Is this allowed by Amazon?

8 years ago

Hi, I am not sure if that would even work, doesn't the API connect directly to amazon?

The only way I picture what your wanting to work would be to allow the customer to order from your site, then you order from amazon, seems a really complicated system, and honestly I am not a complete amazon expert.

I did learn recently however that you cannot include amazon links in emails...oops for me

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Thanks
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favconnection

8 years ago

Originally Posted by joyouscreature

Hi, I am not sure if that would even work, doesn't the API connect directly to amazon?

The only way I picture what your wanting to work would be to allow the customer to order from your site, then you order from amazon, seems a really complicated system, and honestly I am not a complete amazon expert.

I did learn recently however that you cannot include amazon links in emails...oops for me

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

The API allows you to connect your website to amazon, search and load the products in your website.

But as an affiliate member you are suposed to ask your members to click on your affiliate link and they order the products on Amazon, not on your site.

But the idea is to do the first part (product loading) but they buy the product on your site directly, so they don't use your affiliate link, instead, they have a "add to cart" button...

When you have received the amount, you can order the product on Amazon...

Note: the price on the products is not the price of amzon...

For me it looks very easy to do and this is what scares me a little...
I read many stories with amazon TOS, when you do something wrong, it's very fast, they close your account...

Thanks

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Mattdawg841

8 years ago

So you're wondering if you can post stuff from Amazon onto your site and when people purchase it, you would then order it from Amazon for them….

To be honest, that sounds like a lot of extra work on your part plus if your customers find out that you're doing that, they will more than likely not be your customers any longer. Plus, for the few dollars difference you would make is it really worth all that extra work?

Also, just a thought…what if a customer purchases something and wants a refund or exchange? Since they purchased it through your website, they would be coming to you with all that noise….which again, sounds like a much bigger headache than it's worth….

What you should do is open up an affiliate store with Amazon, list whatever it is you're trying to sell and earn a referral commission for every purchase made through your affiliate store without doing any work…a nice little passive income for ya

I hope that helps and good luck!

Thanks
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DWaters

8 years ago

Originally Posted by Mattdawg841

To be honest, that sounds like a lot of extra work on your part plus if your customers find out that you're doing that, they will more than likely not be your customers any longer. Plus, for the few dollars difference you would make is it really worth all that extra work?

Also, just a thought...what if a customer purchases something and wants a refund or exchange? Since they purchased it through your website, they would be coming to you with all that noise....which again, sounds like a much bigger headache than it's worth....

Why would you even want to do this ? The more I think about the less sense it seems to make. The idea would be to drive them from your site to Amazon, they buy, you get paid, done deal.

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JC Web

8 years ago

Of course this is not allowed and you certainly already know this. And if you were really searching for the answer to this, you would have gone to the source, where they clearly tell you this is against the terms you agree to by using the API. https://affiliate-program.amazon.com...c-api-detail-0

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favconnection

8 years ago

Yes, you are right, not a good idea with Amazon:

(b) You will use Product Advertising Content only (i) in a lawful manner; (ii) in accordance with the terms of this License Agreement and within the express scope of the license granted in Section 6; and (iii) to send end users to and drive sales on the Amazon Site. You will not use the Product Advertising API, Data Feed, or Product Advertising Content with any site or application, or in any other manner, that does not have the principal purpose of advertising and marketing the Amazon Site and driving sales of products and services on the Amazon Site.

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JohnMcCabe

8 years ago

Maybe I'm missing something here.

While the answer to the OP's question is pretty much cut and dried, I'm not following why such a scheme would be desirable anyway. The only thing I can think of would be substituting his own prices and working some kind of arbitrage scheme.

My reading is, if caught, getting your associate account banned could be the least of your worries.

Thanks
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kilgore

8 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

Maybe I'm missing something here.

While the answer to the OP's question is pretty much cut and dried, I'm not following why such a scheme would be desirable anyway. The only thing I can think of would be substituting his own prices and working some kind of arbitrage scheme.

My reading is, if caught, getting your associate account banned could be the least of your worries.

The reason this might be useful is that you'd be able to collect all the customer data whenever someone made a purchase. This might be helpful when building a newsletter list, for instance, but also for things like tracking ROI of advertising (since Amazon's reports only tell you what was bought, but not who bought it). You'd also get to see things like cart abandonment, you'd get to control what related products, upsells, etc. you showed the user at checkout.

Of course you'd also lose a lot in the process: the trust and familiarity people have with Amazon, their expertise in getting people to buy more than just what they come to shop for, and their customer service and returns department. Of course, as has been said above, the biggest thing you'd lose would be your Amazon affiliate account since you'd be breaking the TOS. But that's not what you were asking.

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JC Web

8 years ago

Originally Posted by kilgore

The reason this might be useful is that you'd be able to collect all the customer data whenever someone made a purchase. This might be helpful when building a newsletter list, for instance, but also for things like tracking ROI of advertising (since Amazon's reports only tell you what was bought, but not who bought it). You'd also get to see things like cart abandonment, you'd get to control what related products, upsells, etc. you showed the user at checkout.

Of course you'd also lose a lot in the process: the trust and familiarity people have with Amazon, their expertise in getting people to buy more than just what they come to shop for, and their customer service and returns department. Of course, as has been said above, the biggest thing you'd lose would be your Amazon affiliate account since you'd be breaking the TOS. But that's not what you were asking.

He also said in post 3 that he was not planning on using the same price as Amazon, so it seems like he was planning on charging more to make a profit. But whether he was planning on charging more or charging less to get people to buy from him, that in itself is yet another violation of Amazon's terms. You can't use the API to pull information unless you have accurate Amazon pricing information.

Thanks
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favconnection

8 years ago

Originally Posted by JC Web

He also said in post 3 that he was not planning on using the same price as Amazon, so it seems like he was planning on charging more to make a profit. But whether he was planning on charging more or charging less to get people to buy from him, that in itself is yet another violation of Amazon's terms. You can't use the API to pull information unless you have accurate Amazon pricing information.

The reason why I have asked is because another guy of the forum is doing something like that but with another marketplace.

His post has many pages of answers and nobody noticed exactly what was the process.

But he says that he has asked to the marketplace before and it's ok.

But Amazon will defininetly not accept something like that:

You load the affiliate products with the API on your site and you change the price and let the members pay on your site, and then you order with amazon and put their address.

this is an idea that many developpers can have while working with the API, and I hope they will read my post (and the TOS) before doing that with the Amazon API, it's a very bad idea (at least with Amazon).

Thanks

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JohnMcCabe

8 years ago

Originally Posted by kilgore

The reason this might be useful is that you'd be able to collect all the customer data whenever someone made a purchase. This might be helpful when building a newsletter list, for instance, but also for things like tracking ROI of advertising (since Amazon's reports only tell you what was bought, but not who bought it). You'd also get to see things like cart abandonment, you'd get to control what related products, upsells, etc. you showed the user at checkout.

Of course you'd also lose a lot in the process: the trust and familiarity people have with Amazon, their expertise in getting people to buy more than just what they come to shop for, and their customer service and returns department. Of course, as has been said above, the biggest thing you'd lose would be your Amazon affiliate account since you'd be breaking the TOS. But that's not what you were asking.

I see your point, but I still don't get why someone would use Amazon's API, and then corrupt it with their own pricing. Seems like a lot of work when they could simply set up a shopping site and use Amazon to source the product after the sale.
-----------------------------------
For the poster who mentioned that amazon's price would be shown on the invoice, all you have to do is tick the box asking if the item is a gift. Tick the box, and Amazon will not include pricing information.

I've done this a couple of times in the past. I've mentioned that my wife likes to enter online sweeps, and sometimes she wins prizes we don't need or want. Those go to eBay. A couple of times, she won packs of items, and I got lazy and listed them in an auction with multiple winners rather than one at a time. In doing so, a typo let me sell more than I had.

Once the auction was over, I used Amazon to cover the shortfall. In the message, I mentioned that I accidentally oversold and used Amazon to honor my listing. Got great feedback for doing so.

Thanks
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favconnection

8 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

corrupt it with their own pricing. Seems like a lot of work when they could simply set up a shopping site and use Amazon to source the product after the sale.

The reason why you use an API is because you dont want to load each product by hand.
And you also need that the status of each product be up to date at anytime.

When you use the API you have less work.. You work at the begening because you have to create the code to communicate with Amazon (by using the API), but when it's done, everything is on autopilot.

If you use the affiliate program, when you run your page and load many products on it, you know you will only earn a very little share on them, so you start to wonder if you could not simply sell them directly and then order on amazon (or other site).

This is against their TOS.

But like I said, another guy here does the same thing with another company.
Most of the ppl who commented on his post did not understand what exactly he was doing, I did because I'm a developer too.

I was a little surprise when he said that the company was ok with this strategy.

This is why I wanted to ask if it was possible with Amazon.
The answer is not, it's not possible, and the TOS are clear about it, do not even try : )

Thanks
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mich800

8 years ago

Originally Posted by favconnection

The reason why you use an API is because you dont want to load each product by hand.
And you also need that the status of each product be up to date at anytime.

When you use the API you have less work.. You work at the begening because you have to create the code to communicate with Amazon (by using the API), but when it's done, everything is on autopilot.

If you use the affiliate program, when you run your page and load many products on it, you know you will only earn a very little share on them, so you start to wonder if you could not simply sell them directly and then order on amazon (or other site).

This is against their TOS.

But like I said, another guy here does the same thing with another company.
Most of the ppl who commented on his post did not understand what exactly he was doing, I did because I'm a developer too.

I was a little surprise when he said that the company was ok with this strategy.

This is why I wanted to ask if it was possible with Amazon.
The answer is not, it's not possible, and the TOS are clear about it, do not even try : )

Like you found out it is against Amazon's TOS. This other individual may say they are good with it just because they have not been caught. Wouldn't surprise me if they were using their Prime account to get to get free shipping which is also against Amazon's TOS unless it is for you and not business.

Thanks
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JohnMcCabe

8 years ago

Originally Posted by favconnection

The reason why you use an API is because you dont want to load each product by hand.
And you also need that the status of each product be up to date at anytime.

When you use the API you have less work.. You work at the begening because you have to create the code to communicate with Amazon (by using the API), but when it's done, everything is on autopilot.

If you use the affiliate program, when you run your page and load many products on it, you know you will only earn a very little share on them, so you start to wonder if you could not simply sell them directly and then order on amazon (or other site).

This is against their TOS.

But like I said, another guy here does the same thing with another company.
Most of the ppl who commented on his post did not understand what exactly he was doing, I did because I'm a developer too.

I was a little surprise when he said that the company was ok with this strategy.

This is why I wanted to ask if it was possible with Amazon.
The answer is not, it's not possible, and the TOS are clear about it, do not even try : )

I know why you would use the API. That wasn't my question.

My question was 'why would you use the API, and then have to go back and change the prices' - seems like a lot more work for the return, considering the possible hassle even if were allowed.

Glad to see someone checking the TOS first instead of coming back after the fact and whining about Amazon suspending their account 'for no reason'. Good job.

Thanks

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bionictortoise

8 years ago

It sounds like the OP has found a product that sells for a higher price than Amazon's price.

It would make a lot more sense to NOT be an affiliate at all, and instead sell your own products on Amazon and let Amazon fulfill all your orders (FBA). (Learn from Jim Cockrum, the leading expert, how to do this).

What you are describing is the complete oppposite, and it makes no sense! Two lots of shipping to be done and paid for. Twice the work. Twice the headache. How are you going to make a profit? Even if you find you can double your money on some items, what is left after you have wasted all that time?

If you want to send products direct to the customer yourself, learn how to find wholesale products that make bigger margins. If you have found a product that you can sell higher than Amazon's price, try and find out where those sellers are sourcing that product, and get it for wholesale price.

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Importexport

8 years ago

Originally Posted by bionictortoise

It sounds like the OP has found a product that sells for a higher price than Amazon's price.

It would make a lot more sense to NOT be an affiliate at all, and instead sell your own products on Amazon and let Amazon fulfill all your orders (FBA). (Learn from Jim Cockrum, the leading expert, how to do this).

What you are describing is the complete oppposite, and it makes no sense! Two lots of shipping to be done and paid for. Twice the work. Twice the headache. How are you going to make a profit? Even if you find you can double your money on some items, what is left after you have wasted all that time?

If you want to send products direct to the customer yourself, learn how to find wholesale products that make bigger margins. If you have found a product that you can sell higher than Amazon's price, try and find out where those sellers are sourcing that product, and get it for wholesale price.

Don't buy wholesale - buy direct from the manufacturer overseas, where most products originate. The huge margins will blow you away.

After all, where do the wholesalers buy? They buy from the manufacturers and add their big margin before they sell to you. By buying direct you can bank that extra margin.

Walter Hay.

"If you think education is expensive - consider the cost of ignorance."

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vikash_kumar

8 years ago

Even if it's possible, Does not seems to be a long term idea..!
You customers will still get the dispatch of items from Amazon and not your site and will see the invoice value..

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ComicWarrior

8 years ago

There was a similar system a few years ago. The main intent was to allow the amazon affiliate cookie last more than 2 days on the buyer's browser.
But this kind of system didn't have any success.

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pwdta37

8 years ago

If you can do this work, you are doing direct business. In this case you will sell the goods first, then you will buy goods from Amazon to delivery this goods. Amazon may not permite you to do to this work by using the Amazon Affiliate. Becasue in this process, their goodwill/ reputation will be down. Sorry for that. I think you can buy goods from anywhere of the world. Then you can sell the goods by your site without using the Amazon Affilaite link. Thanks

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agmccall

8 years ago

Anyone that is trying to game amazon will lose their account really fast. You should really go to the amazon associates forum. you can access that in your associates dashboard

al

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Is this allowed by Amazon?

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