Amazon Associates

[thai_king]

Hi,

I've signed upto Amazon Associates. I've had a look around the admin system however can't find how to download product feeds or even download product feed of a category (mp3).

Anybody with more experience of Amazon Associates probably knows more about this than me. Anybody help?

Thanks,

Thai King

[Scorpioncart]

Amazon don't do product feeds

[web-strategies]

Although they don't offer a feed, you can access their product catalogue for searches/lookups through their free web services

Amazon Web Services Developer Community : Amazon Associates Web Service

You'll need some technical know how to work with it, or use eLance and get someone to create what you are after.

[Darren M]

Be careful though, according to their T's and C's, if you grab their product data using web services you're not meant to cache it or hold it for more than a few hours (one of the two). Which makes it a bit difficult to include their prices in a price comp site.

[web-strategies]

The last time I checked the T&Cs it was 24 hours I think. I might be wrong though.

[jonsp]

Originally Posted by Darren M Be careful though, according to their T's and C's, if you grab their product data using web services you're not meant to cache it or hold it for more than a few hours (one of the two). Which makes it a bit difficult to include their prices in a price comp site.

Would you want to cache it? Especially if you're also wanting to include marketplace data which is by nature very dynamic.

Grabbing a price from either xml or webservice would be just as quick as a database lookup so may as well just grab the data when you need it.

[web-strategies]

Originally Posted by jonsp Would you want to cache it? Especially if you're also wanting to include marketplace data which is by nature very dynamic. Grabbing a price from either xml or webservice would be just as quick as a database lookup so may as well just grab the data when you need it.

You are only allowed one lookup per second if I remember correctly, so you SHOULD cache. If 10 people view the same page uncached, then you're already over the limit.

I think Amazon only take notice if you are running a big site though.

[zinc]

Amazon have an API

[max99]

Okay, im linking thru to a direct product on amazon, and dispatached 14 items so far this month...with 39 orders through .

What should my referal rate be ? (beasr in mind all sales are for the product that im direct linking too)

[darrenb]

Max

You have the option to change your commission structure in your account settings. The default is 4% for all sales and the performance plan increases in tiers.

I am pretty much always better off with the performance plan, but you can switch between during the month as long as the plan you wish to use for that month is in place by the last day of the month.

It's worth switching between the plans towards the end of the month to see which plan benefits you the most then keep with that one to obtain the highest commission.

[max99]

Im on the performance one, and on tiers, but working it out myself im not getting the comission that i should be. so wandered if i worked it out wrong

[fizzbird]

Originally Posted by max99 Im on the performance one, and on tiers, but working it out myself im not getting the comission that i should be. so wandered if i worked it out wrong

It depends if the product is supplied by amazon or a third party. I think on the standard plan you only get commission for amazon merchandise and on the performance model there is a cap of £7 on any electricals?

It's a bit confusing and I don't claim to be wholly correct, it's just the way I understand it. I'm sure someone will have the correct information?

[darrenb]

There is a cap on electronics in the performance plan (£7 i think), but there isn't one on the classic.

However as far as i am aware on the classic, you can't get commission for third party electronics sales.

There are also different bonus amounts for linking methods:
Qualifying Direct Link Items Premium
(Premium applied to referral rate) 2.5%
Easy Links Premium
(Premium applied to referral rate) 1%

These may factor in your commission percentage.

The referral rates are as follows (total items dispatched)
1 - 5 5.00%
6 - 20 5.25%
21 - 50 5.50%
51 - 100 6.00%
101 - 175 6.50%
176 - 500 6.75%
501 - 1600 7.00%
1601 + 7.50%

If your rate is higher than the tier then it may be to do with the bonus for direct linking, if lower it may be due to high value items being capped.