When you are ready to join your first affiliate program, two names come up more than any others: Amazon Associates and ShareASale. Both are beginner-accessible, both are legitimate, and both have helped millions of publishers earn commissions. But they are very different platforms.
Amazon Associates: The Breadth Play
Amazon Associates lets you earn a commission on almost anything sold on Amazon.com. The benefit is obvious: whatever your niche, Amazon probably sells relevant products. You can link to books, kitchen gadgets, software, supplements, electronics — all within a single affiliate account.
The conversion rate on Amazon links tends to be high because Amazon is a trusted retailer and many visitors already have their payment information saved. If your link gets someone to Amazon and they end up buying anything (not just what you linked to), you earn a commission on the whole cart for 24 hours.
The downside: commission rates are low. Most categories pay 1% to 4%. You can earn decent money with high volume, but the maths requires a large audience to generate meaningful income on physical products.
ShareASale: The Depth Play
ShareASale is a network — a marketplace of thousands of merchant programs, each with their own products, commission rates, and cookie windows. Commission rates on ShareASale are typically much higher than Amazon, ranging from 10% to 40% for many merchants. Cookie windows are also longer, often 30 to 90 days versus Amazon's 24 hours.
The trade-off is that each merchant is its own approval process. Some auto-approve publishers; others review manually. Conversion rates vary significantly by merchant and how well your content aligns with their product.
Key Differences at a Glance
Commission rates: Amazon pays 1-10% on physical goods; ShareASale merchants commonly pay 10-40%. Cookie window: Amazon is 24 hours; ShareASale averages 30 days. Product range: Amazon has the widest range of any single program; ShareASale requires applying to individual merchants per product. Minimum payout: Amazon is $10; ShareASale is $50.
Which Should You Start With?
Start with Amazon Associates if your niche involves physical products (home goods, gadgets, books) or if your audience makes frequent Amazon purchases. The trust and conversion rate make it easier to generate your first commissions.
Start with ShareASale if you write about software, SaaS tools, digital products, or services where higher commissions make a significant difference. A single sale at 30% commission can outperform dozens of Amazon clicks.
The practical answer for most people: join both. Amazon for breadth and easy conversions; ShareASale for higher-commission programs where you can go deeper. They complement each other well and together cover almost any niche you might be writing in.