Here’s the April 2026 breakdown of all the pennies I’ve collected from the internet. I’ve organized the income sources into bigger categories and then provided details from each source.

Affiliate Commissions: $1,004.14

TikTok Shop Affiliate: $533.51

I have been creating TikTok Shop Affiliate videos since Sept 2024 and seeing steady sales. The process involves quick reviews or demonstrations of products that are sold within TikTok shop and linking them within the TikTok video. Results vary wildly depending on the product, the day, the month, the season, and the algorithm. This month took a huge dive in terms of views and sales. (link to my TikTok account)

I’ve provided a screenshot of my top selling products on TikTok Shop this month below.

• Read more about how I made over $19k in commission in the first year of doing TikTok Shop Affiliate.

Etsy Affiliate: $234.63

The primary place where I promote Etsy affiliate links is through Pinterest. I’ve had a Pinterest account since forever, so my account is already full of craft tutorial links. I post my affiliate links to crochet and quilt patterns, and these have generated the most sales for me. (link to my Pinterest account) However, Etsy recently changed their affiliate program provider, so it’s almost certain that all of the links that I’ve generated over the past couple years no longer generate commission. I could not log into the old platform as of April 23, 2026 and I do not know if any commissions have been generated since then. I have gotten set up on the new platform and am starting to post links on Pinterest again, but it will take some time for the new pins to generate views and clicks. From my previous experience, it takes at least two months to see any conversions from content that I post on Pinterest. It’s somewhat disconcerting to start over, but I know what seems to work with my account, so hopefully, it’ll pick back up once my pins have time to circulate.

Amazon Affiliate: $228.72

I’ve been an Amazon affiliate since the early days of my blog and have always recommended various supplies for art and lettering. However, the bulk of my income now comes from on-site commissions, where product review videos get added directly to the product page by Amazon. If someone watches the video on the product page and makes a purchase, then I get the affiliate commission. (link to my Amazon Storefront) This month brought changes to the commission percentage and available commission for non-linked sales, and likely contributes to decreased income compared to last month.

• Read more about my process for making product review videos on Amazon

Benable: $6.67

Benable a website that has its own audience and search functionality where you can link to various products and websites in collections. The affiliate income is baked into the platform when someone clicks on your featured product and makes a purchase. Probably the lowest friction income source since you don’t need an existing audience. (link to sign up for Benable)

Other Affiliate Programs: $0.61

Working on generating links with ShopMy and made my first affiliate sale here. This platform is promising because I get to generate affiliate links with a chrome plug-in for lots of different shops. (link to join ShopMy, link to my guide to getting started with ShopMy)

Products: $211.47

Paper Goods Etsy Shop: $3.35

I sell bookmarks here mostly, with the occasional digital download. (link to Etsy shop)

Fiber Goods Etsy Shop: $2.54

Once upon a time, I thought I was going to make scarves and blankets while my baby napped and I could sell them online. And that kind of worked, but not profitably. Listings expired, and then I switched to smaller objects like coasters and cozies, and now I’m mostly selling digital crochet patterns. (link to Etsy shop)

Used Books: $100.09

I list used books for sale using the PangoBooks app. Sales are sporadic. This was a decent month. (link to my PangoBooks shop) Lately, I’ve been cross-posting books that haven’t sold from my PangoBooks store onto ebay to see if they would move, and I was able to sell a more books that way.

• Read more about how I use the PangoBooks app to quickly and easily sell used books.

Ebay: $96.19

In the process of listing books for sale on ebay, I realized how quick and easy the ebay app is to use for listing products. I experimented with listing some art supplies and managed to sell a bunch! Planning to add more listings next month, especially as sample products come in from being a TikTok Shop affiliate.

Digital Downloads: $0

Too many shops, not enough marketing. (link to crochet pattern shop, link to printables shop)

Print on Demand: $9.30

Once upon a time, I uploaded a ton of designs onto RedBubble. I do not nurture this revenue stream at all right now, and any sales are just a bonus surprise. (link to Redbubble shop)

Content Monetization: $17.71

Mediavine: $8.25

Clearly, this is not a very lucrative income source, since the minimum payout to transfer to a bank account is $100. However, coins are coins, so I’m leaving the ads turned on at my blog. Is it enough to offset the cost of the website hosting and domain registration? Probably not. But it hosts content that hopefully leads to other affiliate sales. (link to blog)

Instagram Bonus for Posts: $8.69

I have no idea how this was activated or why. I was previously enrolled in an Instagram Reels bonus program, but that has since been discontinued. So I realized that even if I’m only making a few cents per post, the more I post, the more cents I can make. And what’s really crazy is that I can just screenshot my audiobook player, talk about the book a little bit, and create really easy content that way. Also, the more I post about my side hustles, the more views I get. (link to my Instagram)

Facebook Monetization: $0.77

I was randomly approved for Facebook monetization on March 29, so I’m still learning how to optimize this. My follower count is crazy small and I have no idea how eyeballs are getting to my posts and reels. I have set up my Instagram account to automatically repost everything to Facebook, so I don’t have a dedicated content strategy here. I’m not entirely sure how to get more views, but it looks like the payment rate for reels is terrible ($0.03 per thousand qualified views) and better for photos ($0.25 per thousand qualified views), except my photos don’t seem to get many views in the first place. (link to my Facebook)

Recurring Expenses

No income report is complete without factoring in expenses. I tend to pay annual subscriptions rates for things, so this will just be a recurring list of resources that I use.

• Bluehost for blog hosting and domain registration $350/year (check out the blog here)
• Flodesk for email marketing $209/year (affiliate link for Flodesk) – I’m planning to migrate subscribers to Beehiiv in the next couple months and cancel Flodesk, but I’m paid up until November, so no rush right now.
• Beehiiv for my side hustle diaries $517/year (affiliate link for Beehiiv)
• USPS PO Box $210/year
• Canva Pro $120/year

Upgrade to a paid membership to get even more juicy details on all the ways I’m making content and generating income.

Introduction

You may have already heard of the Amazon Affiliate Program, but they have a related-but-separate program called Amazon Influencer Program. Honestly, my affiliate account is so old (circa 2014) that I don’t know when or how all these changes happened. Official information is linked below.

• Link to Amazon Affiliate Program information
• Link to Amazon Influencer Program information

The main differences there are that the affiliate program is for adding links to your website/blog and the influencer program allows you to build a storefront. You’re able to direct your own traffic and audience to both of these places to generate sales and earn commission.

However! What I’m talking about today is the on-site commission program where you don’t need to send any of your audience to Amazon, and instead, your content is shown to existing shoppers. If someone watches your video on the product listing page and then makes a purchase, then you get to earn the commission. The big sell here is that you don’t need to post on social media about the product or drive any of the traffic. Plus, the audience is already warm and ready to buy.

The tricky part to getting started is knowing where to upload the videos and then an approval process before the videos show up on the product listing pages.

• Link to Amazon Onsite Commissions information
• Link to Amazon Influencer Video FAQs

Why I Got Started

I have known about the Amazon influencer program for on-site videos since September 2024, but did not actively start posting until July 2025. I was originally somewhat discouraged by a video that I saw on YouTube from an entrepreneur that I trust showing that the results weren’t really worth the workload and effort that she was putting in. (link to that video here). However, since that time, I had seen many more influencers, especially ones who have been successful at doing TikTok shop saying that they were able to make decent money doing Amazon videos. By about June 2025, my TikTok shop sales revenue was starting to decline and I decided I needed to diversify my income streams and Amazon was a natural next step. After submitting my three videos for content approval, I was ready to get started in late July 2025.

My initial approach has been to repurpose videos that I was already posting on TikTok for TikTok shop and just post them straight to Amazon. Low effort and low workload test to see if money could be made. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked! Keep reading to find out my exact process and workflow, and the results of how much money I’ve been able to make over the past 8 months.

My Process and Workflow

Product Selection

The easiest way to get started is to just start looking around your house. Anything that is sold on Amazon can be reviewed in a video and then uploaded onto your storefront. In my case, since I also do TikTok Shop affiliate, I get sent a lot of samples through TikTok Shop. Whenever I get packages in, I use the LensAI feature on my Amazon iPhone app to scan the product and determine if it’s sold on Amazon. If so, that’s awesome and I’ll make sure to upload that video. In order to actually get people to watch your video, it needs to be featured in the video carousel on the product page. Sometimes, with a very popular household item (like an Owala water bottle), there’s going to be tons and tons of videos about it already and it may not be the best use of time to bother making a review. In other cases, products might have a very low commission (like plastic drinking straws from Amazon Basics), and it might not be worth the time to make videos there either. Other creators have said that larger ticket items (furniture, appliances, etc) have a much higher potential for revenue. In my case, I really just upload videos for things I have easily on hand.

Recording

The process here is exactly the same one I use for TikTok Shop, especially since I am quite literally uploading the same video onto Amazon. I record with my iPhone 17 Pro Max and use my filming desk in my craftroom with studio lights and a rigged tripod (which is a microphone stand with a piece of PVC pipe and magnetic phone holder). I talk and record simultaneously, keeping videos at around 30 to 60 seconds long. No edits. Sometimes, I use the pause button to record. That’s it.

Affiliate links to supplies:

• Softbox lighting kit
• Microphone stand
• Small, inexpensive desk

Uploading

Amazon App

The quickest way to get started is to upload directly from the Amazon app. If you’re logged in, there’s a section labeled “Creator Central” and you can upload there. This is where I had started uploading content and linking to products, but I felt that the upload was a bit slow. I wasn’t able to multi-task while the file was being uploaded and I was pretty much stuck waiting for it to finish. I might use this feature when I’m on the go and away from my computer, but I actually find it easier to upload from my desktop browser.

Desktop Browser

When I combine my phone and computer, the upload process is way faster. I use an iPhone and a Macbook, so I can easily Airdrop videos from my phone to my computer. Usually, I’ll be batch recording samples for TikTok and end up with 5 to 10 videos that then need to be uploaded to Amazon. I’ll transfer all of those videos to my computer and then upload them in bulk to my Amazon storefront. They get uploaded as drafts, so all you need to do after that is to link the correct product, and then edit the title.

Bulk upload up to 50 files.

Link product and edit the title

Increasing Traffic

One of the things I’m experimenting with is trying to direct buyers to my Amazon storefront using Pinterest. I’ve basically just been copying the link to my review videos and pinning them on Pinterest using the Save from URL feature within Pinterest. I’m not sure this has been working to actually get sales, but that might be due to my Pinterest boards not being optimized. And also, lazy thumbnails. But if you have higher quality content, you should definitely be posting it everywhere on the internet and bringing more people to your storefront.

Results

From July 2025 to March 2026, I made total of $2326 in commissions. If you take away July as an outlier, this averages to $289 per month.

The overall trend here is increasing over time as I add more videos to the platform. I’d say this is a fairly comfortable level of income, considering I’m mostly making videos on low-ticket items that result in small commissions. I’m pretty happy with the results here compared to the level of time and effort that I’m contributing. Amazon has recently removed the ability to see the specific products that are sold and contribute to commissions, so it’s hard to tell what videos are converting to sales.

Future Plans

As of April 2026, many of the commission rates for Amazon on-site have decreased. There has also been some changes on whether we get commission from other products (not the ones specifically in the video) that the buyer ends up purchasing. Overall, it means less money for the creator. However, this side hustle is actually pretty easy to layer on top of making videos for TikTok Shop and I feel like I’ve gotten my workflow optimized. I do think that I’ve probably plateaued in terms of revenue though, especially since I don’t review higher ticket items. A lot of the products I review are small and therefore low-cost, which means pretty small commissions.

Conclusion

Did I make quit-my-job money with Amazon on-site commissions? Absolutely not. However, the amount that I am earning is pretty decent compared to the amount of time and energy I’m putting in. Seems simple enough to just make a video on everything that comes into my house and post it online quickly. If you can get into this program, I would recommend it. And if you’re able to scale to higher ticket items, you have much more earning potential. This side hustle is a winner.

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