The news: Amazon has quietly slashed affiliate commissions by up to 50% for some publishers, according to Adweek.

• The changes began in the Asia-Pacific region in late 2025 and were introduced to US publishers in March, but were never announced.
• Categories where publishers previously earned commissions up to 10% have been reduced to as low as 4% to 5%, according to an individual cited by Adweek. A separate deal-site publisher said it now expects its 2026 Amazon revenues to be 50% lower than previously projected.
• Milestone-based incentive tiers—a feature that rewarded publishers with higher commission rates for reaching specific sales benchmarks—have been removed for most publishers. Some publisher categories have also seen YoY performance bonuses eliminated.
• Amazon has also made affiliate reporting less detailed by raising the sales threshold for tracking-ID-level data, removing SKU- and ASIN-level reporting, and revoking access to some premium APIs.
• Numerous publishers said that the moves are part of an Amazon directive to lower program costs by 20%.

Zooming in: Amazon’s pullback comes even as affiliate-driven retail ecommerce sales climb. We forecast these sales will grow from $180.89 billion in 2026 to $231.53 billion in 2029—underscoring the disconnect between affiliates’ growing influence over retail purchases and Amazon’s push to spend less on traffic.

The cuts add pressure to affiliate businesses already squeezed from both ends. Google’s AI search efforts have reduced organic search traffic publishers rely on to generate traffic, while Amazon’s lower commissions are reducing the value of the traffic that still converts.

Chief executive of Recurrent Ventures Andrew Perlman told Adweek that “Google’s AI overviews collapsing organic traffic at the top of the funnel and Amazon paying less at the bottom” has made the process of converting organic traffic into affiliate revenues “super challenging.”

Implications for affiliate marketers: Amazon’s dominance in retail ecommerce means publishers have limited leverage. The company’s commission cuts could make affiliate marketing far less lucrative across the board while Amazon captures more upside.

To partially mitigate losses, publishers may need to build a more diversified commerce stack that pairs Amazon with direct brand deals, sponsored product placements, and partnerships with other retailers. Smaller publishers and creators may struggle most, since they often have fewer resources to replace Amazon revenues or expand into new affiliate partnerships.