Amazon releases updates to Associates Operating Agreement, Google Search Console sending messages with errors, Mastercard to increase fees on UK purchases of EU goods and services, and more

 Amazon releases updates to Associates Operating Agreement

Effective February 1, 2021, Amazon announced changes to the UK, FR, IT, ES, and DE Standard Commission Income tables that reward associates for driving targeted traffic to selected categories of products. According to Amazon’s statement, “Standard Commission Income may vary depending on whether a Qualifying Purchase occurs from a customer making a Direct Qualifying Purchase or an Indirect Qualifying Purchase and based on the amount of Qualifying Revenues for a Product Category.”
For reference, Direct Qualifying Purchases are qualified purchases made within the same product category as the product detail page linked from a Special Link. Indirect Qualifying Purchases are qualifying purchases of products in different product categories than the product detail page linked from the Special Link. For example, if a customer was referred to a coffee machine under the home and kitchen category, but then that customer purchased a basketball hoop, that sale would be classified as an indirect qualifying purchase because it has come from outside the category the customer was referred to.
Amazon reduced commission on Indirect Qualifying Purchases, so now affiliates will collect ~1.5% commission depending on product category. Amazon has been paying different rates for direct and indirect transactions in Europe for some time, though now seems to be further lowering the Indirect Qualifying Purchase payouts. With these changes coming into effect, it would appear that after Feb. 1, commissions will drastically drop off.
In addition to those changes, Amazon also released a few other updates including:

  • Removed the 0% Income Commission Rate for Prime Wardrobe Purchases since associates can now earn commission on all purchased items through Prime Wardrobe. Earnings through Prime Wardrobe will roll up into the following categories: Clothing & Accessories, Shoes, Jewelry, Softlines Private Label, Watches, Outdoors Recreation, and Sports & Fitness.
  • Removed Amazon Pantry as a Standard Commission Income Product Category and Bonus Event since Amazon Pantry has been discontinued

Google Search Console sending messages with errors

Google has alerted site owners that a message recently sent by Google Search Console may contain errors due to a bug. According to Search Engine Journal, “Google Search Console is sending emails recommending the use of domain properties, emphasizing how much data is missing without one. The email begins with a headline that highlights the amount of impressions data a site’s reports can gain with a verified domain property.”

Site owners who received this email noticed glaring errors, for example the misspelling of domains or messages for domains that they did not have ownership over in Search Console. SEO Twitter erupted with discussions of the suspicious emails they received, with one user tweeting, “Got three such GSC emails for domain names where the first letter of the domain is missing. Definitely a bug.”

Google has since confirmed that the messages were sent due to a bug, but the information in the messages is still actually relevant. Google Search Central tweeted, “We recently sent out messages recommending domain properties in Search Console. Unfortunately, some were sent with a few characters missing in the beginning of the domain name. This is from a bug on our side and only affects the text URL shown in the message. The rest of the message remains relevant for those sites. We’ve paused the messages, but some may still be underway. We’re sorry about the confusion this has caused.”

Mastercard to increase fees on UK purchases of EU goods and services

In the wake of Brexit, Mastercard intends to dramatically increase credit card fees starting October 15, 2021. The interchange fee will be set to 1.5% of the total transaction value for British consumers purchasing goods and services coming from the EU. This 1.5% is a five-fold increase from the former 0.3%, and debit cards will also increase from 0.2% to 1.15%.

In 2015, the EU mandated a cap on interchange fees to protect consumers and businesses from hidden fees. Post Brexit, British cardholders will no longer be safe from that interchange cap as the UK does not have any type of cap mandate in place.

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New Business For Sale

For sale is a portfolio of two SaaS businesses in the email address lookup, verification and enhancement software niche, with c.1.5 billion emails sourced since inception. Launched in 2013, the portfolio delivers market-leading solutions for customers looking to improve their email deliverability and open rates by allowing customers to verify emails in bulk, manually or via an API that provides integration to a range of popular CRM products. Both SaaS businesses provided similar features, with subtle distinctions between the two on the backend.
The portfolio has attracted well-known customers such as Facebook, Airbnb, Intel, Twitter and Oracle. The acquisition presents a great opportunity for a new owner to take over two growing and reputable B2B SaaS businesses with very little technical debt in an evergreen and growing niche.
Some key highlights:

  • c.1.5 billion emails sourced since inception
  • Strong traffic statistics with over c.2M visitors and c.10.6M page views combined in the LTM
  • Impressive customer following with a combined LTV of c.$690 and MRR of c.$31.6K over the LTM
  • Revenues growing at CAGR of c.18% between 2017 and 202

Request a prospectus from the link above to learn more.

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OTHER NEW LISTINGS

Atlassian App – Recurring Agile Workflow Visualization – $25.7K MRR

  • Established Atlassian App portfolio in the Agile Workflow Visualization niche
  • Loyal customer base with a high LTV of c.$8.7K over the LTM
  • Highly attractive SaaS metrics with a strong MRR of c.$25.7K and ARPA of c.$270
  • Lean and scalable cost structure with high net margins and minimal owner workload

Yearly net profit: $241,000
Asking price: $1,152,000

Direct & Display Advertising – Leading Six Sigma Educational Resources w/4M Annual Visitors – $17K Gross/Mo

  • 20 years of operational history
  • Authoritative position within the niche, ranking for over 131,000 keywords on Google, attracting over c.4M visitors per year
  • Recently employed a new, highly lucrative revenue stream
  • High ARPV of c.$0.06 over the LTM
  • Very valuable domain also included in the sale

Yearly net profit: $159,000
Asking price: $600,000

SOLD BUSINESSES

SaaS – B2B SMS & Mobile Marketing Software – $50K MRR

Until next week!
The FE International Team