# Amazon Associates with several sites: one account > Amazon Associates wants one account per person, with every site listed in it and a tracking ID for each. A second account for a second site breaks the rules. Source: https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/amazon-associates-several-sites ## Amazon Associates and several websites: one account, many tracking IDs Amazon Associates wants one account per person, with every site listed in it and a tracking ID for each. A second account for a second site breaks the rules. ![-20: One Associates account, one tracking ID per site](https://mosaicbrowser.com/covers/amazon-associates-several-sites.webp) You run several websites from one Amazon Associates account, not one account per site. Amazon's model is one account per person or business, with every site, app or channel you promote listed inside it, and a separate tracking ID for each so the reports split the earnings. A second account opened for a second site is not needed, and it is the thing the program's rules steer you away from. Amazon's [Associates help pages](https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/node/topic/GK5TZZ4AWML2QSLA) describe tracking IDs as the way to measure several sites from one account. Mosaic keeps accounts you are entitled to run apart; it does not change what a platform allows. ## How one account covers many websites An Associates account has a list of the places you promote Amazon: websites, mobile apps, social channels. When you start a new site, you add it to that list in your account settings. Amazon reviews accounts against its program rules, and a site missing from that list is a site Amazon has not been told about. The number of sites is not the issue; an unlisted one is. Each site still needs what any Associates site needs, such as the disclosure Amazon requires and links that follow its link rules. Those apply site by site. The account is shared. Mosaic is a desktop app Email yourself the link and open it on your computer. [How it works: Provider minting](https://mosaicbrowser.com/features/proxy-providers) ## What a tracking ID is Your Associates account has a store ID, something like `yourname-20`. That is the tag your first links carry. From Manage Tracking IDs in your account settings you can create more, and Amazon's own example is an Associate with the main ID `storeid-20` using `storeid-1-20` on a website and `storeid-2-21` on a newsletter. Every one of those IDs pays into the `storeid-20` account. So a tracking ID is a label, not an account. One per site is the obvious split. Many publishers go further and use one per section, per newsletter or per video channel, because the earnings reports can be filtered by tracking ID and every order in them carries the ID that sent it. The payment, the tax details and the account standing all stay in one place. Before a new site goes live, check that its links really carry its own ID. A browser that already holds an Amazon cookie from an old click can make a test look right when it is not, which is why we test from [a profile with an empty cookie jar](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/testing-affiliate-link-tracking). ## When a second account would be wrong A second Associates account for yourself, opened because you have a second site, splits one business into two in Amazon's eyes. Amazon's help pages answer the question of separating sites with tracking IDs, and the program generally treats more than one account for the same person as something that needs its permission. Two accounts means two sets of tax details, two payment thresholds and two standings to keep, all to get a split that a tracking ID gives you for nothing. It is the same shape as YouTube and AdSense, where one creator can run several channels and they all pay into the one AdSense account ([several channels and one AdSense account](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/youtube-channels-one-adsense) covers that rule). On Amazon's seller side the bar for a second account is a legitimate business need, read closely in [Amazon's legitimate business need clause](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/amazon-legitimate-business-need). ## The legitimate cases that do mean more than one Two situations do lead to more than one Associates account, and neither is a second account for the same site owner in the same store. The first is countries. Each Amazon store runs its own Associates program, so amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and amazon.de each have their own account and their own IDs. A site with readers in the US and the UK joins both programs. Amazon's OneLink can connect a US account to some other stores so one link sends each reader to their local store; what the reader then sees depends on where they are, which is the problem in [following an affiliate link's redirects from three countries](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/affiliate-redirects-by-country). The second is ownership. If you build or run sites for clients, each client's site belongs in the client's own Associates account, under the client's name and payment details. You are working in their account, not adding their site to yours. ## Where a separate browser profile helps Associates Central signs in with an Amazon customer login. For your own account, one login and one browser is all it takes. For a client's account it is a second Amazon login, and signing into it in the browser where you shop on Amazon swaps your session back and forth and mixes two people's carts, recommendations and cookies. That is a fair use for a profile per client: the client's Associates sign-in, its second-factor codes and its cookies live in one Mosaic profile, and your own Amazon stays in your own browser. It does not change the rule above. Your own sites go into your one account, each with its tracking ID. ## Questions ### Can I use one Amazon Associates account for several websites? Yes, and that is how Amazon expects it to be done. Add each website, app or channel to the list in your Associates account, and give each one its own tracking ID so the reports show which site earned what. ### Do I need a new Associates account for a new website? No. A new site goes into the existing account. Opening a second account for yourself is what Amazon's rules discourage, and its help pages point to tracking IDs as the way to separate sites. ### Are tracking IDs separate accounts? No. Every tracking ID belongs to your main Associates account and pays into it. A tracking ID is a label on the link, so the reports can split earnings by site, page or newsletter. ### What if my site earns from shoppers in several countries? Each Amazon store, such as amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or amazon.de, runs its own Associates program, so you join each store's program separately. That is one account per store, not one per site. ## Related [Testing whether your affiliate links track, with a clean jar](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/testing-affiliate-link-tracking): To test whether an affiliate link tracks, click it from a browser with an empty cookie jar and read what it set. An old click's cookie can spoil the test. [Following an affiliate link's redirects from three countries](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/affiliate-redirects-by-country): An affiliate tracker picks the landing page from the visitor's IP country. To see a German visitor's page, click from a German exit on German time. [Several YouTube channels and one AdSense account](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/youtube-channels-one-adsense): YouTube lets one creator run and monetise several channels, but AdSense allows one account per payee, so every monetised channel you own pays into the same one. [Amazon's 'legitimate business need' clause, read closely](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/amazon-legitimate-business-need): Amazon allows a second seller account only for a legitimate business need, with every account in good standing. Two businesses qualify; a backup never does. [Checking what Shopify Markets shows a buyer in each country](https://mosaicbrowser.com/blog/shopify-markets-geolocation-test): To test Shopify Markets geolocation, make the exit, timezone and language name one country: Shopify reads the IP for country and the browser for language.    ## Mosaic, on your own computer The browser this blog is about: its own Chromium, fingerprints from real machines and a proxy exit per profile. Free holds 3 profiles. Pro is $49 a month for any number. Mosaic is a desktop app Email yourself the link and open it on your computer.