US/UK eBay and Amazon

1. 71

   cornwall_UKposted 13 years ago

   One thing that 'annoys' me, is that when I use the Amazon and eBay capsules in a lot of my writing I feel maybe I should rip them out because they're both the US Amazon and the US eBay and I'm writing (especially for the travel contest at the moment) about places in my local area.
   
   So, I think the questions are:
   
   1] If somebody clicks on a US Amazon item but is in the UK, so then goes to UK Amazon to look for books, is that then "lost" to me?  I think it must be as they are separate affiliate programmes
   
   2] If somebody clicks on a US eBay item, then realises it's in the US and switches to eBay UK, is that item "lost" to me if they buy?  I think probably it's OK as it works on campaignIDs.
   
   Also, writing about products, it's the same problem.  Unless I write about US products for the US market, most people clicking through will just realise they're not on their country site and disappear. 
   
   I write about some things that simply don't exist in the US Amazon/eBay, but do exist on the UK sites.  There was a book somebody wrote that I mentioned in one article I wrote last week, available on UK Amazon, and apparently on US Amazon, but not available in the module - I found the book on US Amazon, gave the module the full url to it and it said it didn't exist.
   
   Annoying ... and tends to hold me back.  Not to mention lost potential revenue.

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, afraid so.
      
      
      
      Good question - not sure.  Maybe someone else can confirm?
      
      
      
      That happens sometimes, it's a glitch.  Try putting in the ASIN, or try using the keyword search and putting in the whole title.  Sometimes that will work where the URL won't.

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2. 92

   Susana Sposted 13 years ago

   Yes, you lose the sale if they go over to amazon UK (pretty sure it's the same for ebay), but there are ways around this!
   
   First you can add an amazon html link with your UK ID in (i'm just starting to do this on some of my hubs). So at the very top of the hub you would write something like: "From the UK? Click here to see such and such product" which directs to amazon.co.uk.
   
   You can also create an amazon astore which uses your UK ID and then direct UK customers there.
   
   These links are subject to the two links per hub rule.
   
   I don't have ebay so can't help with that.

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3. 63

   ns1209posted 13 years ago

   I know is annoying - also with all my football hubs I got to call it soccer as I am selling US products and that is what they search for!
   
   About your question Amazon definitely lost sale, Ebay I think you might be alright as you can buy items from different countries on Ebay?
   
   However you can use Amazon UK links - I do sometimes!
   
   Still I do think Hubpages should let you use Amazon UK capsules as well but I can understand why they don't due to confusion and extra hassle and the fact they are based in the U.S
   
   Good luck and hope you sell some Amazon UK and US products!

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4. 69

   thisisoliposted 13 years ago

   The problem is that Amazon US and Amazon UK are in effect two different companies. They use completely different categorization systems, which makes it near impossible to use the ASIN tool, although keywords are a possibility.
   
   I do hope hubpages brigns out some kind of localized Amazon advertising, since it would increase my earnigns.
   
   For now just create an a-store and link to it at the top of the hub!

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   1. 0

      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I too would like to see the opportunity to use Amazon.co.uk capsules on some of my hubs. This is a big market, another 60 million people in a developed country, and one which Hubpages should really be looking at opening up.
      
      It is effectively a $2.67 trillion dollar market with 3 times the population of New York State. More than 10% of my traffic is UK traffic, and most of that is to very specific targeted hubpages which are useless or irrelevant to Americans.
      
      So I agree wholeheartedly, it needs to be opened up. I have even seen products on the UK Amazon which I believe would be snapped up by US based Anglophiles.

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5. 0

   ryankettposted 13 years ago

   You do not get commission for sales that occur from the UK site, only US site.
   
   Occassionally however a UK based individual may purchase an item from the US site, if its not available on the UK one.
   
   I think that somebody mentioned that this shows as a gift card referral. So if you sell something for $31 to somebody in the UK it will show as a gift card referral of $30. You will then earn a commission on that $30.

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6. 71

   cornwall_UKposted 13 years ago

   Thanks everybody.  I think, also, in the first instance that many UK hubbers don't even realise that the Amazon affiliate program is a different one and they need to specifically belong to the US Amazon program and use the US Amazon ID in hubpages.  I certainly didn't.
   
   I did strip out my Amazon modules at one stage, then joined the US Amazon and put them back in.  Right now I've nearly 200 clicks on Amazon US but no sales, so I'm wondering if I should bother, or if I should just use ebay and leave it at that. 
   
   eBay yields are better anyway as people click and wander off to buy other shiny stuff
   
   Interesting comment above re an astore, never gone down the astore route.  Never done much with Amazon at all as it's a bit of a pig to use.  I'll file the astore idea under "things I now know about and one day might be appropriate to spend a whole day looking into/sorting out"
   
   As for a link, generally I don' write about specific books at all, so going to the time/effort of creating a link wouldn't really be of interest/benefit to me.
   
   I'm just a small player

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   1. 0

      ryankettposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Persevere with it Cornwall.
      
      I earnt $6.39 in my first FIVE MONTHS with Amazon.
      
      This month alone I have earnt $334.56 + whatever ships today.

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      1. 69

         thisisoliposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Christmas last year saw my amazon sales quadruple over the christmas period, I am hoping for the same this year!

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