Okay, so if you've searched "amazon influencer program requirements," you've probably found a dozen posts that list a follower count and call it a day. That's not the whole story, and honestly, it's not even the important part. I got approved and didn't touch the program for over a year, because approval and actually being in the program and unlocking the ability to earn commissions are two different steps. Nobody tells you that part.

So let's just walk through it together, what really happened when I applied, what Amazon actually checks for that most people don't know about, and the three videos that got me in.

How I ended up here

I'd been livestreaming knitting on Twitch for a while and had built up a solid audience there. Along the way I also started a knitting Instagram and had a knitting YouTube channel that was already monetized, even though I wasn't posting to it much. I'm always looking for new ways to bring in a little extra income, so when I heard about the Amazon Influencer Program, I applied using my existing socials, YouTube and Instagram.

Quick and useful detail here, since this trips people up before they even get started. You can apply with YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook, but each one has its own bar to clear. YouTube needs to be loading videos with actual engagement, not just sitting there. Instagram has to be set up as a Business or Creator profile, not personal. TikTok needs to be a public creator or business account with active posting. And Facebook has to be a public page, not a personal profile. So before you even apply, go check that whichever platform you're using is actually set up the right way.

I got approved almost right away. And then I did nothing with it for about a year.

That's not a typo. I thought "someday I'll get back to this" and just let it sit. By the time I actually circled back, I'd stopped livestreaming and that income had dried up, so I figured it was worth seeing what this Amazon thing could actually do.

Approved doesn't mean you can start earning

Here's the part that surprised me and still surprises most people applying today. Getting approved just means Amazon likes the look of your socials. That's it. It's not the finish line, even though it feels like it should be. To actually join the program and unlock the ability to earn commissions, you have to submit three shoppable videos.

Shoppable videos are not review videos. Nobody really explained the difference to me going in, so I want to spell it out here. A review video weighs the good against the bad. A shoppable video is meant to help someone who's already leaning toward buying something make that final decision. You're showing them how it works, answering the questions they'd have standing in front of it, pointing out anything it doesn't do well. What you're not doing is trashing a product you don't like. If I didn't like something, I just didn't make a video about it. I also never lied about something to make it look better than it was. The point is to help someone buy the right thing, not to perform enthusiasm.

The three videos I picked

I chose things I actually owned and used, on purpose. A waterproof pouch I wore around my neck at Aquatica to keep my keys and card dry in the water, a pair of water shoes I wore there too, and a shoulder bag I'd just started carrying.

I picked things that weren't oversaturated. Everybody already knows how a Stanley cup works, so there's nothing to teach. I wanted products where I could actually show someone something they didn't already know.

Looking back, there's one thing I'd do differently now. I filmed all three sitting at my desk with an overhead camera. Never occurred to me to actually get in the water and show the pouch and the shoes doing the thing they're made for. Three years later I'd absolutely be filming poolside instead of at a desk. If you're starting today, take the product to where it actually gets used. Show it doing its job.

For each video, I walked through the practical stuff. On the pouch, how the closure worked, how to tell the seal was actually secure, how the Velcro and the adjustable strap held up. On the shoes, the drainage holes on the bottom, how the laces kept them snug. I edited each one afterward and did a voiceover over any parts where I mumbled or said "um" too many times, then uploaded and waited. Here's my shoppable video for the waterproof pouch:

The wait, and the part nobody tells you about

Now here's where people get tripped up, so pay attention to this part. On the page where you upload your three videos, you'll see a section with a big blue lock on it.

While you're waiting to hear back, you'll probably notice your videos say "in review" or "published" next to them, and it's really easy to see "published" and think, oh, that's it, I'm approved. Nope. That's not it. Published just means your video made it onto Amazon and now the actual review is starting. Don't celebrate yet.

These days it's mostly AI doing that first content review. I checked every single day for two weeks, and then one day there it was, a confetti pop-up congratulating me and telling me my videos were now eligible for onsite placements. That approval window can take days or it can take weeks, just depends how busy things are on Amazon's end at the time.

Here's what I didn't know until later, and it's honestly probably the single most useful thing in this whole post if you're applying right now. Somewhere in that process, an actual person at Amazon reviews your social accounts, not just your videos. And what they're checking for isn't polish. They're looking at whether you're actually engaged with an audience. The whole point of the program is influencers bringing their audience to Amazon. So someone with a huge TikTok following but barely any real engagement can get turned down here, and it has nothing to do with whether their videos were good. So many people assume their videos suck when really it was never about the videos at all.

And here's the part I want you to really hear before you submit anything: you only get three tries. Submit your three videos, and if they get rejected, delete all 3. You can resubmit up to three times total. After that, you're done on that account, full stop. Your only option at that point is starting completely over with a brand new Amazon account. So don't just wing it and hope. You may want to look into some of the Facebook groups where people already in the program will look at your three videos and give you feedback before you submit. Those didn't exist when I applied. I just crossed my fingers and sent mine in blind.

What happened once I was actually in

The moment that confetti popped up, I went into full gear. I grabbed a notebook and walked room to room in my house writing down anything I owned that I could talk about. I pulled up my order history, mine and my husband's both, for even more ideas. I filmed as many as I could stand doing in one sitting, edited each one, and uploaded it the second it was ready. No reason to sit on a finished video. It's not making you a dime sitting on your hard drive.

By the end of that first month, I had 87 videos uploaded. I made $19.04.

I want to just leave that number sitting right there for a second. Eighty-seven videos. Nineteen dollars and four cents. If you're picturing this as some overnight income switch, it isn't, and I need you to know that now so you don't quit in month one thinking it doesn't work. Don't freak out if your first numbers look like mine.

Here's the thing though, that number didn't discourage me one bit. I knew things take a while to catch on with Amazon's algorithm, so honestly, I was hopeful. That nineteen dollars had nowhere to go but up.

That's the requirements piece, the part that actually gets you in the door. What happened to that income over the following months, and then years, once those early videos started aging and I stopped filming as much, is its own story. I'll get into the real numbers, what changed with commissions in 2026, and whether I think this is still worth starting today, in the next post. Come sit with me for that one too.