Why do I want to add a new Amazon store ID? I just created a new website, and I want to track Amazon sales for that site separately from this site. In the link-creator, there are two drop downs – store ID and tracking ID. I successfully figured out how to add a tracking ID.
But when I googled “Add New Store ID Amazon” and its variations, I got nothing. Well, no helpful answer in the top ten of 89 billion results. I am a good googler. So why can’t I figure out how to add a new Amazon store ID? If you’re Amazon Associate savvy, jump ahead for the answer.
(Hey real quick: this post is really just a gift to the internet. My apologies to regular Half the Clothes readers who might be super confused right now.)
What is an Amazon Store ID?.
Quick lesson on a popular income source in the website-owning world: recommending stuff to buy. If people buy thanks to your recommendation, you get a cut of what they spent. (It doesn’t cost them anything more. The big corporations just say “thanks!” by sharing a tiny slice of their profits. 1In fact, Amazon recently decreased these profit sharing commissions. They called it “simplifying.” I guess as in: “We simply see no reason to share as much of our profits with the little guys who bring us business anymore.” But I digress. ) Yes, this opens the door to people shouting “____expensive product____ is the best thing ever! You should totally buy it!” …all while holding their fingers tightly crossed behind their backs.
Liar Liar Pants on Fire! Look at you in your fancy suit that you paid for with lies told to the internet. Naughty, naughty! photo: pixabay
Case in point: TrustedHousesitters. As I explained here, this mediocre house sitting platform is super popular simply because they have the best affiliate program. (An affiliate program is a thing you have to sign up to in order to get paid for successfully recommending something.) For the record, I do participate in affiliate programs for things I actually think are worth spending your precious, hard-earned cash on. It’s how I can afford to pay for this website to exist and how I keep groceries in the fridge and coffee in my cup as I sit here pounding my keyboard into the wee hours of the night writing things like this very article you’re reading that will never make me a penny.
(Here’s more on my product recommendation/affiliate stance.)
Right. So. Amazon has an affiliate program they call “Amazon Associates.” And each “associate” has an Amazon Store ID..
How to Add a New Store ID for the Amazon Associates Program?
It wasn’t until I finally refined my googling to, “store id amazon more than one website,” that I got my answer to how to add a new Amazon Store ID.
The answer?
You can’t!
Why? Well first let’s revisit why I wanted to add a new Amazon store ID in the first place. It’s probably similar to the reason you, dear Googler, want to add a new Amazon store ID.
I’m starting a new website! I’ll link to it later when it has more than half a post on my disbelief about… well, it’s a secret for now. But in my first post, I talk about how I made my discovery while listening to a podcast while laying on a foam roller… a device I think everyone should own and use. Or at least all computer-phone-steeringwheel-users.
So of course I’m going to link to an example of the product on Amazon, just in case you want to take my extremely passive advice. But then I realized my Amazon identifiers – my Amazon Store ID and my Tracking ID – are clearly related to this site.
See? Store ID and Tracking ID. Might as well change both to match my new website, right? Well adding the new Tracking ID was easy! Click on your email when logged in as an associate and click “manage tracking IDs.” Type the text you want, click create, done! Adding a new Amazon Store ID? Nope. Not easy to figure out.
But they both show up as drop-downs, so off I went to figure out how to add my new site to my Amazon account by creating a new tracking ID and a new Amazon Store ID. As mentioned in the last caption, the tracking ID was a piece of cake. The new Amazon store ID? Never going to happen.
Why You Can’t Add a New Amazon Store ID
Apparently (says all the forums) people are only allowed to have one Amazon store ID unless they submit a super special request and get super special approval. Even then, rather than easily matching Store and Tracking ID with whatever website I’m working on, I’d have to regularly re-login to Amazon based on which store I wanted to generate an ID from. What a pain-in-the-neck!
Add to that a pain in the… back? Shoulders? Allegedly you have to represent very separate business interested to Amazon, complete with separate tax IDs, bank accounts, and the like.
Why? I’m guessing sellers and associates must have the same root in the Amazon databases? So if I personally sell, let’s say, gummy bear anatomy puzzles or retro handsets for cell phones that I make in my garage and offer on Amazon 2for the record, I have nothing to do with said puzzles, I am acting as a seller. And if I tell you about gummy bear anatomy puzzles and you buy one, I’m acting as an “associate” (affiliate). But we all have a store ID, regardless of whether or not we actually run a store on Amazon or tell people which things to buy from other people’s stores?
Not sure on that last part. But if it’s true, then here’s the rub. If I don’t want my neighbor who stood around in my garage “chatting” and is now making and selling his own gummy bear anatomy puzzles and retro handsets for cell phones on Amazon to be able to compete with me… I could just make a whole bunch of Amazon accounts selling my puzzles and hopefully drown him out. His gummy bears and handsets will never see the light of day! Take that!
So.. it seems like we associates are being punished by a crappy structure at Amazon. I can’t see any reason why it should matter if we have a zillion store IDs and a zillion websites. Thanks for depriving me of perfectly-tidy-tracking, Amazon. I like it as much as I like your commission structure being “simplified.” And you’re welcome for all the travel products I help you sell!
Happy Amazon-ing, Y’all! ♣
References
| ↑1 | In fact, Amazon recently decreased these profit sharing commissions. They called it “simplifying.” I guess as in: “We simply see no reason to share as much of our profits with the little guys who bring us business anymore.” But I digress. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | for the record, I have nothing to do with said puzzles |
Is there a disadvantage to creating a second store ID? If one’s website, FB page, Instagram page, twitter account, YouTube channel, etc are all new and don’t have much content (or followers) yet, will the application for the new store ID be approved?
Yes, you can create a new store ID, but for that you need to send a new application and create a new Amazon Asociate Account under the same email account. Just follow this link: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/signup/
This is correct, thanks Dan, I just did this and it worked great
Thank you for answering what i was trying from last 2 days. Literally, after reading it. I was feeling like it is me who wrote all these. I would keep finding making new store ID unless i found your article. But is there anyway that i can change store id name? Actually i wasn’t aware of that and type website name which i wanted to use first but later on, i thought it wouldn’t be good to have one site name because store id should be a general name.
Glad it was helpful to you, Catharine! Not sure on the store ID name. Good luck!
so glad to find your post. helps a lot. my question was am I able to change my store id. I don’t need another, but my original one from the 1990s just doesn’t;t suit anymore. Any advice?
Unfortunately, I don’t have any ideas. Good luck!
The answer I was looking for! Thank you for doing research for us to find out how it works.
You’re welcome! 🙂
“Thanks for depriving me of perfectly-tidy-tracking, Amazon. I like it as much as I like your commission structure being “simplified.†And you’re welcome for all the travel products I help you sell!”
DITTO WHAT YOU SAID!!! My sentiments exactly (except instead of travel … I help Amazon sell tons of natural health products … and took a MASSIVE hit when they “simplified” my commission structure).
Thanks for taking the time to offer this gift to the world. I’ll stop trying to figure out how to add a second Store ID now. 🙂
Jenna
Ha ha! Thanks for the laughs, Jenna! So glad to hear you found the article and it helped you. 😀