DAMN AMAZON

1. 69

   lady luckposted 17 years ago

   Does anyone ever make money off of AMAZON? I got NOTHING...any tricks?!

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   1. 73

      waynetposted 17 years agoin reply to this

      I have made cash off of Amazon and I know one good thing is to get as many links and valuable content as possible to your blogs and websites.
      
      Specific product reviews work quite well too but you need to list the benefits of the products or services to really make a difference and convert sales.
      
      Although the best trick is to get as much traffic to your hubs, blogs and web pages as possible and that needs to be targeted traffic, IE: people who may be searching for products or specific information online.
      
      Good luck! er...Lady Luck!

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2. 91

   gamergirlposted 17 years ago

   You can't really FORCE people to buy from one capsule or another.  The best thing to do is target your amazon capsule's content in direct relation to your hub content, but make sure that the stuff in your amazon capsule is something lots of people would be interested in.

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3. 72

   Inspirepubposted 17 years ago

   Very few Hubbers have made money from Amazon.
   
   Check out Mark's Hubs on iPods and other gadgets to see how they do - it's more product sales than book sales, generally, from what people have said.
   
   I have an Amazon capsule on just about every Hub, and that's 90-odd capsules, and I think i might have had one sale in four months?
   
   I use them for decorative purposes.
   
   Jenny

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   1. 69

      lady luckposted 17 years agoin reply to this

      Glad to know I'm not alone LOL

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   2. 69

      lady luckposted 17 years agoin reply to this

      Glad to know I'm not the only one who has trouble with Amazon.
      
      Mark I will def. take your advice.
      
      That's interesting about Squidoo...I kinda hate Squidoo though, I find it annoying?

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      teerayposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      I agree - they look nice - decorative
      
      I don't have good luck with Amazon sales, either - then again - I also know that I have to create better hubs, too!

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4. 78

   Bard of Elyposted 17 years ago

   I am using Amazon for decorative purposes too! But you never know - maybe one day a sale or sales even! lol

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5. 88

   stephhicks68posted 17 years ago

   Well, in 5 months, I have made just a bit over $10 from Amazon (enough to finally get paid - hooray!).  But, with eBay.... nada.  So, I guess those are my wallpaper capsules.  LOL!

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6. 77

   Uninvited Writerposted 17 years ago

   I've never sold any books at Amazon through here. I have sold 4 books from one of my Blogger accounts, but that blog is more specialized. I've made a grand total of $3.16., Amazon made $79.08.

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   1. 73

      Shirley Andersonposted 17 years agoin reply to this

      Wow....whatcha gonna buy with all that?  You've still made more than me.  Not one sale.

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7. 88

   stephhicks68posted 17 years ago

   Oh yeah, you are so right!  I just went back and checked and was pleasantly surprised... I have sold 19 items for Amazon (and 3rd parties) since January.  I've made about $12 and they've made hundreds!!  What a deal.  By the way... be sure to check the box that you want more than the flat rate. Once you pass I think 5 shipped items, you can earn more than the small 4.0% commission.  It jumps to 6.0%.  But you have to actively request this.  Otherwise it stays at 4.0% forever.

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   1. 77

      Uninvited Writerposted 17 years agoin reply to this

      Done, thanks

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8. 60

   Mark Knowlesposted 17 years ago

   Just a suggestion.
   
   Write a few hubs around very very cheap items that sell well. Like iPhone earphones
   
   Amazon ups your percentage based on the total amount of sales - not the value. Sell 50 $20 items and your percentage goes up. Sell one 1, $1,000 item it doesn't. That way, when you sell a Nikon D3 - you get 6.5% instead of 4

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   1. 77

      Uninvited Writerposted 17 years agoin reply to this

      Great tip

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9. 88

   stephhicks68posted 17 years ago

   Right - good point Mark!

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10. 80

    crashcromwellposted 17 years ago

    I have refused to put links to Amazon on my hubs out of principle. A couple months ago Amazon announced they will only sell Print On Demand books that have been printed by BookSurge. Who owns BookSurge? You guessed it, Amazon. This has had a profound impact on small Independent presses that rely on POD to be profitible. It seemed to me and a bunch of other writers I know that Amazon is trying to corner the market.
    
    Jim Henry

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11. 73

    Shirley Andersonposted 17 years ago

    I just read Mark's post, what terrific advice, thx Mark.

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12. 61

    Mark Bennettposted 17 years ago

    I have never made a penny out of Amazon, either.

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13. 82

    Whitney05posted 17 years ago

    I've made over $100 with amazon, but I'm sure I would have made more if I had had my amazin ID accurate for the first half of my stay at HubPages.
    
    Here's what I go by when picking items and placing capsules within my hubs:
    * Blend in your capsules
    * Don't put all the amazon capsules at the end
    * Add hand picked items that are relevant to your hubs
    * Pick cheap and medium priced items
    
    Steph, I don't have to repeatedly click option for the rising tier. I've never had to touch it, and my tier goes up each month automatically with sales.

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       stephhicks68posted 17 years agoin reply to this

       Great tips, Whitney.  I think you only have to pick the performance option once and then it automatically rises afterwards.  I have shipped 17 of 19 items ordered, but was still at 4% until I noticed that error 2 days ago.  Now, I shouldn't have to do anything else from here on out. 

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       1. 82

          Whitney05posted 17 years agoin reply to this

          I've never had to click it from the start... Hm.. It automatically put me in that payment option.

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    2. 60

       PianoGeekposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Speaking of Amazon ID, I have just joined and I have had Amazon for selling on my website.  So, today when I signed up for the first time I put in the Tracking ID as my ID.   I searched all over the amazon site for another ID but can't find one and I am not sure if the Tracking ID IS the right one.
       
       Can you tell me if I have the right ID or where I should go to find it.  I am perplexed?!?!
       
       Thanks

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14. 55

    FSSposted 17 years ago

    never, i actually took my code off because its a waste of time

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15. 68

    relacheposted 17 years ago

    My HubPages bring in $20-$25/month from Amazon.  April sales (US tax season) were almost non-existent, but that happens every year.

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    1. 82

       Whitney05posted 17 years agoin reply to this

       That's about what I see. This month I'm near $50. I agree April was a bad month for sales. But, like you said it's normal.

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16. 84

    kerrygposted 17 years ago

    I tend to do better with Amazon on Squidoo than HubPages. I'm not sure why, since I choose books and other products based on the same principles (relevance, namely) for both.

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    1. 68

       relacheposted 17 years agoin reply to this

       I do much better with Amazon on Squidoo too, and I think it's because the product feeds pull more info and you have five different modules you can use to showcase the items you pick.

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17. 46

    johnr54posted 17 years ago

    Mark's advice is dead on.  Just sticking a bunch of books on the end of a hub is a waste of time, unless you are reviewing the books or making a specific recommendation about a book as a source of more information on a topic.
    
    Product reviews work well, or how to articles where the how to requires some unique tools or other item.  As an example, on one gardening hub, I noted that birds are often a problem with one type of berry, and next to that paragraph put a couple of bird nets, and that works OK.
    
    If you put a link in that helps solve a problem, or is recommended by a review in the hub, then buying something is the natural flow out of the hub.  If it's just random books nailed on the end of a hub, you'll be lucky to ever sell anything.

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18. 57

    Buggyposted 17 years ago

    It's easier to make Amazon sales with Squidoo simply because you can add your own review or sales pitch for each Amazon item.
    
    With Hubpages, you're limited to an image, title and price, so you need to be a little more creative. As everyone else has stated, it's pretty much a waste of time to tack a bunch of amazon links on at the end.

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19. 74

    jimmythejockposted 17 years ago

    How much does it cost you to put an Amazon ad capsule into a hub?
    How much time does it take to add an Amazon capsule to a hub?
    
    
    Its free and takes no time at all and someone may just click on it and buy something it may not be as much as you make on google or ebay but hey every penny counts, I make around $3-5 a month from Amazon just for clicking on a capsule.
    some months  I don't make any money from Amazon but hey for the time it takes to add a capsule to a hub who cares?
    you have nothing to lose and $3-5 is better in your pocket than someone else's........jimmy

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20. 87

    Marisa Wrightposted 16 years ago

    Your tracking ID is your ID.  You're OK.
    
    I've made about $4, even though I always use the ASIN option and carefully select my products to be relevant to the Hub.  Even so, I've continued to use them for decorative purposes - but now I'm wondering.
    
    After all, an Amazon ad is a nice, colourful thing that attracts a reader to click on it.  But it seems like when they do, they rarely buy anything.  Even if they do, because I'm in Austraila, all I will get is a gift voucher (not real money). 
    
    Now, if that Amazon ad wasn't there to tempt them, what would my reader do?  Maybe they would click on an eBay ad, or an Adsense one, in which case I might actually make something.
    
    Hmmm.  Maybe I should rethink the decorative value of my Amazon ads....?

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    1. 60

       PianoGeekposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       THANK YOU.....Now I can move on knowing that is working.
       
       Interesting thoughts about the ad though.  I have been running adsense and amazon and commission junction on my website and adsense IS the one that I am getting money, rather, pennies from, and have yet collected money from a completed sale from Amazon or commission junction.

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    2. 81

       embitcaposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       This month so far I have made -$1.06 on Amazon
       
       On the other hand, Ebay has made me about $65 just from my hubs. So I think you have a point. I usually will skip including Amazon capsules unless I'm having a hard time pulling relevant listings from Ebay (so difficult sometimes).
       
       Amazon has a 24 hour cookie.  Ebay has 7 day and 30 day cookies.

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       1. 82

          Whitney05posted 16 years agoin reply to this

          I've been attempting to pull more ebay capsules lately, but I've given up on almost all of my search attempts because I haven't been able to pull up the items I'm wanting to grab. :-\ I almost always end up having to use amazon capsules so that I can for sure get the products I want, and I usually throw 2 ebay capsules in the middle and/or end in a column format in hopes that they'll pull something relevant. :-\ I do like the 7 day and 30 day cookies much better than the amazon 24 hour cookie, but it can be so hard finding the products you're looking for sometimes. Do you have any tips in regards to finding products in the ebay capsules?
          
          Embitca, I'm really trying out your advice in making more product oriented hubs, in hopes for more product sales. I know I've sold 3 dremel pet nail clippers that I featured in a hub plublished just 8 days ago; two of those sales were the day after publication. It's just hard thinking of hubs that may sell products and still giving enough pet tips, so that the hub doesn't look cluttered with affiliate sales capsules. Hopefully, my grooming product hubs will fair well in product sales, although, most people will probably just use the tips and purchase the items at the store. :-\

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       2. 69

          lady luckposted 16 years agoin reply to this

          Oh i need to sign up for e-bay DAMN

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21. 59

    spudsposted 16 years ago

    Yeah between HubPages and my blog I make anywhere from $1 to $100 on Amazon a month.

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22. 81

    embitcaposted 16 years ago

    Hey Whitney, part of the problem is that the Hubpages Ebay capsule doesn't allow for a lot of customizing. I find the most frustrating thing is knowing that Ebay has exactly what I want to promote, but I can't get the listing to display because of a bunch of garbage auctions that are in the way. On my own sites I have total control over this because I can pull from specific categories and only pull auctions that have bids on them already and make filters for pricing, etc. You can actually do this on Squidoo too. I wish Hubpages would let us get to some of these filters.
    
    What you can do though, and I'm not sure how many people are aware of it is use a negative filter. Just put a minus sign in front of a keyword. So, for example if I were searching for Wii games, but didn't want consoles to show up, I could put "wii games -console" in my search box. Sometimes it really is not enough, but it can help. And I seem to remember that I have multiple negative keywords on some of my hubs. I think...
    
    I never worry about having too many affiliate capsules. Pet owners spend like crazy. Right now on Ebay pulse, for the Pets category, two of of the top 10 searches are Frontline (#7) and Advantage (#9). You could do a hub on Frontline vs Advantage and include capsules for both products on your page. I bet they would sell.
    
    Under the dogs category specifically, two of the top 10 searches are dog beds and dog collars.  There's also another search which looks like it has potential and I am going to work on it right now and we shall see if I make money from it LOL

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       Marisa Wrightposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Great tip!  I like the new hair, BTW.

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    2. 82

       Whitney05posted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Kind of like on google searches. I never thought of trying it on the ebay capsules. I'll have to try it out.
       
       
       
       Thanks! I like the dog collar idea; I think I'll have to work on that one. Ha.
       
       I have a few other ideas now that you've mentioned it.. I'll be looking out for your new idea; maybe I can get a few tips for how you layout your product hubs. ;-)
       
       By the way where can you check the top searches for any category?

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23. 69

    DJ Funktualposted 16 years ago

    I wish I understood this you guys.   I've made zilch on amazon despite doing a lot of things mentioned here.   Grrr.   Made $12.00 from google this whole time.   
    
    I faintly hear the words..  What a Waste! 
    
    I am gonna go to university and rent me a nerd.   I'm totally clueless.
    
    Is there a smiley for lazy bastard!

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       darksideposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       

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24. 81

    embitcaposted 16 years ago

    You can drill down into the categories in Ebay's Pulse on this page:
    http://pulse.ebay.com/index/20081_1
    
    If you take a look at my Vera Bradley hub you can see how I laid that one out:
    http://hubpages.com/hub/Discount-Vera-B … ags-Purses
    
    I've already made sales off of that too. I think three or four now.
    
    My Divx DVD hub is laid out differently and I think I followed some of Mark Knowle's lay-outs for his product hubs. This one primarily pushes Amazon, but I should probably switch it
    
    http://hubpages.com/hub/5-Best-DIVX-DVD-Players
    
    I've made some sales from that as well, but I need to get some more traffic to it.
    
    
    Marisa, glad you like the hair-do, but it is a wig ! My hair is very short and very blonde at the moment.

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       Whitney05posted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Cool. I've checked out the Pulse, and I have a few more ideas. I'm actually working on a hub currently with your vera bradley hub layout. Hopefully it will be as prosperous as your purse hub.
       
       I really appreciate your help.

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          lady luckposted 16 years agoin reply to this

          DAMN that was good.

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25. 81

    embitcaposted 16 years ago

    No problem, I'm always happy to help. I love Ebay a lot and think it has a lot of potential for affiliates. I always wanted to be an Ebay power seller, but it was too much work. This is much easier
    
    Can't wait to see your new hubs!

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26. 82

    Whitney05posted 16 years ago

    I just published one of the ones I was thinking about; the one with your vera bradley layout. We'll see how it goes. lol

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27. 81

    embitcaposted 16 years ago

    I just posted a reply. That was exactly the topic i was going to do. hahaha! I will do a different designer instead.
    
    Oh, and that hub will totally make money. You should post a pet article to Ezinearticles.com with a link back to that hub and another pet hub of yours. It will help it get more traffic so you can make more sales.
    
    Be sure and come back to this thread and post some results in a week or two.

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    1. 82

       Whitney05posted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Just thought I'd update on the Coach Dog hub, and it's been 2 weeks and no sales from it. :-( Although, I did sell a Coach dog collar from my dog collar hub.

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28. 82

    Whitney05posted 16 years ago

    I'll definitely post results on this thread in a week or two. I hope to get sales... The topic was harder than I thought. lol It looks simple, but ugh.. lol
    
    I've heard ezinearticles are decent with traffic, but I've never really fooled with it. I may have to check it out. Thanks for the tip

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29. 81

    embitcaposted 16 years ago

    Interesting. Did you ever get around to writing some articles for Ezinearticles to point back to your hubs?
    
    When I put together my Vera Bradley purse hub I actually got some purchases on that right away and then it kind of faded off, but I haven't bothered to promote it at all.

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    waiting4uposted 16 years ago

    I don't have any luck with amazon either

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31. 60

    Lifeworksposted 16 years ago

    Hi
    
    I've just had my request to Amazon rejected because they said they won't allow me to use Amazon links on Hubpage.com, only on my own sites.  This is what they wrote:
    _____________________
    
    Greetings from Amazon.com Associates. 
    
    Thank you for taking the time to submit your application.
    Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept your application.  Upon review, I noticed that you supplied the popular site http://www.hubpages.com as your registered URL.
    
    We need a complete and valid URL for the web site where you intend to create links to Amazon.com before we can process an application.
    
    If you do have your own URL, please resubmit your application and remember to include the URL of your web site. 
    
    Thanks for your interest in the Associates Program.
    
    __________________________
    
    Maybe I requested the wrong thing?  Any tips?
    
    Best wishes
    Christine
    
    
    ________________________

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    1. 65

       Maddie Ruudposted 16 years agoin reply to this

       Sounds like they're just looking for your profile URL, as opposed to just the HubPages domain.  However, Mark's suggestion above is a good one.

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    Mark Knowlesposted 16 years ago

    Set up a free blogger blog or wordpress blog and use that as your url and add hubpages afterwards.
    https://www.blogger.com/start
    http://wordpress.com/
    
    I find hubpages works best in conjunction with my own blogs, so it is probably a good idea to set one up with your own domain name.

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    mheiposted 16 years ago

    i have an account with amazon way before i started with hub pages, well, so far i just earned $7.50 ...need i say more?

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