Associates' Guide to Amazon Associates Web Services

What is Amazon Associates Web Services?

In general, Web services are a way of accessing information or services over the Web. You make a request to a server for a type of information and the server returns information to you. In the case of Amazon Associates Web Service, any subscriber outside of Amazon can make a request to return information about products, vendors, and transactions. You can also make a request to create and use a shopping cart for Amazon products.

More formally, a Web service is referred to as an application programming interface (API). An API is a set of building blocks made up of routines, protocols, and tools that govern how individuals use the service. It creates a consistent way for you to programmatically access structured information from Amazon so that you can integrate the content into your Web site or application. Amazon Associates Web Service content is available for six of our Web sites: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.de, Amazon.ca, and Amazon.fr.

What can I do with Amazon Associates Web Services?

Using Amazon Associates Web Service as the technology platform and the Associates Program as your compensation plan, Web site owners and managers can create an e-commerce solution for their businesses.

Amazon Associates Web Service provides detailed product information across as many Amazon product lines as you wish to promote on your site while giving you complete flexibility to display that information in a manner that fits with your Web site's design. You can create a complete, dedicated store or integrate product content into appropriate areas of your site. The following examples show the range of possibilities available via Amazon Associates Web Services

• Movies.com: This marketplace of DVDs and other movie-related materials uses Amazon Associates Web Services to create a complete shopping experience.
• Time.com: The online version of this popular news magazine uses Amazon Associates Web Services to automatically populate bestselling books at the end of relevant news articles, giving them an easy way to merchandise products within their content without manually creating links. View an example.
• The Old House Web: A niche site dedicated to renovation enthusiasts, the Old House Web extends its Web site content with a product emporium and bookstore powered with Amazon Associates Web Services.
• Liveplasma.com: This inventive site uses Amazon Associates Web Services product information to create maps of music and movie products, allowing fans to discover new artists.

That depends on two things: what exactly you want to do and how technical you are.

Beginner: If you do not have the technical expertise to use ECS directly, we recommend using a third-party application based on ECS. Find an application or tool that meets your needs in our Solutions Directory.

Intermediate: If you possess a working knowledge of XML and would like to learn more, we've provided some tips for getting started and instructions for performing two requests often used by Associates.

Advanced: If you know how to program with XML and understand how to integrate data into either an application or Web site, you could use ECS directly to accomplish your goals. We recommend that you apply to become an Amazon Associate and join the Web Services program and begin making requests to the E-commerce Service.

More Information

For more information about ECS, see the ECS Web site.