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Hello everyone,

Recently my Amazon account that was used in my digital camera niche site got banned. The site ranks on the first page for buying keywords and the conversion rate was high but unfortunately I unknowingly violated their terms and " got the letter"..

So basically now the site is useless to me . Mind that this site was created to replicate another site ranking for the same keywords and does not have any trouble with Amazon as far as I can tell.. My take on the reasons for b an are:
1.Brand in the url (that cannot change but the other site also has it)
2.Did not have Privacy Policy - Terms - Affiliate Disclosure
3.Did use somehow misleading claims like (product best price/get this offer)
4.Users were unawere they were being redirected to Amazon(used PrettyLink plugin)

However all these are reversible except the first.
2. I have added a Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions (Still needs affiliate disclosure).
3.As for #3 you do not have to use any claims. You can just post some info about the product and include a link in the end that says "check current price on Amazon". Visitor are allready ready to buy..
4.Do not use PrettyLink.

So the site needs a little cleaning before any links are live agian but nothing special. Maybe around 2 hours max..

Note that these are my assumptions and do not guarantee that your account will be safe. But using the other site as a model we can make an estimated guess. Anyone that has experience on that please help. You must be aware that this site got my account banned. I don't want you to lose your account too so please take in to consideration that there is risk involved in this..

The site performed very well and in Ferbruary it saw a bump in traffic avg 42 sessions/day alone and since 19(ban day) it reached $90 in commissions. The potential is huge if you consider the site has just started to climb the first page ladder and is likely to outrank no1 as it has a stronger backlink profile. Great backlinks have been built (high PR articles) for the site and it is still climbing the rankings.

If you have any questions please ask and anyone interested in the site please pm me serious offers.

Thanks

Hi,
a good read for those doing the Amazon affiliates and sorry to hear that, ktavas. A far as I know, if you start to earn big like $100 or more per day, that you need to be careful as Amazon staffs going to look into your account and sites. I know some successful affiliates use several Amazon accounts (use family members name)
Besides the 4 points outlined above (the #3 i am unsure it violated Amazon TOS), you also cannot put the Amazon product's price and embed some of the Amazon videos on your site. The #4 should be do not cloak the links.

Thank you for your points wonghing. I had actually mentioned some product prices myself too! Newbie me! Making this site was actually a nice learning journey for me. A success and failure a the same time. Most important things I learned is that you should cherish your amazon account and most importantly that if you try hard you will make it

For now since I have no serious offers for the site I will try some other affiliate programs although I know nothing compares to amazon.

is there an option to appeal

send me the URL of the site if you can.I might be interested

If you can't send me whole details like number of articles, backlinks, domain age etc

(04-17-2015 08:13 PM)funky Wrote: [ -> ]is there an option to appeal

I am afraid no.. There is a guide around that is supposed to get you another account but you have to change ip, mac address and things like that . I won't go that route for now

another issue is if your site has no unique content and you are making like 5 figure on amazon affiliate? then goodbye to your account, they will find fault on your accounts and they have more reasons for you to get banned. scripts like wordpress shopping cart with amazon autopost plugin is a nono but if you're a newbie its a good system to start making $ quickly.I am an amazon six figure affiliate and seller and i know the ins and outs of this company. They don't need small affiliates that mess up their company's reputation. They don't even care if you are six figure earner as affiliate, they will ban you with no explanation at all. They're already huge, so if you don't have unique content for their products? Like well written review article. Start looking for other company because once staff reviews your site and they feel banning you? You will be surprised that you receive the magic ban email. Goodluck

If it ranks higher already, I know another monetization for that.
Could you PM me the URL? I might be interested in buying it.

(05-11-2015 12:36 AM)foo Wrote: [ -> ]another issue is if your site has no unique content and you are making like 5 figure on amazon affiliate? then goodbye to your account, they will find fault on your accounts and they have more reasons for you to get banned. scripts like wordpress shopping cart with amazon autopost plugin is a nono but if you're a newbie its a good system to start making $ quickly.I am an amazon six figure affiliate and seller and i know the ins and outs of this company. They don't need small affiliates that mess up their company's reputation. They don't even care if you are six figure earner as affiliate, they will ban you with no explanation at all. They're already huge, so if you don't have unique content for their products? Like well written review article. Start looking for other company because once staff reviews your site and they feel banning you? You will be surprised that you receive the magic ban email. Goodluck

What do you mean by "wordpress shopping cart"? Those plugins that if the customer clicks your link, it will be automatically added to their cart? Did you mean plugins like EasyAzon?

why don't you try using adsense on it, it might be worth it depending on your niche..

I have thought about it and It has nice cpc but as I have said there is a brand in the domain which is a "little bit" against adsense policies. Although I have seen many sites having adsense in brand domains I don't want to risk losing my adsense account too! Also note that the traffic isn't that big, it is just that it is ranking for keywords like "product promo code" and so the traffic is ready to buy.