Welcome to my Aliexpress affiliate program review.
You probably came to this page because you wonder if the Aliexpress affiliate program is worth your time.
No need to worry you’re in the right place.
Over the last 3 years, I’ve been busy creating reviews about all kinds of online opportunities. Some turned out to be disappointing others were legit ways to make money online but in the process, I learned how to spot the good ones. The Aliexpress affiliate program is one of the websites I reviewed.
In this post, I’ll show you absolutely everything you need to know about The Aliexpress affiliate program and after reading it you’ll know exactly if you should give it a chance.
Overview
Name: Aliexpress
Website: https://portals.aliexpress.com/
Program Type: Affiliate program
Founder: Jack Ma Yun
Summary:
Aliexpress is owned by the Alibaba group and is basically a retail website that has made t possible for hundreds of small businesses in Asia to sell their products online.
The affiliate program makes it possible to earn a commission by referring people to Aliexpress. Tbh I wouldn’t recommend it as a program for making a full-time income but as a bonus, you might get some value out of it.
Similar to: Target Affiliate Program, Amazon Associates, Walmart Affiliate Program, eBay Partner Network
What products can you promote with the Aliexpress affiliate program?
Aliexpress categories:
- Men’s & Women’s Fashion
- Phones & Telecommunications
- Computer, office, and security
- Consumer electronics
- Jewelry & watches
- Home, Pet & Appliances
- Bags & Shoes
- Toys, Kids, and babies
- Outdoor fun and sports
- Beauty, Health, and hair
- Automobiles & Motorcycles
- Home improvement and tools
A lot of subcategories
Who would benefit from the Aliexpress affiliate program?
Who could benefit from the Aliexpress affiliate program:
- Affiliates that target popular countries like Russia
- People that don’t expect to earn a consistent full-time income
Who shouldn’t invest in the Aliexpress affiliate program:
- People that want to target china for their affiliate business.
- People that want to make a full-time income online
How to become an Aliexpress affiliate
Unlike a lot of similar affiliate programs that offer physical products to promote you have multiple methods to become an Aliexpress affiliate.
1. Directly through the Aliexpress website
On the Aliexpress affiliate page, you should be able to use their opt-in form to join the affiliate program. The problem is that the button to click on after filling in the form isn’t working. I don’t know if it hasn’t been working for long but at the moment, you have to use the 2nd method to sign-up.
2. Indirectly through affiliate marketplace websites
There are multiple affiliate marketplace websites that make it able to join the Aliexpress affiliate program. You’re first going to have to sign up for those websites first before you can become an Aliexpress affiliate.
What’s important to know depending on where you sign-up the commission rates can be different. This is why I think it’s important to know beforehand what products you’re going to promote so you can pick the website that pays out the most.
Websites where you can join:
Flexoffers.com
commission junkie
Awin
Pros and Cons of the Aliexpress affiliate program
Pros
- Variety of products
- High commission rate
- multiple-day cookie duration
- International shopping
- Aliexpress Plugin
Cons
- $50 earning cap per refferal
- Problems with the sign-up page
- low-quality products
- No PayPal support
- money withdrawal fee
- Terrible customer support
Commission rates for the Aliexpress affiliate program
Aliexpress offers a variety of products to promote which makes it an attractive affiliate program but to get an idea of its earning potential you need to know the commission rates. The rates differ depending on where you sign-up but to give a general idea I have included the in-house Aliexpress commission rates below.
The Aliexpress affiliate program Support
The Aliplugin for WordPress
The Aliexpress affiliate program offers a variety of resources to support you as an Aliexpress affiliate. The Aliplugin is one of these resources. According to the Aliplugin website, it was originally priced at $99 but can now be purchased for $47.
Worried about missing the discount? No need. This plugin has had this price for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if it never has been priced at $99.
The Aliplugin comes with features such as:
- Custom affiliate website themes
- Product filter for finding suitable products
- Automatic product updates
- Instant posting capabilities
Now let’s talk about what isn’t mentioned on the website.
Technical and administrative support
The plugin works fine most of the time but the moment problems appear you’re pretty much on your own. You can fill out the Aliexpress support form but the chances of getting an answer back are extremely low.
Money withdrawal
The method for cashing out works fine but it’s a bit irritating that it goes through an international wire transfer with the minimum withdrawal fee being $16. Ali express doesn’t use Paypal for paying out commissions.
The Aliexpress affiliate program Alternatives
There are a lot of affiliate programs out there that are similar but the ones that can facilitate multiple niches and primarily deal in physical products can be narrowed down to only a few.
Amazon Affiliate Program ( amazon associates)
Amazon associates is the most popular affiliate program among affiliate marketers. Most affiliate marketing courses reference Amazon associates at least once. It’s a popular and trusted brand because just like target people already use the website to make purchases which leads to a high conversion rate.
Amazon doesn’t exempt certain categories from their affiliate program but the commission rates are different. Your commission rate doesn’t increase depending on how much you sell and in some cases, start with a higher commission rate than most affiliate programs.
Aliexpress Affiliate Program vs. Amazon Affiliate Program
The cookie duration of Amazon is 24 hours compared to AE’s 30 days
The quality of Amazon products is higher than AE.
The commission rates are the same on average (the difference is AE starts at 3%).
The catalog of Aliexpress is bigger than Amazon.
The earning potential of Amazon is higher because they have no cap and a trusted brand that is known for quality.
The eBay affiliate program
Just like Target and Amazon, eBay is a trusted e-commerce website that makes it easier for people to purchase items. In contrary to Target, a lot of changes happened with the eBay affiliate program happened regarding commission rates.
Overall the commission rates are lower than those of Amazon and Target and the customer that’s directed through your referral link has to make a purchase within 24 hours if you want to receive a commission.
Aliexpress Affiliate Program vs. eBay Affiliate Program
The cookie duration of eBay is 24 hours compared to AE’s 30 days
The quality of eBay products is higher than AE.
The commission rates of eBay are lower.
The catalog of Aliexpress is bigger than eBay.
The earning potential of eBay is higher because they have no cap, more expensive products, and a trusted brand that is known for quality.
Walmart affiliate program
Walmart is the last of the alternatives I’ll mention in this post. Walmart is a brand trusted by many which is why the conversion rate tends to be high.
Compared to the Aliexpress affiliate program, they have affiliate products in a lot more categories but overall the commission rates tend to be higher.
Aliexpress Affiliate Program vs. Walmart Affiliate Program
The cookie duration of Walmart is 3 days compared to AE’s 30 days
The quality of Walmart products is higher than AE.
The commission rates are a lot higher than AE.
The catalog of Walmart is bigger than AE.
The earning potential of Walmart is higher because they have no cap and a trusted brand that is known for quality.
Should you join the Aliexpress affiliate program?
There’s is no clear yes or no answer I can give you on this one.
It depends on a lot of things.
If you’re planning to solely rely on 1 affiliate program for all your income I wouldn’t advise you to go with Aliexpress.
They constantly have discounts but the commission rates stay the same so it’s almost impossible to predict how much you’ll make on a monthly basis.
If the program is going to be used as a small bonus on the side you can sign-up for it. I’d advise you to choose products before sign-up because the commission rates differ per affiliate marketplace website.
Depending on the product you might earn more by signing up through other websites.
Aliexpress has me value for drop shippers in my opinion because they can choose for which price they sell the products.
