AU Associates Operating Agreement – What’s Changed

Here are some of the most important updates we made to the Amazon Associates Program Operating Agreement and Program Policies on March 1, 2019:

• We aligned our Australian, Mexican and Chinese agreements to our U.S., Canada and EU agreements so that they are substantially similar. For Australia, this means that:
  •     We changed the formatting so that you can more readily compare these agreements. For example, we moved country-specific sections, like tax provisions, to a single location at the end of the agreement.
  •     We standardised language throughout. For example, we now more broadly refer to applicable law rather than referencing country-specific laws.
• As part of that alignment, we also made a few substantive changes, including the following:
  • We clarified the language around export and re-export warranties.
  • We updated the term and termination clauses to contemplate suspension and termination for deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity.
  • We added that Amazon or its nominee may take legal action and perform procedural acts on behalf of any Amazon party.
  • We updated the reference to digital products.
  • We clarified that qualifying revenue is less any credits, as this may vary by country.
  • We updated the payment section to provide that if an associate does not select or maintain valid information for a payment option, Amazon may pay through another payment option or hold earned fees.
  • We extended our notice time period for agreement modifications and certain terminations to a 7 day standard.
  • We reorganized the sections of Disqualified Purchases by moving language that was elsewhere in the policies.
  • We moved the following to zero rate Products under the Fee Statement. These were previously zero rate Products under the definition of Excluded Products:
    • Wireless service plans, alcoholic beverages, digital Kindle Products purchased as a subscription, food prepared and delivered from a restaurant, Amazon Appstore, Prime Now, Amazon Pay Places, or Prime Wardrobe purchases.
  • We standardized the definition of “Unsuitable Sites” to include a) sites that promote or contain obscene, false and deceptive materials, or that are hateful, harassing, harmful, abusive or invasive of another's privacy, and b) sites directed towards children or violating child protection laws.
  • We clarified that Special Links in emails and ebooks are not allowed without our prior approval.
  • We added requirements that your Site must not have price tracking and/or price alerting functionality (unless otherwise agreed) or use Program Content to refer to sites that are not Amazon Sites.
  • We clarified that you must not display on your Site or otherwise use any content that relates to Excluded Products. See the Products Statement for more detail on items and services that are Excluded Products.