Amazon Brand Referral Bonus - Eligibility, Calculation, and More

With the Brand Referral Bonus Program, Amazon rewards the most ambitious sellers who bring people to the platform and make them buy.

But there’s more to getting this bonus than selling. So, in this detailed guide, we’ll give you all the information you need. Some of it is easy to overlook, yet ignoring it could prevent you from getting all the bonuses you’re entitled to.

At Archer Affiliates, we connect Amazon sellers with motivated affiliates and influencers. That’s why we know precisely what you need to do to get this bonus from your affiliate sales.

Connect with Amazon influencers today, and let them drive traffic and sales for you, while you collect the brand referral bonus.

What Is Amazon Brand Referral Bonus?

The Brand Referral Bonus is Amazon's way of rewarding you for driving external traffic to their platform.

Once your brand is enrolled in the Amazon Brand Registry, you can earn this bonus on sales from:

• Social media
• Search engines
• Display ads
• Email marketing
• Affiliate marketing

These sales may come from your efforts or partnerships with those enrolled in an Amazon referral program. Only the sales from Amazon ads, like sponsored or video ads, don’t count.

You’ll see these bonuses as credits in your Seller Central account, which will be active two months after you’ve earned them.

You can’t cash them in, and you can’t choose exactly how to use them. However, Amazon will automatically distribute these credits over time to offset your referral fees on subsequent sales.

Despite the limitations you have as a seller on managing this bonus, it’s still a great way to save money and become more profitable.

How Much Is Amazon Referral Bonus?

Your brand could get an average bonus of 10% of all the sales you drive from external traffic. Still, the bonus program applies different rates to different categories.

For instance, at the time of writing this blog post, the estimated bonus rates are:

• 30% for Amazon device accessories
• 20% for Amazon explore
• 11% for clothing and accessories
• 10% for books
• 8% for 3D printed products
• 5% for cameras, cell phones, and consumer electronic devices

You can check out the brand referral bonus resource in Seller Central to see the estimated bonus rate for a specific category.

Benefits of Amazon Brand Referral Bonus Program for Sellers

Saving on your sales is a great benefit in itself, but joining the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus program will bring you a few other advantages, such as:

• Ongoing financial benefits: The more you sell from external traffic, the more credits you’ll collect and offset your fees on future sales.
• Lower selling costs: As the bonus balances your costs with external sales, it’s literally costing you less to sell outside of Amazon.
• Higher net profits: Using the bonus to reduce your overall referral fees will increase your profitability and profit margins.
• Drive to sell: Bonuses increase motivation, and this program will push you to boost your marketing efforts and actively try to sell more.

How is the Amazon Brand Referral Bonus Calculated?

Despite the 10% average and the estimated bonus rates that Amazon lists, the actual bonus may vary based on:

• Special conditions in the product category
• Additional shipping charges
• Gift wrapping charges
• Other inputs from selling partners
• Customer returns or cancellations

To estimate your monthly bonus, you can multiply your qualifying sales by the minimum bonus rate in their category.

Each week, you’ll get a bonus report showing the exact bonuses Amazon applied to your account. These will become active two months later for the sales with no returns or cancellations.

Brand Referral Bonus Program Requirements

To qualify for the Brand Referral Bonus program, you must be a brand owner and sell in Amazon’s US stores.

You also need to have your brand registered in the Amazon Brand Registry and enroll in Amazon Attribution, the free tool that allows you to track your non-Amazon traffic.

How to Enroll for Amazon’s Brand Referral Bonus Program

To start collecting this bonus, you must first enroll your brand in the Amazon Brand Registry.

To do that, you should:

1. Register your brand: Go to Brand Benefit Eligibility and follow the steps in the Brand Self Service Identification program.

2. Sign Up for the Brand Referral Bonus Program: Once your brand is registered, sign up specifically for the Brand Referral Bonus program.

2. Enroll in Amazon Attribution: If you're not already using Amazon Attribution, enroll in this program so you can track your external marketing efforts.

3. Create Attribution Tags: Use Amazon Attribution to generate unique tags for the products you’ll promote.

4. Launch Your Campaigns: Apply the Amazon Attribution tags to your non-Amazon advertising campaigns, such as social media, search engines, display ads, and email marketing, and wait for the sales and bonuses to roll in.

Connect With Affiliates for More Sales on Amazon

Only the sales from non-Amazon marketing unlock the bonuses, but those sales come at a cost. The best way to bring external traffic fast and without upfront fees is affiliate marketing.

When you connect with affiliates, you extend your reach to new audiences through trusted voices. Once they see the value in your product, affiliates and influencers can convince their audiences to buy.

But you only pay them for the sales they generate. And if you’re already in the Brand Referral Bonus program and use Amazon Attribution links, that average 10% bonus will shrink your sales costs by offsetting some of the affiliate commissions you’d normally pay.

Want to know how to connect with affiliates who protect your brand reputation and accurately track their sales so you’re not losing money?

At Archer Affiliates, we have the whole system to help you:

• Nail affiliate marketing
• Automatically attribute every sale
• Make the most of the brand referral bonus

Join Archer Affiliates as a seller today, and you’ll gain access to our network of vetted affiliates. We use Amazon Attribution to track every sale, and our experts are here to help you start affiliate marketing on the right foot.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

As an Amazon seller, you probably have these brand referral bonus FAQs on your mind:

What Types of Referrals Qualify for the Bonus?

Any referral with the Amazon Attribution tag and from non-Amazon advertising channels should qualify for the bonus. Our affiliates at Archer Affiliates use social media, search engines like Google or Bing, display ads, and even email marketing to drive traffic to Amazon and generate sales eligible for the bonus.

How Can Sellers Track their Referral Bonus Earnings?

To track your referral bonus, you must enroll in Amazon Attribution, where you’ll generate and apply unique tags for your external marketing campaigns. This tool is free, but it comes with a learning curve.

Our experts can assist you with this. By connecting to your account via the Amazon advertising API, we’ll help you automatically create attribution links to track your referral bonus earnings accurately.

Can Bonuses Be Used for All Types of Products on Amazon?

Bonuses generally apply to most products sold through an Amazon US store and with an attribution tag. However, there might be situations when the bonus is not applicable, related to products in restricted categories or used products. To check eligibility, carefully review the terms and conditions of the Brand Referral Bonus program.

Conclusion

As an Amazon seller, you can’t afford to miss saving money and becoming more profitable with the Brand Referral bonus. But if you’re wondering where to start driving external traffic, start by working with affiliates.

Affiliate marketing means having other people do the marketing for you and only paying them when they get you a sale. Of course, you need reliable affiliates who play their part well and send you targeted traffic - prospects who are at least curious, if not already eager, to buy when they come to you.

Join Archer Affiliates today, and we’ll connect you with vetted, skilled affiliates and influencers who will send you the traffic. We track all sales through Amazon Attribution, so you’ll get all the bonuses you’re entitled to.