📋 Overview
You may send shoppers to Amazon from your own marketing and still have trouble telling whether those visits earned a referral bonus. The Brand Referral Bonus program can return part of eligible sales as a credit against referral fees, but only when Amazon attributes the purchase to your external traffic. This guide explains the credit mechanics and how to set up and review your tracking without mistaking attributed sales for guaranteed bonus earnings.
🔎 How the bonus and attribution work
The Brand Referral Bonus is a program for eligible brand sellers who direct shoppers to their Amazon products from off-Amazon marketing. Amazon Attribution is the measurement tool used to connect tagged external traffic with activity on Amazon. The bonus is a credit against referral fees, rather than a separate payment for each click or a reduction in the item’s displayed price.
Amazon describes the bonus as averaging 10% of qualifying sales. The actual rate can vary by product category, so do not use that average as your assumed rate for every ASIN. Check the rate Amazon shows for your eligible products, then use that product-specific figure when estimating the value of a campaign.
A click by itself does not earn a bonus. Amazon must attribute a qualifying purchase to your tagged traffic, and the credited amount can be affected by later order adjustments such as returns. Amazon Attribution uses a 14-day attribution window: a shopper’s purchase may be attributed to a tracked interaction within that window. This is an attribution rule, not a promise that every shopper who clicks will buy or that every resulting order will qualify for a bonus.
Keep three measures separate when reviewing results:
- Attributed sales: sales Amazon associates with an Amazon Attribution tag. This is not the same as total sales during the campaign.
- Estimated bonus: the potential referral-fee credit tied to eligible attributed sales. It can change as Amazon processes order adjustments.
- Credited bonus: the amount Amazon has actually posted as a referral-fee credit. Use this figure for reconciliation, not a campaign estimate.
🛠️ Set up tracking before you send traffic
Treat setup as a measurement task: you need to know which external effort produced the visits, and you need to confirm that the products you promote can earn a bonus.
1. Confirm program and product eligibility
In Seller Central, review your Brand Referral Bonus enrollment and the products shown as eligible. Brand Registry status and access as a brand representative are relevant to program eligibility, but do not assume that every ASIN in your catalog qualifies. If a product is missing or has no bonus rate shown, confirm its status in the program’s information before building your forecast around it.
2. Create Amazon Attribution tags for the traffic source
Use Amazon Attribution to create tracking for the external marketing activity you plan to measure. Set up distinct tags for separate sources or campaigns when you need to compare them. For example, use different tracking for a social post and an email campaign rather than placing one shared tag everywhere. Clear naming makes it easier to match reported results to the campaign you actually ran.
3. Use the tagged link in the external placement
Copy the generated link into the relevant off-Amazon placement and check that it opens the intended Amazon product or Store destination. Avoid editing the tracking parameters. If you change the destination or recreate the campaign, test the replacement link before directing more visitors to it.
4. Keep the promotion and destination compliant
Your external message should accurately describe the product and lead to the relevant Amazon destination. Do not offer a reward for a purchase in exchange for a review, ask for a positive review, or use a buyer message to steer a customer through a tracking link. Those tactics create policy risk and are not a compliant way to earn referral credit.
Before a campaign goes live, record the tag name, traffic source, promoted ASINs, destination, and launch status. This gives you a simple audit trail when a report shows attributed sales that do not match your expectations.
📊 Reconcile attributed sales with fee credits
Review Amazon Attribution reports to see whether tagged visits and sales are being recorded. Compare results by campaign or source, not only at the account level. If a campaign shows little or no attributed activity, first check that the tagged link was used, that it points to the intended destination, and that the campaign was active when the traffic was sent.
Then compare the campaign results with the Brand Referral Bonus reporting and the fee activity in Payments. The reports answer different questions: Attribution helps you understand which tagged traffic Amazon measured, while the posted credit shows what Amazon has applied to your account. Do not treat attributed sales, an estimated bonus, and an actual credit as interchangeable amounts.
For a useful reconciliation, keep a record of:
- The campaign and tag name, including the traffic source.
- The ASINs promoted and the eligibility or rate shown for each one.
- Attributed sales and any reported estimated bonus.
- The referral-fee credit that Amazon actually posts, including later adjustments.
If the posted credit differs from your estimate, check for returns or other order adjustments first. Also confirm that the order was attributed to the expected tag and that the purchased product was eligible. If those checks do not explain the difference, use the relevant Seller Central reports and program support options to investigate the specific orders or ASINs.
To assess whether a campaign made economic sense, compare its cost with the credited bonus and the contribution from the resulting orders. The bonus can improve the economics of external marketing, but it does not make unprofitable traffic profitable by itself. Include product costs, fulfillment costs, discounts, and other campaign expenses in your calculation.
⚠️ Mistakes that lead to misleading bonus estimates
Assuming the average rate applies to every product
The program’s average bonus is not a universal rate. Sellers can carry that average into a forecast and overstate the credit on products with a different category rate. Check the rate shown for the eligible ASINs you plan to promote and calculate with those values instead.
Using one tag for unrelated campaigns
A shared tag may combine traffic from several sources, making it hard to tell which campaign drove the reported activity. Create separate tracking for the sources you need to compare and keep the names consistent in your campaign records.
Counting all attributed sales as bonus credit
An attributed sale is a measurement result, not proof that a credit has posted. Eligibility, the applicable rate, and order adjustments can affect the final amount. Use posted fee credits for financial reconciliation and treat estimated bonuses as estimates.
Reusing links without checking the destination
A valid tracking link can still send a shopper to the wrong product or an outdated destination. Test the link you plan to publish and check that the ASIN or Store page matches the external message.
❓ FAQs
Does Amazon pay the Brand Referral Bonus as cash?
The program applies the bonus as a credit against referral fees. Check Payments for the credit Amazon has actually posted to your account.
Will every sale after an Attribution click earn a bonus?
No. A sale must be attributed to the tracked traffic and meet the program’s eligibility requirements. The attribution window does not guarantee a purchase or a bonus.
Can I use one Amazon Attribution link for every traffic source?
You can use tracking that way, but separate tags are more useful when you need to compare sources or campaigns. Choose a structure that lets you identify where each tagged visit came from.
Where should I check whether a bonus was credited?
Review the Brand Referral Bonus reporting for program results, then check Payments for fee credits posted to your account. Use the posted credit when updating your campaign economics.