Amazon Affiliate Commission Rates in 2025: Guide for Amazon Affiliates

Over the years, we have seen bloggers, online marketers, and influencers scale their affiliate marketing businesses from a mere side hustle to a full-time business, driven by its potential and profitability. The Amazon affiliate commission rates, Amazon brand credibility, and popularity are some of the factors that have contributed significantly to this continuous transition. 

Understanding the nitty-gritty of Amazon commission rates in 2025 is not limited to new Associates. Older affiliates also need to learn some of the trends in Amazon commissions and products that the best Amazon affiliate websites are continuously using to increase their earning potential.

Regardless of your niche, projecting and knowing your expected earnings helps you strategize smarter and choose more profitable products or niches. Beyond just providing you with insights into the numbers, this guide will also help you break down the different commission categories, explore how it all works, make sense of essential affiliate marketing terms, understand how Amazon pays its affiliates, learn how to get started, and even look at some smart tools like AffiliateX, that gives you a real edge in showcasing products and boosting conversions.

What are Amazon Affiliate Commission Rates?

Another term that can be substituted for “affiliate commission rates” is “referral fee.” An affiliate commission is simply the percentage of earnings you get from the sales price of a product someone purchases through your unique affiliate link. This often happens when you make product recommendations, such as sharing your experience from using it(with a verdict block) after using the product, comparing it with similar products, or using your unique affiliate link.

When someone comes across the product review and proceeds to click and purchase your recommendation, the company selling the product to which you are affiliated rewards you with an already agreed portion of that sale.

Let’s narrow it down to Amazon affiliate commission rates. Just like other affiliate programs, these commission rates are not fixed across all categories of products or services on Amazon; some have higher commission rates while others have lower using a structured format known as a tiered commission model. This means the commission rate (the specific percentage you earn,) varies depending on the product category. For instance, you might earn a fixed higher percentage on sales of luxury beauty products compared to electronic gadgets. That’s why understanding these rates is necessary so that you can focus on the products that give the best returns for your efforts.

Why does this affiliate marketing “commission rate” system work?

It is simply because it’s beneficial for everyone involved (the company, you, and the customer). Here is a breakdown of what this means: the company gets to make more sales through your marketing efforts, the customer finds a product they need through your helpful recommendations or insights, and you, the associate/affiliate, earn a commission or incentive for your role in connecting the two (company and customer). An important factor to note is that It’s a performance-based model, which means that you only earn when a sale occurs through your link.

Amazon Affiliate Commission Rates in 2025 by Product Category

The Amazon affiliate commission rates in 2025 haven’t experienced much change; it is still pretty much the same but it is also important for Amazon Associates to note that these rates are subject to change by Amazon, so it’s safer to always refer to the latest official Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement for the most up-to-date information. However, based on Amazon’s current structures, we can outline the general commission percentages across different product or service categories.

As stated earlier, Amazon uses a tiered commission structure, where different product categories offer varying percentages of the sale price as commission. Here’s a breakdown of Amazon affiliate commission rates by product category in a tale, and extensively:

Amazon Games

By category, Amazon Games rank top with the highest commission rate of 20%. This category includes video games developed and published by Amazon for PCs and consoles.

This is a category for affiliates whose content revolves around video games. Offering video game recommendations or reviews in this niche could be a highly profitable opportunity. You can consider sharing up-to-date reviews, ratings, and game specifications, outlining the pros and cons, and even providing your personal experiences if you’ve played them.

Amazon Haul, Luxury Beauty, Amazon Handmade, Amazon Launchpad, Digital Video & Music, Amazon Explore

These categories have some of the highest Amazon affiliate commission rates after Amazon Games. This potentially ranges from 5% to 7% and 10%.

If your website’s niche focuses on content around any of these products (luxury beauty products, digital video or music, really affordable products found on Amazon Haul, etc), you can receive significant affiliate income from recommending and reviewing these products simply because of their high commission rates.

Amazon Fashion (Including Apparel, Shoes & Accessories, Jewelry, Watches, and Luggage)

For fashion-related categories with products like clothes, jewelry, luggage, watches, etc, the commission rate is 4%, which is quite decent. This is a profitable niche due to the high volume of sales often made every year on fashion products.

For affiliates focused on this niche, reviewing fashion wear or accessories, rating them, and offering fashion tips and pairing tips while recommending these products often gives them an edge and improves their conversion rates.

Furniture, Home, Kitchen, Pet Products

Another set of categories of products on Amazon include the kitchen, home, pet products, and furniture which are home and everyday essentials.  These categories fall into the mid-range commission bracket on Amazon, which is between 3% and 4.5%. 

Some of the most profitable Amazon websites like Dog Food Advisor and Corner Coffee whose recommendations are mostly products in some of these categories, are not limited by the low commission rates (as some would suggest). This means the profitability of products in these categories is dependent on the consistency of sales an affiliate can generate. One of the top strategies we see Coffee Corner among other successful affiliate websites adopting, is the use of affiliate product display blocks to interactively display their product recommendations. This has indeed played a significant role in their success.

Electronics (Including Televisions, Laptops, Mobile Phones, Cameras)

While electronics are high-value items, their commission rates tend to range from 2% to 4%. This is due to the typically thinner profit margins in the highly competitive market. However, the volume of electronics sales can still make this a profitable category.

Some ideas to help improve click-through rates and conversion in these categories for affiliates is to create content around specifications, updates, ratings, their experience, and even comparisons of these products alongside the updated product details and pricing, using affiliate blocks.

Physical Books, Music, DVDs & Blu-ray, Video Games (Digital Downloads)

These sets of categories include digital and physical entertainment products with commission rates between 1% to 4.5% with physical books being the highest with a 4.5% commission rate.

Promoting products in this category works more like promoting electronics products described above. You can improve your conversion rates by creating blog posts around product ratings, their experience,  specifications, updates, and even comparisons of these products alongside the updated product details and pricing.

Other Products (Grocery, Health & Personal Care, etc.)

For product categories not specifically listed above like Grocery, Health & Personal Care, Amazon usually offers a commission rate of 1%. There are other products Amazon does not offer a commission on. These products include: Gift Cards; Wireless Service Plans; Alcoholic Beverages; Digital Kindle Products purchased as a subscription; Vehicles (Leasing and Sales); Food prepared and delivered from a restaurant; Amazon Appstore, Prime Now, or Amazon Pay Places.

Amazon Bounty Program

The Amazon Bounty Program is a special category on Amazon that allows affiliates to earn from advertising Amazon services and programs to their audience. The bounties (commissions) are fixed for different services or programs in this category.

The fixed amount (bounty/commission rate) ranges from $25.00 – $0.25 and it’s paid when a referred user signs up for an Amazon service or subscription, such as Amazon Prime, Audible, Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Music Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited, Kids+, baby registry, wedding registry, and more.

What are EPC and CR, and How to Calculate Them?

In the Amazon Associates Program, Earnings Per Click (EPC), and Conversion Rates (CR) are two of the important key performance indicators used to measure the performance of affiliate links though in different contexts. Let’s discuss them individually: 

Earnings Per Click (EPC)

EPC shows you the amount you earn whenever a person clicks on your affiliate link or it is your average earnings for each click on your affiliate link. This metric helps evaluate the effectiveness of your promotional efforts. While a higher EPC means that your optimization strategy yields the desired result, traffic is well-targeted, and the products you’re recommending are converting well, a low EPC means the opposite. 

How to Calculate Earnings Per Click (EPC)

To calculate EPC, use the formula below:

Earnings Per Click = Total Earnings ÷ Total Clicks

For example, let’s say you earned $500 in commissions last month, and your affiliate links received 70 clicks. Your EPC would be:

$500 ÷ 70 = $7.14

Hence your EPC is $7.14

This shows that, on average, each click on your affiliate link resulted in $7.14 in earnings. Tracking your EPC, helps you identify which product recommendations, or blog content, are performing best so that you can optimize your content, recommendation, and product display strategy accordingly.

Conversion Rates (CR)

Conversion Rate (CR) measures the percentage of visitors who click on your affiliate link and then go on to make a purchase. It’s one of the most important performance indicators in affiliate marketing because it tells you how effectively your content turns visitors into buyers. A higher conversion rate shows that your content is well-targeted, the products you’re promoting are relevant to your visitors, your product presentations are interactive, and your calls to action are clear and effective.

How to Calculate Conversion Rates (CR)

The formula for calculating your conversion rate is:

Conversion Rate (CR)= Total Number of Sales ÷ Total Number of Clicks × 100%

For example, if your affiliate link got 600 clicks in a month and resulted in 40 sales, your conversion rate would be:

40 ÷ 600 × 100%= 6.67%

Therefore, your CR is 6.67%
This means that 6.67% of the people who clicked on your affiliate links ended up making a purchase. Tracking your conversion rate helps you understand the performance of your promotional efforts and identify areas for improvement. For instance, if you notice a low conversion rate for a particular product, you might need to refine your content by creating product comparison content, sharing the product’s Pros and Cons, ensuring clearer and updated Amazon product details, or even reconsidering the product itself.

How the Amazon Affiliate Commission Payment Works

To adequately manage your affiliate cash flow and expectations, it is important to understand how and when Amazon pays its affiliates. Let’s have a general overview of the Amazon Affiliate Program payment process below.

Amazon Affiliate Commission Payment Cycle

Amazon pays its affiliates every month, which is approximately 60 days after the end of the month in which the commissions were earned. For example, say you earned commissions in June, you can expect to receive the payment around the end of August.

Amazon Affiliate Commission Payment Methods

Amazon allows for several payment methods. Below is the breakdown of all the payment methods:

Direct Deposit (Bank Transfer)

For the direct deposit payment method, your payments are directly deposited into your provided bank account. This is often the most convenient and widely used method hence you will need to provide details like: 

• Your account number
• Your bank’s sort code
• the account name as it appears in the bank’s records

Check

Another method of payment is the check. Amazon can typically send you a physical check to your mailing address with a deduction of a $15 processing fee. However, this method usually has a higher minimum payout threshold (which will be discussed in the next two sections), and it might take longer for you to receive.

Amazon Gift Card

Using the Amazon Gift Card method, you receive your earnings in the form of an Amazon gift card, which can be used to purchase products on Amazon. 

Amazon Affiliate Commission Payment Currency

The currency in which you are paid would depend on the Amazon marketplace you are associated with. For example, if you are promoting products on Amazon.com, you will typically be paid in USD. If you are part of the Amazon UK Associates program, you will be paid in GBP.

It is also important to note that to receive payment, you must provide your tax information. To do this, you will have to fill out a tax form within your Amazon Associates account. The specific form you need to complete will depend on your location and tax status. To avoid payment delays, ensure your tax information is accurate and up-to-date.

What is the Minimum Payment (Commission) on Amazon?

To withdraw your commission, Amazon has a minimum threshold for the amount of commission you need to earn, which depends on the payment method you choose. Below are the minimum thresholds for each payment method:

• Direct Deposit (Bank Transfer): The minimum earnings required for payment through direct deposit is USD 10 (or the equivalent in your local currency).

• Amazon Gift Card: The minimum earnings required for payment via an Amazon gift card is also USD 10.
• Check: The check has the highest minimum threshold of USD 100. This is because issuing and mailing checks incur more costs for Amazon.

This minimum threshold summarises that if the total commission you earned for a given month is not up to the threshold for your selected payment method, payment won’t be initiated. It will only be rolled over to the next month until your accumulated earnings reach the minimum threshold before payment is initiated.

What is the “Best” Amazon Affiliate Marketing Niche?

The truth is that there’s no single “best” Amazon affiliate marketing niche that guarantees instant success but the fact is that there are some that tend to be more profitable and sustainable niches compared to others. The ideal niche of any affiliate will depend on a combination of factors, including their passions, expertise, audience interests, and the earning potential within that niche.

However, based on general trends and insights, here are some niches considered some of the most profitable niches for Amazon affiliates:

Technology and Electronics

Though the Amazon affiliate commission rates for products in this niche might be lower, they have high price points and are in constant demand. This can lead to significant earnings if you build a solid content strategy and use the right affiliate tools that optimize conversions, like the AffiliateX blocks. 

You can also break down the entire niche into sub-niches to help you build authority in the market by streamlining your products e.g. photography gear, smart home, or specific types of laptops. This allows you to easily compare the variety of the same product, and share product updates and recommendations as you build credibility and trust with your audience.

Home and Kitchen

These are evergreen niches with a wide range of products that people constantly need such as kitchen appliances, cookware, home decor, and furniture. They mostly have a high volume of demand all year round and they are not seasonal as some niches. A good strategy for such an evergreen niche can assure you of the potential for a constant inflow of affiliate revenue.

Beauty, Personal Care, and Fashion

Affiliates focused on niches such as beauty and personal care often benefit from repeat purchases and a dedicated audience interested in product reviews and recommendations. You don’t even have to focus on the entire niche, you streamline to sub-niches like skincare, makeup, or hair care. Fashion is another profitable niche when you have a keen eye for fashion trends. You can offer fashion tips while recommending your affiliate products such as clothing, shoes, and accessories, as perfect fits.

Health and Fitness

As the awareness of health and wellness continues to grow and become a necessity, products in this category also grow in demand. These products include workout equipment, fitness trackers, nutritional supplements, workout wear, etc. Regardless of how low the commission rates are for these products, their constant demand assures their profitability especially when optimized with the right strategy and affiliate blocks.

Pet Supplies

If you are targeting a market where pets are very common, then you will be sure to find pet owners who are often willing to spend generously on pet care. Supplies such as food, toys, beds, and health products for pets can generate steady affiliate income if you do your promotion effectively.

It’s okay if you want to focus on only pet food or non-food supplies. The important thing is to understand what your target audience is in constant need of. An example of a successful Amazon affiliate website focused on pet supplies is Dog Food Advisor.

Outdoor and Sports

There is always a specific type of outdoor activity or sport for each season. This means people would constantly demand outdoor and sports gear relevant to each season either for hiking, camping, fishing, or various sporting activities. Creating content like “how-to’s”, ”outdoor safety tips” etc while recommending your affiliate products can generate good clicks and conversions as each season unfolds.

Strategies for Improving Your Amazon Affiliate Income in 2025

Create High-Quality, and In-Depth Content

Writing generic product descriptions won’t get you those conversions. It is encouraged to create detailed reviews, comparison guides, “how-to” articles, and content that genuinely helps your audience or solve their problems so they can make informed purchasing decisions. Doing this builds your credibility and their trust in your recommendations, leading to repeated purchases.

Target Specific Niches and Sub-Niches

Avoid being the affiliate that is the “Jack of all trades.” You don’t have to promote everything on Amazon. Instead, narrow your focus to a specific niche or even a sub-niche which allows you to become an authority website in that area and attract a more targeted audience with higher purchase intent. You can start this by doing keyword research on the niche or sub-niche to know what people are constantly searching for using tools like MOZ, SemRush, or UberSuggest.

Optimize Your Content for Search Engines

Keyword research doesn’t only help you identify what your target audience is searching for. It also helps you optimize your blog posts, articles, and product reviews with relevant keywords to improve your search engine rankings and attract more traffic organically.

Build an Email List and Nurture Your Audience

When you create and offer your visitors valuable lead magnets (e.g., e-books, checklists, etc,) in exchange for email sign-ups, it helps you build and nurture the list with helpful content and targeted affiliate promotions. Using email marketing to drive conversion in affiliate marketing is highly effective especially if you are offering your contacts valuable and relevant information.

Write Compelling Product Reviews and Use Product Comparison Tables

Honesty is very important in building trust with your audience. Share your honest opinions and experiences with the affiliate products you promote by highlighting the pros and cons. When promoting multiple similar products, also create comparison tables highlighting their key features. This helps your audience quickly assess their options and can significantly improve conversion rates.

You must state what you want your audience to do clearly. Use compelling call-to-action e.g., “Check Price on Amazon,” “Learn More,” and “Buy Now” and place them strategically within your content, especially after providing valuable information about the product. AffiliateX offers customizable blocks with CTA buttons integrated within them and a stand-alone call-to-action block that can also be easily integrated into your posts or product reviews.

Optimize Your Website for Mobile Device

Some affiliates often overlook this but this can hurt your user experience, which mostly leads to a higher bounce rate. Hence ensure your website and content are fully responsive and look great on all devices, especially mobile phones and tablets because a significant portion of online shopping happens on the mobile, so a poor mobile experience may lead to lost conversions.

Do You Have to Pay to Become an Amazon Affiliate?

We considered answering this question because of the aspiring Amazon affiliates. Generally, you are not required to pay to become an Amazon affiliate or rather, join the Amazon Associates program. This means signing up and getting started is typically free.

Affiliate marketing generally relies on accessibility hence you don’t need to create your products, handle inventory, or deal with customer service. Your role is just to connect your audience with relevant products or services through your content and unique affiliate links. Amazon takes care of the rest (processing the order, shipping the product, and handling customer inquiries). Your reward for this referral is the commission you earn on successful sales.

Although becoming an Amazon affiliate is free, there might be costs associated with building and maintaining your website/blog as an affiliate. For example, you will have expenses like domain registration and renewal, website hosting, and potentially design or plugin costs. 

Conclusion

Regardless of whether Amazon affiliate commission rates for any of the above-mentioned niches are high or low, your success as an Amazon affiliate marketer is largely determined by factors such as the quality of your content, the relevance of your niche, the effectiveness of your promotion strategies, and the overall experience you provide to your visitors.

This further emphasizes the need for adopting effective strategies and tools top affiliate marketers use in 2025 such as AffiliateX blocks to enhance product display, and boost conversions.

Frequently Asked Questions