes and Noble's cookie duration, you might have to email them about it.

[Prandal]

I sent an email to B&N in Jan 2002 asking about the cookie duration.

The reply from the affiliate service rep essentially said that they don't use cookies for tracking purposes.

She said that tracking is accomplished by means of an affiliate source ID number used in the links, and that to receive credit the order must be placed during the duration of the visit.

[mfishy]

I am not familiar with the Amazon or BN programs, but I refuse to work with any merchants that don't have a decent cookie duration. In this case, they may go to BN via your link then go to Amazon and go back to BN and you get nada.

[Jane_Doe]

I think the bottom line of how much you make in total off the clicks is what is important to consider. Amazon only has a 24 hour window, but they convert really well and you can get up to 15% commission. You may be able to make more money with Amazon links than you can with a program with a longer cookie if the other program doesn't have as high of a conversion ratio.

The best way to see what works better for your site is to just test it out. Try some links with Amazon for a week or so and then try another bookseller without making any other changes to the site and see which program works better for you.

The nice thing about Amazon is that people often buy a lot more than books while they are shopping there. I've gotten commissions on things like digital camcorders, software, ski bibs, memory cards, kitchen appliances, etc. based on sales from sites where the only thing advertised on the sites is books.

[nuhkweb]

Hello,

For selling books to bring a decent profit, when running, lets say a country-related info and travel site, what traffic (pages/day) is recommend so that it's really worth to start with this?
Any suggestions?

Nhuk

[Shawn Collins]

>> I am not familiar with the Amazon or BN programs, but I refuse to work with any merchants that don't have a decent cookie duration.

I can understand where you are coming from, but I would encourage you to test them before deciding that the cookie is a make or break issue.

I promote both Amazon and BN from various sites, and they post seen to consistantly generate a minimum of 1% conversion - upwards of 5% on a good promo.

[Iguana]

On the music side of things - On a daily basis, I send 400 click throughs to B&N and 1200 to Amazon. I reckon that I make about 7 times more money from Amazon. That better conversion rate (e.g. people buying CDs like/trust/have had good service from Amazon) is why I would recommend Amazon

[div01]

The thing I notice with Amazon is that a big chunk of my sales are in products that I do not link to and are not related to my sites. So people tend to click through, look around, find a few deals, and buy on impulse. You won't get any 15% sales this way, but it is still not bad.

[rcjordan]

> I notice with Amazon is that a big chunk of my sales are in products that I do not link to and are not related to my sites. So people tend to click through, look around, find a few deals, and buy on impulse.

I see this mentioned often re Amazon. Like Drastic says, I can't see how Amazon affing works as well as it does for some, this must be part of it.

[div01]

Anyone here run the affiliate program from Powell's? I noticed that they cut their payments from 15% to 10%.

[danny]

Are there any other bookshop affiliate programs worth considering? I've experimented briefly with the B&N one without much success, but I've started trialling it on a few reviews again.

[peewhy]

From a UK perspective, Amazon has a much larger profile that B&N.

[Brad]

In the US Powells is very nice as well.

Each one has their strength and weaknesses. Amazon probably converts the best because more people have heard of them, trust them, or have already ordered from them and have an account. The downside with Amazon are cluttered pages and offers of used books/items from Amazon partners that would only earn you a 2.5% commission.

[peewhy]

I remember being absolutely gob smacked the first time I visted Barnes & Noble in America, we are used to WH Smith type of book shops in the UK, so to pick up a book, buy a coffee, sit in a leather chesterfield and lose yourself...whether the pressure to buy - that's what all book shops should be like.

If you haven't been to the states, you are unlikely to have heard of B&N, so Amazon winds purely on profile.

Are B&N books cheaper online including shipping than off the shelf?

[Brad]

>>Are B&N books cheaper online including shipping than off the shelf?

I think about the same. BN runs a continual special: buy two items and qualify for free shipping, which is nice.

I think you can return books bought through BN online to the nearest bricks and mortar BN store. If they still allow that it would seem to be a selling point.

[div01]

Just as an fyi;

I got an email from Powell's stating that they are once again reducing their commissions, now down to 7.5%.

[jimh009]

For books, Amazon is a good program. The 24 hour cookie, though, makes it rather useless to promote anything else, though. I personally have had great luck selling Amazon books, but absolutely nothing else except for an occasional digital photography related accessory.

Everything I've read about B&N from other affiliates is thumbs down. While your own mileage may vary, other affiliates have consistently said Amazon converts way better than BN.

Right now, using ASIN links only, I convert at 7% overall - higher if only book clicks are counted.

Hope this helps.

Jim

[chewy]

Do folks tend to prefer the "Classic" or "Tiered" approach?

I tend to prefer Classic.

Chew

[div01]

I don't do enough volume to make the tiered level worth it.

[ThatAdamGuy]

Here's the bottom line, at least for me.

I make an average of 2-3 cents per click thru with Amazon. Really pathetic.

It's more than I make with most CJ.com links, but much, much less than I make with dating and credit card links.

[Clark]

Didn't amazon used to have a much longer cookie. These payouts are pathetic. They were built by affiliates and now that they made it screw their partners. Very sad. I used to have some links to Amazon and did great. Now I know why the numbers went down (as did the links).

[div01]

Refer to my posts about the steady decline in Powell's payout percentage...and look at the other booksellers - they are all about the same.