Here’s the short version: sign in to Amazon Associates Central, open Reports, and read the Earnings Report. It lists products ordered after your referral and later dispatched, with clicks, items shipped, revenue and commission columns. This walkthrough is beginner level, and it ends with a troubleshooting block for when earnings refuse to show. It’s the kind of plain checklist we like to share at Jeff Aman.
What You’ll Need
Not much, honestly. Here’s the list:
- An active Amazon Associates account. Amazon calls its program a way for creators, publishers and bloggers to earn from qualifying purchases.
- Your sign-in credentials for Associates Central.
- Payment information on file. According to a Quora thread on missing earnings overviews, accounts without payment info may not display overviews or track clicks.
- Links already shared. No links out there means no data coming back. If you’re still at that stage, start with how to start affiliate marketing for beginners.
- A little time and beginner-level comfort with a dashboard.
Takeaway: fix payment info first. It saves a lot of head-scratching later.
Before You Start
Amazon’s help pages say Associates earn commission when a visitor follows your link, makes a purchase, and the item is dispatched. So yesterday’s clicks may not show money yet… that’s normal.
There’s also a 24-hour cart window. Items added to the cart within 24 hours of arriving through your link count. That window closes when the customer submits the order or comes back through another Associate’s link.
Takeaway: check numbers with patience, not panic. Now let’s open the dashboard.
Step-by-Step: Check Your Amazon Affiliate Commission
Quick heads-up: if any step shows zero when you expected sales, jump to the Troubleshooting section below. It covers several common causes.
1. Sign in to Associates Central
Open the Amazon Associates site and click Sign in. Use the same credentials you joined with. A forum answer on Amazon’s community board points beginners to the Associates site as the starting point for sales and commission details.
Verify: you land on the Home view with the main menu visible.
2. Open Reports from the main menu
Click Reports in the main menu. Amazon’s menu also lists Home, Tools, Commission Income Statement, Creator University and Help.
Verify: the Reports page loads with a date range selector.
3. Open the Earnings Report
Open the Earnings Report and pick your time frame. Amazon describes this report as listing products ordered after an Associate referral and subsequently dispatched.
Verify: you see product rows, or a zero total if nothing has dispatched yet.
4. Read the column definitions
Here’s what each column means, per Amazon’s help page:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Product Title | The product Amazon is paying you commission on |
| Clicks | Total clicks on your product link in the time frame |
| Items Shipped | Items actually shipped to customers in the time frame |
| Revenue | Items shipped times the price |
| Commission Income | The percentage of revenue Amazon paid out as commission |
One note: commission is calculated on the sale price, not the list price. And because Amazon can’t pay in fractions of a cent, the rate you see may wobble slightly from the exact tier figure.
Verify: Revenue roughly equals items shipped times price for each row.
5. Check the Order Report and Link-Type Report
Open the Order Report to see what was ordered, even if it hasn’t shipped. Then open the Link-Type Report to see which kinds of links are pulling their weight.
Verify: orders here that are missing from the Earnings Report are usually still waiting on dispatch.
6. Review the Commission Income Statement
Click Commission Income Statement in the main menu. Amazon notes commission income is paid about 60 days after the end of the month it was earned.
Verify: the statement month lines up with the earnings you saw in step 3.
Takeaway: Earnings Report for money, Order Report for what’s coming. Bookmark both.
How Much Commission Do Amazon Affiliates Get?
Amazon’s Associates Central page says you can earn up to 10% in associate commissions from qualifying purchases and programs. The key words are up to. Amazon also states commission income differs by product category.
So a sale of one item can pay very differently from a sale of another at the same price. For the full picture, see our Amazon commission rates by category breakdown.
One handy shortcut: Amazon says its GetLink tool and SiteStripe browser extension now show related Creator Connections campaigns, plus the category and commission rate. That lets you peek at a rate before you share a link.
Want context on whether Amazon’s rates are good? Compare them with a typical affiliate commission rate or browse the highest commission affiliate programs.
Takeaway: check the category rate before you promote, not after.
Troubleshooting: Commissions Not Showing
This is the question that keeps beginners up at night: why are my Amazon affiliate commissions not showing up in my earnings report? Here are the usual suspects.
Symptom: Earnings overview is empty. Cause: account inactive or payment info missing
- Symptom: the overview is blank, even clicks.
- Cause: users report that inactive accounts, or accounts with no payment info, don’t display earnings overviews or track clicks.
- Fix: add your payment details in account settings, then reload Reports.
Symptom: Clicks show but no earnings. Cause: item not dispatched yet
- Symptom: clicks climb, commission stays at zero.
- Cause: commission is earned only once the item is dispatched. Amazon also notes you can see clicks for carts where the customer hasn’t checked out.
- Fix: check the Order Report. If the order is there, wait for dispatch.
Symptom: Sale is missing. Cause: cart window closed or another Associate’s link
- Symptom: a friend swears they bought through your link, but nothing appears.
- Cause: the 24-hour window closes when they submit an order or re-enter Amazon through another Associate’s link. After that, later purchases don’t count.
- Fix: nothing to recover here. Ask buyers to click your link right before shopping.
Symptom: Negative numbers appear. Cause: refunds or returns
- Symptom: negative rows or a negative balance.
- Cause: Amazon’s help pages cover negative numbers in Earnings Reports and the difference between a “Refund” and a “Return”.
- Fix: read those two help topics in Associates Central and match the negative rows to refunded or returned items.
Takeaway: often, it’s payment info or patience.
Tracking Beyond Amazon: Build Your Own List
Here’s the founder truth: Amazon pays per sale. That’s it. When the 24-hour window closes, that visitor is gone… and you never got their name.
That’s like renting a stall at a busy market and forgetting to collect phone numbers. Lots of foot traffic. No repeat customers.
The fix is list building. The Easy Commission Funnel, founded by Jeff Aman, is a free, prebuilt affiliate system: you register, get a unique link, and send people to it. New leads route into your own autoresponder, so the list is yours.
If email is new to you, start with how to build an email list for affiliate marketing and then how to use email marketing for affiliate marketers. And if funnels sound intimidating, how to create a sales funnel for affiliate marketing breaks it down.
Takeaway: track Amazon sales, but own your leads.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
How can I check my Amazon affiliate commission?
Sign in to Amazon Associates Central, click Reports, and open the Earnings Report. It shows dispatched items from your referrals, with clicks, items shipped, revenue and commission income for the time frame you choose.
How do I check my Amazon affiliate sales?
Open the Order Report under Reports in Associates Central. It shows orders tied to your links, including ones not yet dispatched. The Earnings Report then shows which of those orders shipped and earned commission.
How much commission do Amazon affiliates get?
Amazon says Associates can earn up to 10% from qualifying purchases and programs. The actual rate depends on product category, and commission is calculated on the item’s sale price rather than its list price.
Why are my Amazon affiliate commissions not showing up in my earnings report?
Usually the item hasn’t been dispatched yet, payment info is missing, or the buyer’s 24-hour cart window closed. The Earnings Report only lists items ordered after your referral and then dispatched, so check the Order Report.
How long after a click do I earn commission?
Items added to the cart within 24 hours of a click through your link qualify. Amazon credits orders placed from that cart within 90 days, and the commission counts once the item is dispatched.
What does Items Shipped mean in the report?
Items Shipped is the total number of items actually shipped to customers in the selected time frame. Revenue equals items shipped times the price, and your commission is a percentage of that revenue.
Why do I see a negative balance?
Negative numbers typically reflect refunded or returned items being taken back out of your earnings. Amazon’s Associates help pages explain negative balances and the difference between refunds and returns in detail.
Conclusion
The routine is simple: sign in, open Reports, read the Earnings Report, cross-check the Order Report, and glance at the Commission Income Statement. If numbers vanish, check payment info, dispatch status and the cart window. Then think bigger than one program. Compare Walmart affiliate commission rates, and grab the free Easy Commission Funnel from Jeff Aman so every click builds your list, not just Amazon’s.
