Got screwed by the California Amazon affiliate decision; any recommendations?

SEO4hire

SEO4hire

Albany Plantation SEO
Jul 4, 2009
245
8
0
California
I have 10+ Amazon sites, and was one of the ones that got boned a few months ago when Amazon cut tires with Cali affiliates. Now I am kind of in limbo with my sites, trying to figure out what to do. Three sites are in the top 10 (one has been at #1 for months now), and another 5 are in the top 30 and can easily crack the top 10 if I spend the time and money on them.

So my questions are:

  • Are there any other plugins like ReviewAZON out there that anyone recommends? Something for Buy.com, Walmart, etc.?
  • Would it be better to try to sell these sites to other Amazon affiliates outside of California?
 


Why not sell the sites? There are plenty of potential buyers here if you can prove it earned something.

-Jeff
 
My long-term plan wasn't to sell them, but obviously Amazon changed things for myself and many others a few months ago. Therefore, it only makes sense to consider selling them. PM me if you want a list of the sites, their rankings and earnings. The site that is currently #1 got there right around the time Amazon severed ties with me, so obviously earnings is purely based on potential.

@metaldragon: I may be open to selling, but obviously the "right price" is the magic word/phrase. I am OK financially, so I am not looking to dump them. PM me if you want a list of the sites, their current ranking and their earnings.
 
1. Sell the sites.
2. Switch to different program (e.g. Buy.com)
3. Relocate your business in another state

Search for Berto's posts on this topic from earlier this year. He's done some solid work on the legal / tax side of things.
 
PopShops is not quite like ReviewAZON, but it's a pretty nice tool for making quick datafeed-based sites using a lot of merchants that don't have similar software designed around their affiliate programs. They have both a store builder and a Wordpress plugin (though you really have to look to find the Wordpress plugin on their site).

Switching affiliate programs is really ideal IF you can do it without too much technical hassle and you know your new merchant(s) will convert at or close to the same rate as the previous one(s). If you have decent low-maintenance sites and you've built them with the long-run in mind, you'll probably make more money by holding on to them and figuring out a new monetization strategy. On the other hand, if you feel like they're a little shaky and they could stop generating income with any new Google update anyway, you'd be silly not to sell. It's not worth the time to reconfigure if it's not a site that's going to continue to do well for a long time.

Of course, finding new affiliate programs and selling aren't your only options (depending on the specific site/niche/merchants, of course). You can always take the sales data you have so far and approach either your existing merchant or a similar merchant and offer a non-commission-based arrangement for placement. Although I don't know about Amazon, a lot of smaller merchants are very open to entertaining the idea of flat-rate advertising/product features if they know you can produce sales.
 
I'm not sure what ended up happening with that law but if it didn't pass just email them and ask to be reinstated and they'll do it. When that happened to me I just changed my address and on file with them and asked to be reinstated and they didn't ask any questions.
 
Thanks for the input guys. After taking all of your advice into consideration, I think I will regroup, tighten the sites up a bit, and look into the LLC option. I have never checked into it, so I am clueless as to how to go about it. Time to go stumble around in the dark for awhile and figure it out.

I keep getting e-mails from Buy.com about being the perfect substitute for Amazon.com. Looks like they are smartly trying to pick up Amazon's California scraps. Has anyone seen a plugin for Buy.com? I was also considering this - anyone using it?
 
SEO4hire said:
Thanks for the input guys. After taking all of your advice into consideration, I think I will regroup, tighten the sites up a bit, and look into the LLC option. I have never checked into it, so I am clueless as to how to go about it. Time to go stumble around in the dark for awhile and figure it out.

I keep getting e-mails from Buy.com about being the perfect substitute for Amazon.com. Looks like they are smartly trying to pick up Amazon's California scraps. Has anyone seen a plugin for Buy.com? I was also considering this - anyone using it?
Click to expand...

Hop on a plane to delaware, then when you're on the plane open this link.
 
SEO4hire said:
Thanks for the input guys. After taking all of your advice into consideration, I think I will regroup, tighten the sites up a bit, and look into the LLC option. I have never checked into it, so I am clueless as to how to go about it. Time to go stumble around in the dark for awhile and figure it out.

I keep getting e-mails from Buy.com about being the perfect substitute for Amazon.com. Looks like they are smartly trying to pick up Amazon's California scraps. Has anyone seen a plugin for Buy.com? I was also considering this - anyone using it?
Click to expand...

buy.com is on Linkshare, Newegg is on CJ. Walmart also has program on Linkshare. I personally dont like linkshare becoz of all the stupid parasite issues they had in the past. Linkshare is the worst of those "branded" networks, CJ is still the best and dont forget shareasale.
 
Sometimes I overthink things. I took Tyler's advice and changed my address to my dad's in Texas, then sent them an e-mail telling them that I had moved in with him, had changed my info, and to please let me know once my account is active. Today I received an e-mail that said the following:

I confirmed that your contact and payee addresses have been updated. Because you have changed your state of residence, your account has been reinstated. However, we want to be sure you are aware that you may be asked to provide proof of residency at your new address. If this is the case, we will contact you with instructions on what documentation to provide and the submission process for this documentation.

Lesson of the day: sometimes it is better to just try something and see what happens instead of going over dozens of different scenarios in your head for 2 months.

+1 for Tyler...thanks for your input guys.
 
SEO4hire said:
Sometimes I overthink things. I took Tyler's advice and changed my address to my dad's in Texas, then sent them an e-mail telling them that I had moved in with him, had changed my info, and to please let me know once my account is active. Today I received an e-mail that said the following:
<snip>
Click to expand...

No offense - but this is a very bad move in terms of legal liability.

You are now committing tax fraud. You really need the registered legal entity to exist in another state.

I'd highly recommend spending the money on a tax attorney to sort it out for you. ASAP.
 
Sharksfan said:
No offense - but this is a very bad move in terms of legal liability.

You are now committing tax fraud. You really need the registered legal entity to exist in another state.

I'd highly recommend spending the money on a tax attorney to sort it out for you. ASAP.
Click to expand...

This. If Amazon is sending 1099s to TX and you are filing taxes in CA, the IRS will not be please if significant $ involved.

If you're making enough from Amazon, a tax attorney is a good option. Again, see what Berto had to say on this issue.
 
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