A seller I work with — mid-size brand doing about $1.2M/year on Amazon in the kitchen category — quietly enrolled into the Onsite Influencer pilot in October 2024. By March 2025 they were paying out about $11,000/month directly to ~40 Amazon Influencers, separate from any commissions Amazon itself was paying those same creators on the Associates side. Their take: creators drove 18% of their Amazon revenue that quarter, and the onsite-paid creators returned roughly $4.20 in seller revenue for every $1 they paid out.
Most Amazon creators don't know this program exists. Most Amazon sellers don't know they can use it. It's quietly become one of the most leveraged earning surfaces for mid-tier Influencer Program members — the kind of thing where a 20k-follower creator can add $500-$3,000/month to their income with the same content they were already making. Here's how it actually works.
What Onsite Influencer is (and isn't)
The Amazon Onsite Influencer Program (sometimes called "Onsite Associates," "Creator Connections," or just "the seller-paid creator program," depending on which Amazon team you talk to) is a separate compensation layer on top of the standard Amazon Associates / Influencer commissions.
The mechanic:
- A brand seller with Brand Registry signs up for the seller-side Creator Connections program.
- They create a campaign targeting a specific ASIN or product set, with a budget and a payment-per-action structure.
- Influencers in the program see the campaign in their dashboard, opt in, and create content (typically a shoppable video or idea list).
- When the creator drives traffic that converts on those specific ASINs, the brand pays the creator directly — separate from the standard 3-10% Associates commission Amazon itself pays.
So a creator can stack:
- Amazon's commission on the standard rate card (e.g., 4.5% on a $50 kitchen product = $2.25)
- Plus the brand's bounty payment (e.g., $8 per qualifying conversion from that brand's campaign)
For high-velocity products, this can effectively triple or quadruple the per-conversion payout.
The history (so you know what you're dealing with)
Worth understanding because the program has had three names and several restructures.
- 2020-2022: Originally launched as "Amazon Live Creator Direct" — limited to Amazon Live shopping streams
- 2023: Expanded into "Creator Connections," allowing brands to fund campaigns for any creator content, not just live
- 2024: Renamed internally to the "Onsite Influencer Program," with formalized API integration and seller dashboard at
advertising.amazon.com/cm - 2025-2026: Major expansion — opened to more seller categories, raised typical bounty payments, started auto-matching creators to campaigns via Amazon's recommendation engine
As of early 2026, the program is operational in the US, UK, Germany, France, and Italy. Other markets are pilot-only. Check eligibility at advertising.amazon.com.
Who can join — both sides
There are two sides to onboard, and each has gating.
Brand seller side (the ones paying)
To create campaigns, a seller needs:
- An active Professional Seller Account on Amazon (not Individual)
- Brand Registry status for the brand being promoted
- A seller advertising account (Sponsored Brands / Sponsored Products active helps but isn't strictly required)
- Minimum campaign budget of about $500/month (varies by category)
Brand Registry is the big gate. If you're a reseller or generic-brand FBA operator without your own trademarked brand, you can't run Creator Connections campaigns. This is by design — Amazon wants the program to reward brand investment, not commodity arbitrage.
Creator side (the ones earning)
To earn from Onsite Influencer campaigns:
- Be in the Amazon Influencer Program (Associates-only members are not eligible)
- Have a storefront that's been active for ~30+ days
- Have at least 3-5 shoppable videos uploaded to your storefront (Amazon checks)
- Be in good standing — no recent ToS strikes
- Be in an eligible market (US, UK, DE, FR, IT as of early 2026)
You don't need a minimum follower count beyond what the Influencer Program already required. A small creator with 5k followers and an active storefront can earn from this just like a 500k creator can — though brands gravitate toward larger creators for headline campaigns.
For context on getting into the Influencer Program in the first place, see [How to Become an Amazon Influencer in 2026](/blog/how-to-become-amazon-influencer-2026).
How the dashboard actually looks (creator side)
When you log into your Creator Hub at creators.amazon.com, you'll see a tab marked "Creator Connections" or "Brand Partnerships" if you're enrolled. Inside:
- Available Campaigns — open opportunities you can opt into. Each shows: brand name, ASIN(s), payment structure (per-click vs per-conversion vs flat), deadline, content requirements.
- Active Campaigns — ones you've opted into and are creating content for.
- Performance — tracking on past campaigns: clicks, conversions, earnings, brand feedback.
- Earnings — pending and paid amounts, separate from your Associates earnings.
The available campaigns rotate — typical campaign duration is 30-90 days. A creator browsing on a normal Tuesday in 2025 might see 15-50 open campaigns depending on category fit.
The payment structures sellers use
Brands can structure campaigns in three ways. Each affects creator earnings differently.
Structure 1: Per-conversion bounty
Most common. The seller pays a flat fee for each verified purchase that came from your link.
Typical bounty amounts:
- Sub-$30 AOV products: $2-5 per conversion
- $30-100 AOV: $5-15 per conversion
- $100-300 AOV: $10-40 per conversion
- $300+ AOV: $25-100 per conversion
A creator who drives 30 conversions on a $25-bounty product earns $750 from that brand alone — on top of whatever Amazon paid in standard commission.
Structure 2: Per-click (rare, but emerging)
The seller pays a small fixed amount per click, regardless of whether it converts. Typical: $0.20-1.00 per click.
This is rarer because most sellers prefer conversion-based payment, but it's appearing more in 2025-2026 for brand-awareness campaigns where the seller cares about traffic, not just orders. Useful for creators with high-volume but moderate-conversion audiences.
Structure 3: Flat-fee content deal
The seller pays a fixed amount for the creator to make a specific piece of content (e.g., $400 for a shoppable video featuring the product). Conversions might still trigger additional commission, but the base payment is guaranteed.
Becoming more common for higher-tier creators (50k+ followers) where the seller wants the asset itself, not just traffic. Mid-tier creators rarely see flat-fee offers unless they have unusually high engagement.
What sellers actually get for their money
This is the key question that makes the program work: why are sellers willing to pay creators on top of what Amazon already pays?
Three reasons sellers spend on Creator Connections:
Reason 1: Storefront video is the highest-converting Amazon surface
Amazon's own data (from 2023-2024 seller webinars I've sat through) shows that product detail pages with creator-uploaded shoppable videos convert at 15-25% higher rates than pages without them. For a seller doing $50k/month on an ASIN, that's $7,500-12,500 in additional monthly revenue. Paying creators $2,000/month to keep videos populated is obvious math.
Reason 2: Bypasses ad cost inflation
Amazon Sponsored Products ad costs (PPC) have doubled in most categories since 2020. ACOS (Advertising Cost of Sale) on competitive ASINs in kitchen, beauty, fitness frequently runs 30-50%. Creator-driven traffic costs sellers 8-15% of revenue (the bounty + Amazon's commission combined), which is materially cheaper than PPC for the same revenue.
Reason 3: Trust signal vs paid ads
A creator's storefront video on a PDP carries different psychological weight than a Sponsored Brands banner. The product appears recommended by a real person, not paid placement. Conversion rate on the same product is measurably higher (~20-40% lift in seller-reported data) when a creator video is present.
So sellers do the math: pay Amazon $X via ads to get the same revenue, vs pay creators $Y (often Y is 30-50% of X) for higher-converting placement that also accumulates lasting assets (the videos stay on the PDP).
How creators find and pick campaigns
Once you're in the program, opportunity selection is most of the game. Here's what high-earning creators look for.
Match score (Amazon's recommendation)
The Creator Hub shows you a "match score" or relevance rank for each campaign based on your niche, past content, and audience overlap. Higher-scored campaigns convert better for you mathematically — Amazon has data you don't.
Don't ignore the match score. A creator I follow once opted into 12 campaigns all rated under 50% match. Two months later, total earnings from those campaigns: $84. She switched to only opting into 80%+ match campaigns; same effort, $2,100 over two months.
Bounty-to-AOV ratio
This is the math signal most creators miss. For each campaign, calculate:
`` Bounty ÷ AOV × (1/your typical conversion rate) = effort efficiency ``
A $20 bounty on a $40 AOV product where you typically convert at 5% means: $20/$40 × (1/0.05) = $10 effective revenue lift per 100 viewers.
Compare across campaigns. The highest-bounty isn't always the best — it might be on a product nobody's audience is searching for. The math signal tells you where your effort actually compounds.
Content requirements
Read the fine print. Some campaigns require:
- A specific minimum video length (45 sec, 60 sec, 90 sec)
- Mention of specific product features in the script
- Tagging the brand handle in social cross-posts
- Posting within X days of opting in
- Original audio (no music with licensing concerns)
Skipping requirements gets you removed from the campaign without payment, even if you drove conversions. Read carefully before you opt in.
Deadline and remaining inventory
Some campaigns have hard limits — "first 100 creators" or "until $20k budget exhausted." Check the remaining capacity. Late-stage opt-ins on near-exhausted campaigns might convert traffic that never gets credited because the budget ran out.
A worked example — a 22k follower kitchen creator
Modeled from a real creator I work with. Numbers reflect her actual Q4 2024 earnings.
Setup: 22k Instagram + 8k YouTube, kitchen niche, Influencer Program member for 14 months, storefront has 23 shoppable videos.
Campaigns opted into in October 2024: 6 active.
- Brand A — kitchen knife set, $89 AOV, $12 bounty per conversion, 80% match
- Brand B — silicone bakeware kit, $34 AOV, $5 bounty per conversion, 88% match
- Brand C — coffee grinder, $145 AOV, $20 bounty per conversion, 72% match
- Brand D — meal prep containers, $28 AOV, $4 bounty per conversion, 91% match
- Brand E — kitchen scale, $42 AOV, $7 bounty per conversion, 75% match
- Brand F — apron / kitchen textiles, $25 AOV, $4 per conversion, 65% match
Content created: 4 new shoppable videos (Brands A, B, C, D — the higher-match ones), updated her "favorite kitchen tools" idea list, plus 2 Instagram Reels featuring Brand C.
Q4 results (October-December 2024):
| Brand | Conversions | Bounty earnings | + Amazon commission | Total | |---|---|---|---|---| | A | 38 | $456 | $152 | $608 | | B | 71 | $355 | $109 | $464 | | C | 24 | $480 | $156 | $636 | | D | 102 | $408 | $86 | $494 | | E | 19 | $133 | $36 | $169 | | F | 8 | $32 | $9 | $41 | | Total | 262 | $1,864 | $548 | $2,412 |
Note that the bounty layer was 3.4x the Amazon-paid commission layer. Without Onsite Influencer participation, her Q4 from these products would have been $548. With it, $2,412.
This is the leverage. Same content effort, dramatically different income.
When NOT to opt into a campaign
Three patterns where saying no is the right call.
Pattern 1: Match score under 60%
If Amazon's algorithm doesn't think your audience matches the product, the conversion math will burn you. You'll spend time making content that doesn't convert and earn token amounts.
Pattern 2: Strict content requirements that conflict with your brand
If a campaign requires saying specific marketing copy in the video, and your audience knows your authentic voice, the content will feel off and underperform. Decline politely and wait for better-fit campaigns.
Pattern 3: Low-quality product with poor reviews
Look at the actual ASIN's review distribution before opting in. If it's a 3.6-star product with 200 reviews, your audience will return at high rates — your bounty earnings get clawed back when conversions return, AND your audience trust erodes when they buy mediocre stuff you recommended.
The 4.4-star with 2,000+ reviews product is always the better bet, even at lower bounty.
How sellers find and recruit creators
If you're on the seller side reading this, here's what the inverse looks like.
The seller dashboard at advertising.amazon.com/cm lets you:
- Browse creators by category, follower count, engagement rate, niche keywords
- Send direct invitations to specific creators (limited monthly quota based on your account size)
- Post open campaigns that creators discover via their Creator Hub
- Auto-match — let Amazon's algorithm route your campaign to relevant creators based on your ASIN
Sellers I work with usually run a mix: open campaigns to capture long-tail creator interest, plus 5-10 direct invitations per month to specific creators they want to feature.
What sellers look at when picking creators:
- Storefront activity (videos uploaded in last 90 days)
- Engagement on existing videos (views, comments)
- Audience demographic fit (Amazon shares this anonymized)
- Past campaign performance (if creator has participated before)
Practical seller tip: prioritize creators with 5-30 existing storefront videos in your category. They've proven they show up, and Amazon's surfacing algorithm is more likely to feature their content on your PDP.
Common creator mistakes
Three things I see repeatedly that leave money on the table.
Mistake 1: Only opting into campaigns from big brands
Big brands feel "safer," but they also attract every other creator. Small/mid-size brand campaigns often have higher per-conversion bounties (because they have less negotiating power vs creators) and less creator saturation (better surfacing on PDPs).
Mistake 2: Not updating videos seasonally
A shoppable video for a Brand A's kitchen tool uploaded in March still works in November, but its conversion rate decays. Refreshing the video (or making a "fall-themed" variant) keeps it surfaced in Amazon's algorithm. Creators who refresh quarterly out-earn creators who set-and-forget by ~40% in seller-shared data.
Mistake 3: Not negotiating direct invitations
If a brand sends you a direct invitation, the listed bounty is often the starting point, not the ceiling. Replying with a polite "I'd love to participate — given my engagement rate of X and our category fit, would you consider a $Y bounty per conversion?" results in a higher bounty about 30-40% of the time.
This only works for direct invitations, not open campaigns where the bounty is fixed.
How payments work
Brands fund their campaigns into an Amazon escrow account. As conversions roll in, Amazon validates them (24-72 hour window) and credits the creator's account. Payment to the creator follows Amazon's normal Associates payout schedule:
- Direct deposit (most common in US/UK)
- Gift card (default for small balances)
- Check (legacy option, slow)
Payments appear in your Associates dashboard under a separate line item: "Creator Connections Earnings" or "Brand Partnerships." This is distinct from your standard commission income — track it separately for tax purposes.
A 1099-NEC will be issued for total annual earnings (commission + bounties combined) above $600, same as standard Associates. For more on tax handling, see [Amazon Creator Tax Guide](/blog/amazon-creator-tax-1099-guide-us).
The competition outlook for 2026
Three trends shaping the program over the next 12-18 months.
Trend 1: Auto-matching is getting smarter
Amazon's 2024 ML upgrades to creator-campaign matching are showing up in higher conversion rates per campaign. Creators who simply opt into the auto-suggested campaigns are now beating creators who hand-pick. Lean toward trusting the algorithm if you're time-constrained.
Trend 2: Bounty inflation in competitive categories
Beauty, kitchen, and fitness bounties rose 30-45% from 2023 to 2025 as more brands enrolled. Expect 2026 to bring further inflation, especially in categories where Amazon advertising costs are highest (the alternative cost for sellers).
Trend 3: Smaller creators getting more campaigns
The 5k-50k follower segment is the fastest-growing creator tier in the program. Sellers have learned that mid-tier creators often convert better than mega-creators (less audience dilution). If you're in this tier, your campaign opportunities should grow significantly in 2026.
What to do this week if you're eligible
If you're an Amazon Influencer in good standing:
- Log into Creator Hub. Look for the "Creator Connections" or "Brand Partnerships" tab.
- If you see it, check available campaigns. Filter to 80%+ match scores.
- Opt into 3-5 campaigns this week. Make one shoppable video for the highest-match.
- Wait 30 days. Track conversions against your previous month's baseline.
If you're not seeing the tab yet, it likely means you haven't crossed Amazon's internal threshold for enrollment (typically: storefront active 30+ days, 3-5 uploaded videos, no recent strikes). Get those in order and check back in a month.
If you're on the seller side: the program is genuinely the cheapest creator-paid traffic acquisition Amazon offers, and your competitors are already using it. The math is clear; the gate is just Brand Registry status and a willingness to commit a $500-2,000/month initial budget.
The closing observation
The Onsite Influencer Program is a strange spot in the Amazon ecosystem — it's been around for years, it's a major income lever for creators in the program, and yet 70% of eligible Amazon Influencers haven't engaged with it. Some of that is information lag (Amazon doesn't aggressively market it to creators); some of it is friction (the dashboards aren't elegant); some of it is just creator habit (the standard Associates flow is what people know).
For creators willing to add 30-60 minutes of setup time per month to their workflow, this program is the single biggest unlock between $1k/month and $5k/month Amazon income. For sellers willing to commit a modest budget and learn the dashboard, it's measurably cheaper than equivalent PPC spend.
If you're already shipping shoppable videos, you're 80% of the way to making this work. The remaining 20% is just opting into the right campaigns and showing up consistently. That's the program's secret — the heavy lifting was the storefront and videos, which you already did.