Amazon Affiliate Images: What You Can and Can't Use on Your Site
Most Amazon affiliates break the image rules at least once, and almost none of them do it on purpose. Right-clicking a product photo, saving it, and uploading it to your site feels harmless. It is also exactly what the Associates policies say you may not do.
This post covers what the rules actually say, which images you can show, which ones you can't, the change in 2023 that broke a lot of sites, and how to add images that stay compliant and keep loading.
The short answer
You may display Amazon product images only as Amazon serves them to you, through the Creators API (the successor to the Product Advertising API) or a tool built on it. You may resize them in proportion and nothing else.
You may not save them, re-upload them, edit them, or screenshot a listing. Photos from the seller's own site, a manufacturer press kit, or your own camera are a separate question, covered below.
What the Associates policies say
The rules live in the Associates Program Policies, in the IP licence and participation requirements. Three lines do most of the work.
- No storing images. "You will not store or cache Product Advertising Content consisting of an image, but you may store a link to Product Advertising Content consisting of an image for up to 24 hours."
- No editing. You may not "add to, delete from, or otherwise alter any Program Content", except to "resize Program Content consisting of a graphic image in a manner that maintains the original proportions of the image".
- No seller logos or content. You cannot use "any logo of or content created by any third party seller or vendor on an Amazon Site" with a link unless that seller has given you written permission.
Read together, the model is simple. Amazon lets you point at its images, for a short time, from a live source. It does not let you take a copy.
What you can use
1. Images served through the Creators API
This is the intended route. The API returns an image URL for each product, hosted on Amazon's servers, and your page shows it from there. Because the link comes from a live call, it stays within the 24-hour rule, and because you never keep a file, there is nothing stored.
Most sites don't call the API themselves. A WordPress plugin or a content tool does it, refreshes the data, and prints the product box. Access to the API needs a sales history on your account, which is why brand-new Associates usually start with text links and add images once the account is earning.
2. Your own photos
A picture you took of a product you own is your image, not Amazon's, and no Associates rule touches it. It is also the strongest signal a review can send, because nobody can fake the dust on a tent you actually pitched.
The one caution is honesty. If you photograph a product, don't imply testing you didn't do in the surrounding text.
3. Manufacturer images with permission
Many brands publish press kits or explicitly allow affiliates to use their product photography. That permission comes from the brand, not from Amazon, so it has to be written down somewhere you can point to: a media page, a terms page, or an email. Keep it.
What you can't use
| Image source | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Saved product photo from a listing | No | Stored copy of Program Content, and usually the seller's copyright |
| Screenshot of a product page | No | Stored copy, and it freezes a price that changes |
| Cropped, watermarked or edited Amazon image | No | Alteration beyond proportional resizing |
| Old SiteStripe image link | No longer works | Removed December 2023; shows a broken image |
| Image from the Creators API | Yes | Served live from Amazon, refreshed within 24 hours |
| Your own photograph | Yes | Your content; no Amazon rule applies |
| Brand press-kit image | With written permission | Permission comes from the brand, not Amazon |
The middle rows catch people who think they are being careful. Adding a "best pick" ribbon to an Amazon image is an alteration. Cropping the white background out is an alteration. Both are common, and both are outside the licence.
The 2023 change that broke a lot of sites
For years the easy way to add an image was SiteStripe's Image and Text+Image options, which produced an image link you pasted into a post. Amazon removed both on December 1, 2023, and announced that links already created with them would "stop working December 31, 2023".
They did. Sites that never updated still show grey broken-image icons where product photos used to be, often next to a working text link. It looks abandoned to a reader and it looks thin to Google.
The image URLs those links used point at ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com (or the regional equivalent). Search your site's content for that host and you will find every one that's left.
The rules that come with API images
Images from the API are the compliant route, but the policies attach conditions to how the surrounding data is shown. If you display a price or availability next to the image and refresh less often than hourly, you must show a date/time stamp beside it, plus a disclaimer that prices are "accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change".
If you display text from the API, such as a product title or feature bullets, the page must carry the notice that certain content "comes from Amazon" and is "provided 'as is'". Plugins and content tools handle both automatically, which is a large part of why they exist.
The simplest way to stay clear of the price rules is not to print a price at all. A "check price on Amazon" link earns the same commission and never goes stale.
What happens if you get it wrong
Image violations are usually noticed during a review of your site rather than through an automated check, and the first response is typically a warning email with a deadline to fix the content. Repeated or ignored warnings can end the account, and the terms let Amazon withhold unpaid commissions when it does, which is the real cost.
Amazon's larger concern is stored images being used to build fake storefronts and price-comparison scrapers. A blog with a few saved photos is not that, but the rule doesn't distinguish, and the cheap fix is to replace them before anyone asks. The account-closure post covers what a warning looks like and how to respond.
Doing it with AffSERP
AffSERP's X Best Review tool builds buyer guides with product images pulled through the Creators API at generation time, so every image is served from Amazon rather than copied to your site. Prices are left out of the page by design and each product gets a "check price" link with your Associates ID, which keeps the guide clear of the timestamp and disclaimer rules.
If your account doesn't yet have API access, the tool can run on AffSERP's own access, and the links still carry your ID. Image compliance is handled for you, but the honesty rule still applies to what you write around them.
FAQ
Can I download an Amazon product image and upload it to my site?
No. The Associates policies say you will not store or cache image content, and you may not alter it beyond proportional resizing. A photo saved to your media library is stored content, and it usually belongs to the seller as well, so it fails on both counts.
Can I use screenshots of an Amazon product page?
Not as product images. A screenshot is a stored copy of Amazon's page, and it captures a price that goes stale the moment it's taken. If you need to show what a listing looks like, a text description with a tagged link is the safe route.
Why did my old SiteStripe images stop loading?
Amazon removed SiteStripe's Image and Text+Image options on December 1, 2023, and the links they had created stopped working on December 31, 2023. Any page still carrying them shows a broken image. Replace them with API-served images or a text link.
How do I get product images now?
Through the Creators API, the successor to the Product Advertising API, or through a plugin or content tool that calls it for you. The API returns an image link you display, not a file you keep, which is the form Amazon requires. Access needs a qualifying-sales history, so new accounts usually start with text links.
AffSERP pulls images through the Creators API and publishes buyer guides with your Associates ID on every link.
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