[
 {"date": "2026-03-09", "date_precision": "approximate", "marketplaces": ["us"],
  "title": "Unannounced US commission cuts and removal of milestone bonuses reported",
  "summary": "Adweek reported that Amazon cut some Associates commission rates by as much as 50% and eliminated milestone bonuses, starting around March 9, 2026 in the US, without a public announcement. Note: the public US Associates fee schedule (GRXPHT8U84RAYDXZ) did not change its category table at that time in our snapshots, so the reported cuts appear to apply to publisher-specific rate cards, not the public table.",
  "sources": [{"name": "Adweek", "url": "https://www.adweek.com/media/amazon-associates-affiliate-rate-cuts-publishers/"}]},
 {"date": "2026-04-14", "date_precision": "day", "marketplaces": ["us"],
  "title": "Operating Agreement update: halo (non-linked item) commissions ended, 180-day shipping window",
  "summary": "Per a creator newsletter analysis of the April 14, 2026 Operating Agreement update: commissions no longer paid on 'halo' purchases (items other than the linked product), a 180-day shipping window for qualifying purchases, exclusion of some boosted/paid posts using Amazon keywords, and a requirement for original commentary. Secondary source; verify against the Operating Agreement before relying on it.",
  "sources": [{"name": "Thrive with Carrie (Substack)", "url": "https://thrivewithcarrie.substack.com/p/amazon-just-gutted-the-affiliate"}]},
 {"date": "2026-05-20", "date_precision": "publication", "marketplaces": ["uk", "de", "fr", "it", "es"],
  "title": "UK/EU premium-category rates cut to roughly 4–6%",
  "summary": "Hello Partner reported Associates commission cuts in Europe, with premium categories falling from around 10% to 4–5%. Our Wayback snapshots show the new UK table first on 2026-05-18 (previous snapshot 2026-02-11) and the new DE table first on 2026-04-07 (previous 2026-02-16): top rate 6% (fashion/watches/luxury), home/kitchen/books 5%, beauty/sports/luggage 4%.",
  "sources": [{"name": "Hello Partner", "url": "https://hellopartner.com/affiliates-face-financial-shock-as-amazons-associates-programme-cuts-commission-rates/"}]},
 {"date": "2026", "date_precision": "publication (exact date not recorded)", "marketplaces": ["us"],
  "title": "Reporting threshold: performance data shown only after conversions",
  "summary": "AdExchanger reported that Amazon adjusted Associates reporting so some data is only shown after a minimum number of conversions (reported as 4).",
  "sources": [{"name": "AdExchanger", "url": "https://www.adexchanger.com/daily-news-roundup/writing-content-for-the-robots-amazons-alarming-affiliate-adjustments/"}]},
 {"date": "2025-06-14", "date_precision": "first_seen", "marketplaces": ["uk", "de"],
  "title": "UK/DE volume tiers removed; flat category rates introduced",
  "summary": "The tiered structure (e.g. fashion 10%, rising to 12% above £15,000/€15,000 monthly direct revenue; home/kitchen 7%→8% above £40,000) was replaced by flat category rates with an 8% top rate. First seen UK 2025-06-14 (previous snapshot 2025-02-16); DE 2025-07-12 (previous 2025-04-15). Derived from Amazon's own fee-schedule pages via the Internet Archive.",
  "sources": [{"name": "Amazon UK fee schedule (Wayback 2025-06-14)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250614110419/https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/help/node/topic/GRXPHT8U84RAYDXZ"},
              {"name": "Amazon DE fee schedule (Wayback 2025-07-12)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20250712105309/https://partnernet.amazon.de/help/node/topic/GRXPHT8U84RAYDXZ"}]},
 {"date": "2026-06-14", "date_precision": "first_seen", "marketplaces": ["ca"],
  "title": "Amazon.ca table overhaul: most categories cut",
  "summary": "Beauty and apparel 10%→6%, home/furniture 9%→6%, kitchen 6%→4%, books 5.5%→4%, all other 4%→2%. First seen 2026-06-14 (previous snapshot 2026-02-13). Derived from Amazon.ca's own fee-schedule page via the Internet Archive.",
  "sources": [{"name": "Amazon.ca fee schedule (Wayback 2026-06-14)", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260614230911/https://associates.amazon.ca/help/node/topic/GRXPHT8U84RAYDXZ"}]},
 {"date": "2024", "date_precision": "year", "marketplaces": ["us"],
  "title": "Public 'policy' link now redirects to sign-in custom rate card",
  "summary": "Amazon's /help/operating/schedule page redirects to a signed-in, account-specific rate card; the public category table remains at /help/node/topic/GRXPHT8U84RAYDXZ.",
  "sources": [{"name": "picklog", "url": "https://picklog.cc/blog/amazon-affiliate-commission-rates"}]}
]