Poor experience and support - they can close your account any time without any reason - unfair, unprofessional and arrogant
Unfortunately, my experience echoes that of many others before me. After more than a decade as an Amazon Associate (across multiple countries), we received a request for an audit (that included traffic sources, URLs, sample of affiliate links etc), which we promptly provided. Despite our efforts, they chose to close our account and don't pay any outstanding earnings (which included those generated during the peak month of December, which make us think that this could be one of their motives).
Their reasons included noticing traffic from sources not listed in our Associates account and the appearance of our special links as paid (as they said) initially. When I provided them with data from Ahrefs showing that our paid adverts had been zero, they changed their excuse to unpaid or sponsored advertisements on search engines or social media platforms.
We clarified that we never posted affiliate links on social media and never used paid / unpaid or sponsored traffic services. Despite providing very detailed evidence, including Google Analytics, Monster Insight reports, and Ahrefs screenshots, they maintained their decision to close our account. We appealed their decision, and provided more detailed evidence, but they turned our appeal down.
In the past, we could communicate over the phone directly with Amazon representatives for assistance, but this avenue seems to have disappeared. Their Twitter account doesn't accept messages either. It's evident that their approach to customer service has changed dramatically, and the lack of support for Associates, regardless of their contribution, is horrific.
This experience has led us to explore alternative monetization methods and work directly with brands to increase our commissions, as Amazon's payouts are not particularly high, and they retain the right to cut them, at any time they want, as they have done before in the past...
It's worth noting that when it comes to the operational agreement, they have double-standards.
It's not a secret that there are several large sites displaying prices (not from an API), cloaking links to track performance, and even using their own price buttons resembling those of Amazon - all of which violate the operational agreement. However, all these large sites are still part of the program...
I firmly believe that Amazon Associates' dismissive, unfair, arrogant, suspicious attitude towards its Associates will definitely have repercussions in the long term. Karma can be a bitter pill to swallow...
Nevertheless, this setback may ultimately be a blessing in disguise, prompting us to seek more rewarding opportunities beyond the confines of the Amazon Associates program, which as I mentioned, seems to completely disregard the contribution of its associates / affiliates.