ShopMy vs Amazon Associates: Which Is Better for YouTubers?

There is no single winner. Amazon Associates is the easiest place to start: you can share links as soon as you sign up, you can link almost any product, and viewers already trust Amazon. ShopMy often pays a higher percentage, because you earn from brands and retailers directly, but you have to apply to join, and how fast you get paid depends on the brand.

For many YouTubers the best answer is both: Amazon links for the everyday products in your videos, and ShopMy links for brands that pay a better rate there. The rest of this guide explains how each one works, how and when they pay you, and how to choose.

• 01What you link to: Amazon Associates links to products on Amazon. ShopMy links to products from many brands and retailers, including ones outside its own catalog when the retailer supports affiliate tracking.
• 02Commission: Amazon pays a set rate by product category, from 1% to 10% for most categories. ShopMy says its rates typically range from 10% to 30%, depending on the brand or retailer. Actual rates vary by product and brand.
• 03Who can join: with Amazon Associates you sign up and start sharing links, and Amazon reviews your account after your first three sales. ShopMy asks creators to apply, and typically looks for at least 1,000 followers. Creators from all over the world can apply.
• 04When you get paid: Amazon pays about 60 days after the end of each month. ShopMy pays every Friday, once your confirmed earnings reach $11.
• 05How long money waits: on Amazon, about 60 to 90 days from the sale, because it pays about 60 days after the month ends. On ShopMy, commissions typically stay pending for 30 to 120 days, depending on the brand, so it can be faster or slower than Amazon.
• 06How long a click counts: Amazon usually 24 hours. Each ShopMy brand sets its own window, and ShopMy says 7 days is common.
• 07Links in YouTube descriptions: both work under regular videos. Links in Shorts descriptions cannot be clicked.

Amazon Associates is Amazon’s own affiliate program. You make a special link to a product, put it in your video description, and earn a commission when someone buys through it. If you have not set this up yet, our guide on how to add Amazon affiliate links to YouTube walks through it step by step.

What you earn depends on the product category. Most categories pay from 1% to 10%, products with no category of their own pay 4%, and a few, such as gift cards, pay nothing, as shown in our guide to Amazon affiliate commission rates. The rate looks small, but there are two things in its favour. First, almost everything your viewers might want is on Amazon, so you can link every product in a video. Second, many viewers already have an Amazon account, so buying takes them a few clicks.

There are a few rules to know. New accounts need at least three qualifying sales in their first 180 days before Amazon reviews the application, and your own orders do not count. After someone clicks your link, the sale usually has to happen within 24 hours to count, as explained in our guide on how long the Amazon affiliate cookie lasts. And Amazon pays you about 60 days after the end of each month, so January earnings arrive around the end of March.

ShopMy is a creator platform where you build a shop of products you recommend and share affiliate links to them. ShopMy says more than 185,000 creators use it. Instead of one store, you link to products from many brands and retailers, and each brand or retailer sets its own commission rate. You can also add products that are not in ShopMy’s catalog, and ShopMy creates a commission-earning link whenever the retailer supports affiliate tracking.

According to ShopMy’s payment guide, these rates typically range from 10% to 30%, depending on the brand or retailer. Actual rates vary by product, so check the rate in ShopMy before you link something. ShopMy keeps 18% of commissions and you keep 82%, but the rate it shows you already has its share taken out, so the rate you see is the rate you earn. That is the main reason creators look at ShopMy: on the same price, a higher rate means more money per sale.

The trade-offs are about access and timing. Joining ShopMy requires an application. ShopMy says accounts typically need at least 1,000 followers, but every application is reviewed case by case, and it looks for evidence that you already share products with an engaged audience. Applications usually take 3 to 5 business days, creators from all over the world can join, and if you are not accepted you can apply again after 90 days. ShopMy pays every Friday through Stripe or PayPal, but only once you have at least $11 in confirmed earnings. Before earnings are confirmed, the brand or retailer has to check the sale and pay ShopMy, and ShopMy says commissions typically stay pending for 30 to 120 days, even after the return window has ended.

On a single sale, ShopMy usually pays a higher percentage. Here is a simple example with made-up numbers, just to show the maths: a viewer buys a $100 product. At a 4% Amazon rate you earn $4. If the same kind of product pays 15% on ShopMy, you earn $15.

But the rate is only half of the story. The time window matters too: on Amazon a sale usually has to happen within 24 hours of the click, while each ShopMy brand sets its own window, from a single visit to about 30 days, and ShopMy says 7 days is common. Most of all, it matters how many viewers buy. Amazon has almost every product, so you can link everything you show, and many viewers will finish the purchase without making a new account. A higher rate does not help if the product your viewers want is not on the platform, or if fewer of them complete the purchase.

The honest answer is to test it. Use both on a few videos for a couple of months, then compare what you actually earned per click on each one.

• 01Tech, gadgets, tools, kitchen, books, camera gear: start with Amazon Associates. These products are almost always on Amazon, and viewers expect to buy them there.
• 02Fashion, beauty and home brands: ShopMy is worth applying to. Brand rates are often higher, and its shop format suits "everything I am wearing" style videos.
• 03A mix of both: use both. Link each product where it pays you best and where your viewers can buy it easily.
• 04Just starting out: begin with Amazon Associates, because you can start sharing links as soon as you sign up. Focus on your first three sales, then apply to ShopMy when your channel grows.

Yes. They are separate programs, so you can put Amazon links and ShopMy links in the same description. Keep the list easy to read, with the product name before each link, so viewers know what they are clicking. This works in the description of a regular video. YouTube says that links in Shorts descriptions and comments cannot be clicked, so Amazon and ShopMy links work best under your long videos. For any link to be clickable in a regular description, YouTube also says your channel needs access to its advanced features.

Whatever you use, tell viewers the links are affiliate links. Our guide to Amazon affiliate disclosure on YouTube shows simple wording you can copy, and the same idea works for ShopMy links.

Affiliate links do not stay good forever. Products go out of stock, get removed or are replaced by newer models, and the old link in your description quietly stops earning. On YouTube this is easy to miss, because your old videos keep getting views long after you stopped looking at them.

AffiliScan checks the Amazon links in your YouTube descriptions and tells you which ones are broken or point to products that are no longer available, even on videos you published months or years ago, so you can fix them before they cost you more sales. If you are curious how often this happens, see how to check for broken Amazon affiliate links on YouTube.

Amazon Associates is the easiest start and covers almost every product. ShopMy can pay more per sale on the brands that work with it, but you need to be accepted, and how fast you are paid depends on each brand. Pick the one that fits the products you talk about, or use both and let your own numbers decide.

Whichever you choose, the links are where the money comes from, so check now and then that they still lead to products people can buy.