New Updates to the Amazon Influencer Agreement
Have you seen the new updates to the TOS agreement? Take heed to stay compliant! It was best explained by my friend Ehud Segev in his Logie community. I wasn't able to share the post link, but here is his break down (though lengthy): Here’s a clear, plain-English breakdown of exactly what’s changing in the Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement and Program Policies effective April 14, 2026. Amazon’s “what’s changed” summary is vague and as always very hard to understand (probably in purpose lol), so I pulled the current (pre-change) rules from the official Operating Agreement and Program Policies pages (still live as of now) and compared them directly to the announced updates. I’ll quote the old wording where it exists, explain the new rule, and tell you what it actually means for associates/influencers in practice. 1. Associates Program Commission Income Statement – Qualifying Purchases This is the big section that defines what counts as a commissionable sale. What it used to be (current rules): Qualifying Purchases require: * Customer clicks your Special Link (or uses your tagged Alexa skill). * They buy during the session/cookie window (24 hours for most stuff, up to 89 days if they add to cart). * AND “the Product is shipped to, streamed or downloaded by, and paid for by the customer.” Disqualified purchases include a narrow list, such as: * Stuff bought after you terminate your account. * Cancellations/refunds. * Only specific paid search ads where you bid on Amazon trademarks/keywords like “amazon” or “kindle” (called “Prohibited Paid Search Placement”). No 180-day limit mentioned anywhere.35 What’s changing (new rules effective April 14): * Added 180-day time limit: The product must now be shipped to, streamed or downloaded by, and paid for by the customer within 180 days to qualify. (The exact phrasing in the update confirms this is a new hard cutoff.) * Expanded disqualified purchases: Now includes any products bought by customers who came through any paid or boosted advertisement linking to Amazon (e.g., boosted posts on social media, paid ads on Meta/Google/etc., even influencer “boosts”). This applies regardless of whether you used prohibited keywords. Limited exceptions will apply (Amazon hasn’t detailed them yet, but expect them to be narrow).