Is AliExpress Affiliate Program an Alternative to Amazon Associates?
AliExpress affiliate program is one of the popular affiliate programs, especially among bloggers and affiliate marketers who don’t get accepted into Amazon Associates or somehow get banned on Amazon Associates. Therefore, the AliExpress affiliate program is also considered as an alternative to Amazon Associates program.
This blog post isn’t a head-to-head comparison of the AliExpress affiliate program and Amazon Associates program, but at the end of this blog post, you’d be able to clarify a few things about these programs.
Affiliate marketers, bloggers, and YouTubers switch to different affiliate programs when the affiliate programs reduce the commission rates or make substantial changes in the terms and conditions.
Amazon Associates have slashed their affiliate commissions a couple of times, and affiliates felt devastated, especially those who got affected by the change. Everyone who was relying solely on Amazon Associates was in shock. Afterward, a lot of affiliate marketers started talking about alternative affiliate programs, so that such changes don’t necessarily affect their business.
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I have been paying close attention to both these affiliate programs, and want to test out both these programs on different blogs and niche sites. If you’re interested in knowing whether or not the AliExpress affiliate program is an alternative to Amazon Associates, then you should know a few important things about these programs.
Let’s take a look at some of the differences I found out about the Amazon Associates program and the AliExpress affiliate program.
AliExpress Affiliate Program vs. Amazon Associates Program
Here are four key elements every affiliate marketer should know before joining the AliExpress affiliate program or Amazon Associates program:
1. Cookies Duration
If you’re new to affiliate marketing and haven’t heard of cookies period, then let me explain it. It’s a duration during which the products’ sales become eligible for earning commissions. Normally, this period begins when the visitor clicks on your affiliate link to land on the advertiser’s website and ends after the duration of the cookie is over.
Amazon Associates program has a 24-hour cookie period, but still, millions of affiliates promote Amazon products and make a living off of their affiliate program. On the flip side, AliExpress affiliate program has a 3-day cookies duration, which is better than Amazon Associates.
2. Audience Location
If you haven’t installed OneLink code to your websites, then it means you are missing out on a lot of affiliate opportunities. What OneLink does is that it helps Amazon identify the visitors’ country and direct them to their respective Amazon store, for instance, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, and Amazon Germany. This way, affiliate marketers don’t lose their commissions. Furthermore, to make Onelink works seamlessly, you must have joined Associates programs of all Amazon sites, which doesn’t take much time if you’re already an affiliate member on Amazon.com.
On the other hand, the AliExpress affiliate program doesn’t have such an attribution system, meaning they don’t have different sites for certain countries. However, AliExpress pays for all qualified sales except the countries like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, and Russia.
3. Commission Rates
Amazon has reduced its affiliate commission rates on various categories back in April 2020. Therefore, now most of the product categories fall in 3% to 5% commission categories. This isn’t the first time Amazon has slashed its commission rates.
If you do a head-to-head comparison of commission rates of AliExpress and Amazon, you’d notice that AliExpress offers far better commission rates. The point is that Amazon is quite popular in the US, Canada, Germany, UK, France, and Spain, which makes it a number one choice for bloggers and affiliate marketers from the US and major European countries. However, AliExpress also has a global consumer base, and it also pays competitive commission rates on various product categories. Read this blog post to find out about the commission rates of various Amazon Associates alternatives.
4. Payout Methods
Amazon Associates program has three payout methods, but all three aren’t available to every affiliate marketer in the world. Participants of the Amazon Associate program in 52 countries can receive Amazon Associates payments directly into their bank accounts. For other international affiliate members, Amazon offers checks and gift cards. Read this section of the resource page of Amazon Associates Central for more details.
On the other hand, AliExpress pays commissions through bank wire only. It may seem difficult for many affiliates who don’t have bank accounts yet, but that’s how everyone gets paid in this program. You’ll be better off if you open a bank account beforehand.
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Is AliExpress Affiliate Program an Alternative to Amazon Associates?
I’ve shared four elements that can help you decide whether or not the AliExpress affiliate program is an alternative to Amazon Associates program.
I think the AliExpress affiliate program could be a great alternative to Amazon Associates on specific blogs or niche sites. You have to think this through, meaning if your blog traffic is mainly from South Asia, South East Asia, and Europe, then the AliExpress affiliate program could be a great fit.
Similarly, if you have traffic from the US, Canada, and the UK, then perhaps you should stick to Amazon.
It’s just my opinion; you don’t have to agree with whatever I say or believe in.
I’m a fan of both of these affiliate programs.
Do you think the AliExpress affiliate program is an alternative to Amazon Associates program?
Let me know in the comments below.
| Disclaimer: I’m a blogger and affiliate marketer who is using both these programs. The purpose of this blog post is to educate readers on affiliate marketing based on my learning. However, it doesn’t make me an expert on affiliate marketing. Please don’t make your financial or business decision based on my opinions and experiences. |