Is it OK to shorten Amazon affiliate links?

Yes, with one caveat. Shortening for usability is fine — your affiliate tag is preserved through the redirect, so the sale still tracks back to you. Amazon's Operating Agreement does require that the destination URL is recognizable as an Amazon link in the final destination, so don't combine shortening with link cloaking that hides the destination from the user once they've clicked through.

Will my affiliate tag still work after shortening?

Yes. zip1.io performs a 302 redirect to the exact destination URL you provide, including the entire query string. As long as your original URL contains the ?tag=youraffiliate-20 parameter, that tag is preserved when the visitor lands on Amazon.

Can I see how many people clicked my affiliate link?

Yes. Every short link tracks total clicks, unique visitors, country, referrer, browser, and operating system. View live at zip1.io/stats/ or export as CSV, JSON, XLSX, or XML.

Is there a limit on how many affiliate links I can create?

No monthly cap. The API rate-limits link creation at 10 requests per minute per IP, but there's no monthly link quota and no paid tier.

A tangled long URL on the left simplifies into a short clean arrow pointing at a small shopping bag on the right.

A Free Amazon Affiliate Link Shortener

Turn long, ugly Amazon affiliate URLs into branded short links — with click analytics on every link, no account, no monthly cap, and your affiliate tag preserved end-to-end.

No signup Tag preserved Per-link analytics Free forever

The problem with raw Amazon affiliate URLs

An Amazon product URL with your affiliate tag attached looks like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Some-Product-Name-That-Goes-On-Forever/dp/B0CXXXXXX/ref=sr_1_3?crid=ABC123&keywords=widget&qid=1714000000&sprefix=widget&sr=8-3&tag=yourtag-20

It's 200+ characters, exposes search params from your own browser, and breaks every line of copy you paste it into. Visitors hesitate before clicking a URL that long. A short link like zip1.io/cool-widget reads as deliberate — and it tracks the click for you on top of the affiliate sale.

Make a branded affiliate short link in five seconds

Via the web form: paste the long Amazon URL, click "Advanced Options", set a custom alias, click Shorten.

Via the API (no key required, 10 requests/min per IP):

curl -X POST http://zip1.io/api/create \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXXXXXX/?tag=yourtag-20",
    "alias": "cool-widget"
  }'

# Response:
# {"short_url": "http://zip1.io/cool-widget", ...}

Your tag=yourtag-20 parameter is preserved end-to-end. zip1.io issues a 302 redirect to the exact URL you provided, query string and all — Amazon sees the affiliate tag, the sale tracks to your account.

Three patterns that work for affiliate marketers

1. One slug per product placement

Use the post or page name as the slug. Recommending the same product in three places? zip1.io/widget-newsletter, zip1.io/widget-twitter, zip1.io/widget-blog — each link's analytics tells you which channel is converting clicks.

2. Cap the link to a specific drop

Limited-time deal? Set max-clicks to the deal's expected window, then forget about it — the link self-disables when the cap is hit.

{
  "url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXXXXXX/?tag=yourtag-20",
  "alias": "blackfri-widget",
  "max-clicks": 5000
}

3. Programmatic creation from a content pipeline

If you publish enough product placements that doing it by hand is annoying, hit the API from your CMS or a Sheets / Airtable / Notion automation. The endpoint is unauthenticated; just rate-limit yourself to 10 creations a minute per IP.

What the analytics show you

Open http://zip1.io/stats/<slug> for any link to see:

Total clicks & unique visitors (deduplicated by IP)
Top countries — useful for picking which Amazon storefront (.com, .co.uk, .de) to localize toward
Top referrers — which posts, tweets, or newsletters actually drive clicks
Browser & OS split — desktop vs mobile
Bot vs human — bots are tagged separately so they don't pollute your conversion math

Need a snapshot for a report or a tax record? Hit /export/<slug>/csv (or json / xlsx / xml) for a downloadable file.

Compared to other free affiliate-friendly shorteners

Capability	zip1.io	Amazon's amzn.to	bit.ly free
Branded custom slug	Yes	No (random code)	Account required
Per-link analytics	Yes — full	Aggregate only, in Associates dashboard	Limited on free tier
Click cap (auto-expire)	Yes	No	No
API without an account	Yes	No	No
Monthly link cap on free tier	Unlimited	N/A — Amazon-domain links only	10 / month
Open source	Yes	No	No

Comparison reflects publicly documented free-tier features at time of writing. Amazon's amzn.to is great for short Amazon-only links but offers no custom slug or per-link analytics outside the Associates dashboard.

Compliance note: what Amazon allows

Amazon's Associates Operating Agreement lets affiliates use third-party link shorteners — millions of affiliates already do — but it forbids "cloaking" that misleads users about where they're being sent. The safe playbook:

Do use shortening for usability, branded slugs, and analytics.
Do include affiliate disclosures wherever your platform requires them (Twitter/X, blog FTC notices, YouTube descriptions).
Don't stack a shortener on top of a cloaking redirect that hides the final Amazon destination from the user — the visitor should land on amazon.com (or the appropriate locale) as expected.
Don't use shorteners in places Amazon explicitly forbids them — e.g. some regional Associates programmes restrict link sharing in specific channels (always check your locale's terms).

None of the above is legal advice. Read your Associates Operating Agreement for the country your account is registered in.

FAQ

Is it OK to shorten Amazon affiliate links?

Yes, with one caveat. Shortening for usability is fine — your affiliate tag is preserved through the redirect. Amazon does require that the destination is recognizably Amazon, so don't combine shortening with cloaking that hides where the user ends up.
Will my affiliate tag still work after shortening?

Yes. zip1.io performs a 302 redirect to the exact destination URL you provide, query string and all. Your tag=yourtag-20 parameter reaches Amazon intact.
Can I see how many people clicked my affiliate link?

Yes. Click counts, unique visitors, country, referrer, browser, and OS — live at /stats/<slug> or exportable as CSV / JSON / XLSX / XML.
Is there a limit on how many affiliate links I can create?

No monthly cap. The API rate-limits link creation at 10 per minute per IP. There's no paid tier and no quota.
What about other affiliate programmes?

Same approach works for any affiliate URL — eBay, Impact, ShareASale, etc. zip1.io doesn't inspect or modify the destination URL; it just redirects to whatever you saved.

Shorten your first affiliate link

Five seconds. No account. Branded slug optional.

Create a Link API Docs