Amazon aStore News: Multiple Stores!

I was really pleased to see the email from Amazon this morning regarding their next release for aStore. Specifically the fact that they are (soon) going to allow us to create multiple aStores:

The next release of aStore (currently slated for a late November release) will allow Associates to:

Build and maintain multiple aStores using a single Associate ID

Specify products to feature on Category and Sub-Category pages

Create multiple instances of individual categories and sub-categories (e.g. Beatles Music and Rolling Stones Music)

Feature up to 54 products on the front page of your store rather than the current limit of nine

Write longer custom product descriptions

Better control the layout and design for use in frames by providing the capability to remove the store header and category navigation

Most affiliates only have one affiliate account with Amazon.com, which they use on each of their individual affiliate or niche sites. Consolidated stats and payments are much easier for most of us to deal with - especially if Amazon.com is only a secondary stream of revenue.

During the first beta release of their new aStore option, I didnt realize until I had finished creating one that you could only create one...

I really liked the aStore option as an affiliate, because it makes product linking much easier and much nicer on the site. If you've ever tried to set up Amazon links, you know what a pain it can be to set up static HTML images & descriptions... with the code that they give you in the Affiliate portal. Ugh! With aStore it is MUCH easier.

If you havent created your own aStore yet, log in to your Amazon.com affiliate account to check it out!

The only thing I was left wondering about was the payout structure. They didnt mention any details when they released the first beta version, so I just assumed it would be similar to using other Amazon links. Meaning that links to specific products earn a higher commission rate, than say... search results or keyword-based results. Does anyone know for sure on this?