Stop losing commissions to dead products: the Product Health Monitor catches them before your readers do
How the Product Health Monitor finds discontinued and out-of-stock items, and the exact workflow to fix them.
The short version
- The Product Health Monitor scans your published product boxes, comparison tables and bestseller lists for discontinued or out-of-stock items.
- It flags each problem product with a status pill so you can see at a glance what needs attention.
- A simple workflow — review, replace, refresh — keeps your content earning without manual checks.
- Nothing you publish breaks when a licence lapses; the monitor keeps working.
What the Product Health Monitor does
Every Amazon affiliate site accumulates dead weight. Products get discontinued, stock runs out, and Amazon quietly swaps the detail page for a 'currently unavailable' message. Your old review still ranks, readers still click, and you still send Amazon traffic — but the sale never happens, and you earn nothing.
The Product Health Monitor in Ama Affiliate Pro solves this by scanning every product you've published through the plugin. It checks the live Amazon catalogue for each ASIN and reports back which items are discontinued or out of stock, with a clear status pill next to each one.
You don't need to open fifty Amazon tabs and check manually. The monitor does the legwork, and it works across all your product boxes, comparison tables and bestseller lists, because they all share the same underlying product data.
The status pill is the key: green means the product is live, amber means low stock, red means discontinued or unavailable.
Why dead products cost you real money
The math is simple. A reader clicks your affiliate link, lands on a product page that says 'currently unavailable', and closes the tab. You've delivered the click, but Amazon pays nothing because no sale happened. Worse, that reader may not come back to your site.
The longer a dead product sits on your page, the more clicks you waste. If a post gets steady traffic, even a single discontinued item can quietly drain commissions for months. The Product Health Monitor turns that invisible leak into a visible list.
It also protects your credibility. A review that points to a dead product looks outdated, and readers notice. Keeping your product links live is part of keeping your content trustworthy.
- Discontinued items: Amazon removes the buy box entirely, so no commission is possible.
- Out-of-stock items: temporary, but still cost you every click during the outage.
- Old reviews ranking for products that no longer exist: the worst case, because the traffic is steady.
- Comparison tables with one dead row: readers lose trust in the whole table.
How the monitor fits into your workflow
The Product Health Monitor isn't a separate tool you have to remember to run. It lives inside the plugin and checks the products you've already published. You open the monitor, see the list of flagged items, and work through them one by one.
The workflow is straightforward. First, review the flagged product to confirm the status — sometimes Amazon's data lags, so a quick check of the live page is worth it. Second, decide whether to replace the product with a current alternative or remove it from the page. Third, update the shortcode or block with the new ASIN, and the page is earning again.
You can also use the monitor proactively. If a product you're about to feature is already flagged, you can pick a different one before you publish. That's cheaper than fixing it later.
The shortcodes behind your product content
Every product element you publish is powered by a shortcode, and the monitor checks them all. Knowing which shortcode produced which element helps you fix things fast when the monitor flags a product.
Here's the full list of product-related shortcodes in Ama Affiliate Pro. Each one is also available as a Gutenberg block, so you can use whichever fits your editing style.
When you replace a product, you only need to swap the ASIN attribute — the rest of your layout stays intact.
| Element | Shortcode | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Product box | Single product card with image, rating and buy button. | |
| Comparison table | Side-by-side table for 2-6 products. | |
| Bestseller list | Ranked list of products for a keyword. | |
| Text link | Clean, correctly tagged text link. | |
| Deal ticker | Scrolling strip of deals. | |
| Floating card | Floating product card. | |
| Exit popup | Exit-intent product popup. |
How to fix a flagged product step by step
When the monitor flags a product, the fix is usually a two-minute job. You need the replacement product's ASIN — the 10-character code in the Amazon URL after /dp/ — and the shortcode or block where the old product appears.
Open the post or page in the block editor. If you used a shortcode, find the or tag and change the asin attribute. If you used a block, edit the block settings and paste in the new ASIN.
Save the page and check the front end. The new product should render with its own image, rating and buy button. Then return to the monitor and confirm the flag has cleared.
For comparison tables, replace just the dead row's ASIN — the other rows stay untouched. For bestseller lists, you can also switch the keyword to pull in a fresh set of products.
If you're replacing a product with a similar one, keep the same anchor text and surrounding copy where possible. That preserves your SEO value and reader trust.
What happens when a licence lapses
A common worry is that the Product Health Monitor stops working if your licence expires. It doesn't. The monitor, along with product boxes, comparison tables, marketplace localisation, country blocking and analytics, keeps working even after a trial or licence ends.
What needs an active licence are the AI-powered features: the content writer, AI keyword tools and the duplicate post finder. The Product Health Monitor is not one of them, so your published content stays healthy.
If you do renew later, entering your licence key unlocks everything again exactly where it left off. Nothing you've published breaks in the meantime.
How the monitor protects your whole site
The Product Health Monitor isn't just about individual products. It gives you a site-wide view of which content is still earning and which is quietly going stale. That's valuable for planning refreshes.
If several products in one post are flagged, that post is a candidate for a full rewrite. If only one is dead, a quick ASIN swap is enough. The monitor helps you prioritise your maintenance time.
It also pairs well with the plugin's other maintenance tools, like the link doctor and duplicate post finder, so you can keep the whole site in shape without leaving WordPress.
Getting started with the Product Health Monitor
The monitor is part of Ama Affiliate Pro, and every plan starts with a 14-day free trial of the complete plugin. You'll need a payment method at checkout, but nothing is charged for the first 14 days — the first charge falls on day 15, and cancelling before then costs nothing.
Once the plugin is installed, the monitor appears in your WordPress admin. It works with any theme, requires no coding, and checks products using Amazon's data. For reliable product data, Amazon Creators API credentials are recommended; a slower no-credentials mode works until Amazon grants API access, which normally needs three qualifying sales.
If you're already running an Amazon affiliate site, the monitor will likely find at least a few dead products on your first scan. That's the point — each one is a commission you can start recovering.
Frequently asked questions
How does the Product Health Monitor know a product is discontinued?
It checks each ASIN against Amazon's live catalogue data. If the product page no longer has a buy box or returns an unavailable status, the monitor flags it as discontinued or out of stock.
Will the monitor work with products I added before installing the plugin?
Only if those products were added through Ama Affiliate Pro shortcodes or blocks. The monitor scans the products your plugin has rendered, so legacy content outside the plugin isn't covered.
Can I fix a flagged product without editing the page?
No — you need to update the shortcode or block with a new ASIN. But the fix is quick: swap the ASIN, save, and the page renders the new product. The monitor clears the flag once it sees the change.
Does the monitor slow down my site?
No. The monitor runs checks in the background and doesn't add load to your front end. It uses Amazon's API efficiently, and the results are cached so your pages load fast.
What if I don't have Amazon Creators API credentials yet?
The plugin has a no-credentials mode that works, but it's slower. Amazon normally grants API access after three qualifying sales, so most users get credentials quickly. Until then, the monitor still functions, just with less frequent checks.
Will the monitor keep working after my trial ends?
Yes. The Product Health Monitor, along with product boxes, comparison tables, marketplace localisation, country blocking and analytics, keeps working even without an active licence. AI-powered features need a licence, but the monitor doesn't.
Can I move my licence to another site?
Yes. Deactivate the licence inside the plugin on the old site, and the seat frees up immediately. You can then activate it on the new site yourself, without contacting support.