Amazon policy 6(y): why there is no price history with Amazon
Price history, price alerts and deal lists are popular – but tricky on sites with Amazon links. What the policy means and how affilinode handles it.
Price histories and price alerts are among the features readers value most: is the product cheap right now? Is it worth waiting? For sites with Amazon affiliate links, however, there is an important limit.
What the policy says
The Amazon Associates Program Policies (section 6(y)) do not allow price tracking and price alerts on sites with Amazon links. You can read the exact wording in Amazon’s Program Policies. Breaking the policies puts your Associates account – and with it your commission – at risk.
This post is not legal advice. The current version of the Amazon policies and your agreement with Amazon always apply.
How affilinode handles it
affilinode implements the policy in the product instead of leaving it to you:
- Amazon prices are never recorded. So no Amazon price history is created in the first place.
- With an Amazon account, price history, price alerts, deal lists and price signals are switched off – in the WordPress plugin and in the embed.
- Exception only with confirmation: if Amazon has granted you a written exception, you can confirm this in the plugin settings.
- Structured data without Amazon prices: the schema.org data the plugin outputs for search engines contains no Amazon prices.
And for other shops?
For shops whose prices may be recorded – for example Awin advertisers or your own WooCommerce shop – price history and price alerts are available, as far as the respective partner programme allows. With price alerts, your readers’ e-mail addresses stay in your website’s database; they are never sent to affilinode.
In short
With Amazon links: prices, offers, comparison tables and replacement products yes – price tracking no. affilinode makes sure your boxes stay on the right side of the policy by themselves. The features page shows everything else you can use.