Amazon OneLink Explained: Earn From International Visitors
Every Amazon store is a separate affiliate program. An Amazon.com link with your -20 tag pays nothing when a visitor in London clicks it, buys from Amazon.co.uk instead, and never sees your link again. For an English-language site, that's a meaningful share of readers, often a fifth or more, clicking links that can't pay. OneLink is Amazon's fix: it sends those visitors to their local store, to the same product, with your local tracking ID attached.
This guide covers what OneLink does, how it works now that the old JavaScript setup is gone, which stores it covers, how to set it up, the close-match versus exact-match choice, where the earnings show up, and the caveats that surprise people.
The short answer
OneLink is free and set up once in Associates Central. You need an Associates account in each destination store; you link their store IDs to your Amazon.com account and set a default tracking ID per country. From then on, any Amazon text link on your site (full or short) automatically redirects international visitors to the matching product on their local store with your local tag. Redirected sales are paid by the local program, at its rates, and show in that store's Associates portal under Geo-redirected Traffic.
What OneLink does
Without OneLink, a reader in Germany who clicks your link to a tent on Amazon.com lands on the U.S. store, sees U.S. shipping, and either leaves or re-finds the tent on Amazon.de through Google. Either way you're unpaid. With OneLink, Amazon detects the visitor's location at the click, looks for the same product on Amazon.de, and sends them straight to it with your -21 tag in place of your -20 tag. Amazon's help describes it as: when an exact or similar product is found, "we will redirect international shoppers to that ASIN's detail page on the local Amazon website." The reader never notices; you get the commission you'd otherwise lose.
Do you need it?
Check before you set it up. In Google Search Console or your analytics, look at the share of your traffic from outside the United States. English-language affiliate sites commonly see 15% to 30% from the UK, Canada, Australia and Europe combined. If your figure is under 5%, OneLink is a nice-to-have. Above 10%, it's money you're already earning the clicks for and not collecting.
How it works now
OneLink used to require a JavaScript snippet in your site's footer. That was retired in April 2020; Amazon now handles the redirect on its own servers, so there's nothing to install and nothing that can break when you change themes. Two conditions apply:
- It works on Amazon text links: full links and Amazon's own
amzn.toshort links, whether built with SiteStripe, the link tools, the API, or by hand with your tag. - It does not work on links run through third-party shorteners, which Amazon's help notes are "currently not supported". Those hide the destination anyway, which the program rules already prohibit.
The tracking-ID swap is the core of it. Each destination store has its own tag with its own suffix, -21 for the UK and most of Europe, -22 for Japan and Australia, and OneLink replaces yours automatically. The suffix table and what the IDs mean are in what is an Amazon Associates ID.
Which stores it covers
Amazon's OneLink documentation lists two groups of destinations:
- Canada and the EU5: United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
- Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Sweden and Australia.
Visitors from countries neighbouring a supported store are redirected to the nearest one, so a shopper in Ireland goes to Amazon.co.uk and one in Austria to Amazon.de. Not every Amazon store is covered, so check Amazon's current list for any market that matters to you; the setup page is the authoritative source and is linked from Amazon's OneLink help.
Setting it up
- Get an Associates account in each destination store. Apply at that store's Associates Central (affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk, .de, .ca and so on). Each is a separate application with its own approval, and each has its own three-sales requirement to stay open.
- Link the stores. In your Amazon.com Associates Central, open the OneLink page and link each international store ID to your U.S. account. Amazon describes this as mapping, so it can "replace your US tracking ID(s) with your mapped tracking ID for the applicable Amazon Associates program".
- Set a default tracking ID per destination. If you use several tracking IDs in the U.S. for reporting, map each to its counterpart abroad, or accept one default per store.
- Choose the matching mode (next section).
- Test it. Use a VPN, or ask someone abroad to click a link, and confirm they land on the local store with your local tag in the URL.
Close match or exact match
OneLink lets you choose what happens when the exact product isn't listed in the visitor's store:
| Mode | Product found locally | Product not found locally | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close match (default) | Redirect to it | Redirect to a similar product, or to a local search for it | Most sites: keeps the visitor on a store that can ship to them |
| Exact match | Redirect to it | No redirect; visitor stays on Amazon.com | Sites where the exact product matters (specific models, editions) |
Close match earns more in aggregate, because a visitor on their own store with a similar product or a search page is far more likely to buy than one stranded on a foreign store. Exact match is the choice when a "similar" product would be the wrong recommendation.
What you're paid, and where it shows
A redirected sale is a sale on the local store, so it's paid by that store's program at that store's commission rates, into that store's account, in that store's currency and on its payout schedule. Amazon's help says redirected clicks and earnings appear in the "Geo-redirected Traffic" section of the international Associates Central portals, so you'll be checking several dashboards, not one. Rates differ by store; the U.S. table we cover elsewhere doesn't carry over.
Caveats worth knowing
- Several accounts to maintain. Each store has its own tax form, payout threshold and three-sales rule. A linked store that never makes sales can be closed like any other account.
- Matching isn't perfect. Catalogues differ by country; close-match redirects sometimes land on a variant, and exact-match sometimes lands nowhere. Spot-check your top pages.
- Not every store. Markets outside the supported list keep landing on Amazon.com.
- Third-party shorteners break it, as does anything that hides the Amazon destination.
- Reporting is split. To see your true total, add the Geo-redirected Traffic figures from each portal to your U.S. earnings.
Making sure your links qualify
The one thing your site has to do for OneLink is publish ordinary Amazon text links with your tag, which is also what the program rules require anyway. Links built by hand, with SiteStripe, or through the API all qualify; the methods and the URL anatomy are in how to create Amazon affiliate links. If your pages are generated, this matters more: every product link and button across every guide has to be a clean Amazon URL with the tag, or the redirect never fires. AffSERP builds its articles that way, standard Amazon product links with your tracking ID in each one and no third-party redirection, so once OneLink is set up in Associates Central, every page it publishes to your site earns from international clicks with nothing further to configure.
FAQ
What is OneLink?
A free Associates feature that redirects international visitors from your Amazon.com links to the same or a similar product on their local store, with your local tracking ID, so the sale pays you.
Does it still need the JavaScript snippet?
No. Since April 2020 Amazon redirects server-side. Link your store IDs in Associates Central and Amazon full and short text links redirect automatically; third-party shorteners don't.
Do I need an account in each country?
Yes. OneLink swaps in the destination store's tracking ID, so you need an approved account there, each with its own rules, rates and payouts.
Which countries are supported?
Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Singapore, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Sweden and Australia, plus neighbouring countries routed to the nearest store.
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