Are you a fan of online shopping?
If so, you’ve probably heard of Aliexpress – the global eCommerce giant with millions of products at unbeatable prices and eye-watering shipping times.
But did you know Aliexpress has an affiliate program too?
In this review, I’ll take a closer look at what the Aliexpress affiliate program is all about, what can you promote, how much money can you make, and how to promote it.
I’ll also answer the question on everyone’s mind: is it worth it?
Let’s get started.
FYI: You may also be interested in my Alibaba Affiliate Program review.
What Can You Promote As An Aliexpress Affiliate?
As an Aliexpress affiliate, you have access to over 150 million products to promote.
With such a vast selection, you can promote products from almost any category imaginable (even adult toys):
- Men’s & Women’s fashion
- Toys, Kids, & Babies
- Jewelry & Watches
- Home, Pet & Appliances
- Consumer Electronics
- Computer, Office, & Security
- Home Improvement & Tools, and many more.
All top-level categories open up to multiple sub-categories, and even the sub-categories open up to smaller segments of products that you can use to find even more niche items to promote.
Many of these mini-categories have tons of potential if you want to run a blog that reviews products from Aliexpress. With new products added every month, you won’t be running out of products to review for a while.
I will talk more about promoting these items further down below.
The Aliexpress Affiliate Program Overview
As someone who did dropshipping with Aliexpress many years ago, I already knew to expect their affiliate program would be “a bit” rough on the edges.
And I was right.
I tried to sign up for their in-house affiliate program, but I never received the confirmation code to complete my signup process. Apparently, others have had problems with the signup process as well.
I eventually figured out that you should create a normal Aliexpress account first, and then click the “Affiliate Program” section at the bottom of the page.
This takes you to another form that allows you to send your affiliate application.
But anyways, let me give you an overview of the affiliate program:
As an affiliate, you can earn up to 9% commission on sales depending on the category (although ~4% seems to be the common ground). You also have the potential to earn up to 90% for “hot products”.
Aliexpress also lists the conversion rates at 3.5% and the average order value at $140 USD, but are they accurate? I remain skeptical.
One clear benefit for affiliates is how Aliexpress ships to over 200 countries, but the drawback is that they’ve been notoriously slow at shipping products. They’ve tried improving the shipping times, but you can still expect it to take 7-15 business days (in the best-case scenario).
When it comes to cookie duration, they don’t mention it anywhere on the affiliate page and third-party websites cite different values. But what I saw the most was a cookie duration of 30 days for the in-house affiliate program, so maybe it’s correct.
Some other highlights include:
You’ll have access to personalized product recommendations, exclusive codes and incentives for publishers, and promotional banners to help you promote products effectively.
How Do You Get Paid As An Aliexpress Affiliate?
So, how do you get paid if you manage to become an Aliexpress affiliate?
First of all, there is no minimum payout threshold. You can get paid no matter how small the amount is. Payments are done once a month, so you can expect to receive your earnings at the end of each month.
When it comes to payout methods, Aliexpress offers bank transfers. This means you can receive your earnings directly in your bank account.
It’s worth noting that Aliexpress operates on a “net 60” terms basis when it comes to receiving payments. It means you’ll receive your earnings 60 days after the end of the month in which you earned them. For example, if you earned $100 in January, you’ll receive your payment at the end of March.
Who Can Join The Aliexpress Affiliate Program?
The good news is that almost anyone can join, as long as you have an online presence and some traffic.
Or at least that’s how I interpreted the FAQ written in broken English.
So, whether you’re an influencer, blogger, or run anything from agencies to coupon & deal sites, you can apply to become an Aliexpress affiliate.
How To Become An Aliexpress Affiliate
If you’re dead set on becoming an Aliexpress affiliate, all you need to do is go through the application process as outlined below:
- Create a normal Aliexpress shopping account
- Scroll down the front page and click “Affiliate Program”
- Fill out your name, media type, and country
- Add information about your traffic sources and how you aim to promote Aliexpress
- Add contact information
- Verify with a code sent to your email
After you have been approved as an affiliate, you can start promoting Aliexpress products on your website or whatever medium you use.
How To Promote The Aliexpress Affiliate Program
Now, how would you go about promoting Aliexpress products then?
One proven strategy is to create content that showcases the products available on the platform.
You could do that in multiple ways:
Your Own Website
Writing informative and engaging product reviews is one of the best ways to promote affiliate programs like Aliexpress.
The thing about product reviews is that people searching for them are doing so because they have the intent to buy.
If you can help the reader and provide answers to their questions about a product, you can help them make an educated purchase decision and earn a commission in the process.
All you really need to do is give your thoughts about the product and convince the customer they’re making the right choice. The rest falls in place automatically.
If you don’t have your own website yet, you can get one up fairly quickly here for free.
Social Media
Another effective way to promote the Aliexpress Affiliate Program is through social media.
For example, short-form content on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook are hot trends right now as you can reach a massive amount of people with simple 30-60 sec videos.
You could share product reviews or highlight deals on Aliexpress to make this work.
How Much Money Can You Make With The Aliexpress Affiliate Program?
Right, how much money can you actually make with this program?
If we believe the average order value of $140 on the affiliate page, based on that alone, your average commissions would be $5.6 – $12.6 per sale (with 4-9% commission rates).
Of course, the amount of money you earn as an Aliexpress affiliate depends on many factors.
One of the most important factors is the types of products you promote.
Some products such as high-ticket items like electronics offer higher commission rates but are more difficult to sell. On the other hand, low-ticket items like clothing and accessories may be easier to sell but offer lower commissions.
Still, both high and low-ticket items require the same amount of effort content-wise, so I’d stick to the high-ticket items in some specific category (e.g. photography).
Let’s say you have a website with a product review that gets 1,000 visitors a month and your conversion rate is 1% (very modest), and the product you’re promoting pays $50 per sale.
The math tells us that you will convert 10 people a month into customers.
10 sales x $50 commissions = $500 a month.
Now, the gist here is that you won’t be writing just one product review.
Ideally, you’ll want to create reviews about a whole section of some specific niche (that you preferably find interesting and enjoy).
It’s safe to assume that with enough effort, you can get more than just 1,000 visitors a month and a much higher conversion rate that would lead to higher commissions.
Obviously, this was a simplified example, but affiliate marketing is a numbers game at the end of the day.
Another factor that impacts your earnings is your promotional strategy.
If you have a large and engaged audience, you’re able to earn simply by promoting products to them. If you don’t have an audience at all, you have to start building one or you could hop into the short-form content trend on social media to get quick wins.
Should You Become An Aliexpress Affiliate?
Even though you can find a massive selection of products on Aliexpress, it’s way too unreliable for customers and affiliates alike, so I’d still recommend Amazon Associates over Aliexpress.
- The shipping times are long
- Most products are cheap knock-offs
- Joining the affiliate program is a mess
- It takes 2 months to receive your commissions
And I didn’t even cover this, but some Aliexpress affiliates have reported big sums of money disappearing from their balance due to “Anti-Spam Commission Deductions” and they haven’t been able to contact support regarding it.
Regardless of which affiliate program you choose, it’s going to take a few months of solid work before you start seeing decent commissions rolling in.
Thanks for reading my Aliexpress affiliate program review, and if you’re interested in learning more about affiliate marketing, you can take a look at this free detailed course.
