Amazon Associates program, launched in 1996, was one of the first to offer a percentage of the sales initiated from links placed on a website. It offers up to 10% of the sale in some categories but has continued to decrease the rates over the years. Most recently in April 2020, when it was trying to actively slow down sales growth. The largest publications are generating north of $100 million a year from affiliates links to Amazon.

Affiliates leave Amazon without needing to do as much marketing itself and without spending effort on deal curation. All of the publications will do that for Amazon. The affiliate payouts Amazon will pay out are insignificant compared to the revenue they will generate, especially from newly subscribed Prime members. That’s why the affiliate fee for new Prime members is $3-5 depending on the membership type.