What's the best fee structure for Amazon Associates?

You're not the only one who finds the different Amazon Associate payment structures more than a bit baffling. For years I've just left it as the default fee structure and it's cost me some percentage of transaction value too. From everyone I've talked with, however, the performance fee structure really is the best, regardless of your transaction level.

As my pal Anne Mitchell says: "Why would anyone not opt-in to the Amazon associates performance fee structure (fees start at 4%, and increase as you sell more), versus the older original (flat 4%) structure?"

The next question is: how do you pick a different fee structure. Turns out it's not too hard. You need to log in to the Associates Program (I always just go to the Amazon.com home page and search for "Associates", personally) and click on "YOUR ACCOUNT" on the top right:

Now you'll see your Payment Information choices, including the one we want, about your fee structure:

No surprises here, click on Change your fee structure and you'll be able to not only see that Anne's exactly right, but see how to change it too:

Needless to say, to switch from Classic -- which you don't want -- to Performance, just click on the orange Select Performance button.

Done!

I'll state the obvious one more time: if you are part of the Amazon Associates program, you should immediately ensure that you've selected the Performance, not Classic fee structure!