Amazon allows both 3P marketplace sellers & 1P Vendors to access and use your data via its official application programming interfaces (APIs) to adequately manage your Amazon marketplace.
Everyone knows Amazon is the best when it comes to the necessary vendor tools for proper eCommerce marketplace management.
But with the ability to retrieve and use these APIs you can enhance the scale and efficiency of your marketplace processes to a whole new level.
The Amazon API data sets consist of:
- Inventory
Product catalog
Advertising data for both Seller Central and Vendor Central (Amazon marketing services)
Orders data plus management for Seller Central
Affiliate promotion information
Vendor Central’s purchase order management
Every other data necessary to manage your Amazon channel
With that said let’s have a look at the various Amazon APIs for your marketplace management.
Amazon Marketing Web Services (MWS) API
The Amazon Marketing Web Services (MWS) API is the go-to API for Seller Central third-party product sellers seeking marketplace management.
It’s also the choice API for software developers to leverage for building applications that can set prices, list products for sale, schedule and retrieves reports, retrieve order fulfillment information, and much more. In short, tools for total Amazon marketplace management.
MWS possesses a ton of valuable data for third-party sellers and you’d want to incorporate the information into your database in addition to what you may already have.
What Does Amazon have to Say about the MWS API?
Amazon states that its MWS allows for programmatic data exchange for orders, payments, reports and listings, and a lot more. With Amazon, MWS sellers can reduce labor requirements, boost selling efficiency, and improve their customer response time.
Who is Eligible for the Amazon MWS API?
To be eligible for the Amazon MWS you must have an MWS-eligible pro seller account on the Seller Central platform to have access to the Marketplace Web Services API.
Keep in mind that you do not have to sell items on Amazon to be eligible, but you must pay a $39.99 fee monthly to have a seller account capable of accessing the MWS API.
How Can I Access the MWS API?
To access Amazon’s MWS API follow the link below, scroll down and click on “Register as a developer”.
Link: https://developer.amazonservices.com/
You will need to possess valid Seller Central selling account login credentials already available, so you can log in to finish the application.
What Does the Marketplace Web Services API Contain?
Amazon divides the MWS API data sets into 13 various endpoints or APIs within the cumulative API. Each with its own protocol/parameter oddities and URL endpoints.
The MWS API contains the following endpoints:
- Merchant Fulfilment: This API offers programmatic access to sellers for Buy Shipping Services, inclusive of competitive rates from Amazon carrier partners.
Feeds: The Feeds API enables you to upload order and inventory data to Amazon.
Reports: This MWS API permits you to request numerous reports capable of assisting you to manage your Amazon sales.
Subscriptions: With the Subscriptions API you can subscribe to receive relevant notifications to your business on Amazon’s platform.
Sellers: This MWS API lets you retrieve data concerning your seller account, like the marketplaces you participate in. This is inclusive of listing the marketplaces that you can sell in. The Sellers API also provides information about the marketplace like the default currency and default language.
Fulfillment Inbound Shipment: Using the Fulfilment Inbound Shipment API, you get to create inbound shipments of inventory as well as update them in Amazon’s fulfillment network.
Fulfillment Inventory: This API will assist you to be up-to-date on your inventory’s availability on Amazon’s fulfillment network.
Orders: The Orders API allows you to build basic applications that will retrieve only specific order data needed per time
Products: With this API you can access information that helps you match your listings to current product listings on Amazon Marketplace Websites. And make pricing and sourcing decisions on how to list those items on Amazon Marketplace.
Recommendations: The Recommendations API lets you programmatically retrieve data on Amazon selling coach recommendations via the recommendation category.
Fulfillment Outbound Shipment: With this API you can fulfill multi-channel fulfillment orders, via your inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment network.
Push Notifications: The Amazon Push Notifications Schemas allow you to receive all relevant information to your Amazon marketplace business without the need to poll the MWS service. Instead, the information is delivered to you when an event you are subscribed to occurs.
Finances: Using the Finances API you can get relevant financial data to your business on Amazon.
Why Do you Need the MWS API?
Using Amazon MWS, you can create applications for your Seller account on Amazon. The MWS service also lets you develop applications for other Amazon sellers to assist them in managing their online business.
With Amazon MWS you get to create applications that can search for products for sale, confirm shipment, receive and schedule reports, and download fulfillment orders.
All the above API functions are available via the web service interface.
Features of Amazon MWS
Amazon MWS offers the following features:
- Order Management: You can acknowledge orders, obtain payment data, schedule reports, and download order information.
- Inventory Management: You can add products, examine pricing information, perform batch inventory uploads, and loads of other inventory tasks.
- Track and Manage Outbound Shipment Requests: Once your orders have left any Amazon fulfillment center, you can track shipment location and keep customers informed of possible arrival times.
- Reports Management: This feature allows you to request many reports and query the status of such reports, as well as download them.
- Confirm Status of Inbound Shipments: Using this feature you can check if your shipment has gotten to a fulfillment center and if the shipment has been processed.
- Submit Fulfillment Orders: The feature lets you integrate your system with Amazon MWS, which enables your customers to send in multi-channel fulfillment orders at a go. And there won’t be any lag time when you process orders.
- Create Inbound Shipments to Fulfillment Centers: This feature allows you to automate the process of creating labels for the units you send to Amazon’s fulfillment centers.
Amazon Advertising API
The Amazon Advertising API offers advertising data and management functions for both Vendors Central (previously known as Amazon Marketing Services) and Seller Central AD accounts.
What does Amazon have to say about the Amazon Advertising API?
Amazon states that the Advertising API offers a way to scale, optimize, and automate advertising. Performance and campaign data for sponsored brands, sponsored display, and sponsored products are all available via the API.
This enables programmatic access for campaign reporting and management.
The Advertising API permits users to create flexible solutions that satisfy their needs and goals, and for better integration into Amazon Advertising.
This API gives you most of the functions of the advertising console while permitting programmatic management. With this, you can manage ad groups and ads based on pre-set conditions.
Who is Eligible for the Amazon Advertising API?
Only those who are granted access by Amazon will be able to use the Amazon Advertising API.
How can I Access the Amazon Advertising API?
Access to the Amazon Advertising API is gated and requires an application for access using the link below.
Link: https://advertising.amazon.com/about-api
What does the Amazon Advertising API Service Contain?
Your advertising data and its related management functionality on Amazon are contained in the Advertising API. This is inclusive of data for:
- Advertising Portfolios
Sponsored Brands
Sponsored Display ads
Advertising Profiles
Sponsored Products
With permissions to access the API, you can retrieve for, and manipulate elements for:
- Ad groups
Campaigns
Product ads
Reports
Negative Targeting Dimensions
Targeting
Why Do You Need the Advertising API?
Vendors and Sellers, along with relevant agencies that may be managing an Amazon channel, utilize the available dates garnered from Amazon’s Advertising API for the following:
- AD Management
AD Reporting
AD Analytics
This is with the aim of scaling their Amazon advertising operations. Consistent access to such data on a stable basis is a crucial element for scaling advertising operations for both agencies and brands alike.
Features of Amazon Advertising API
Amazon’s Advertising API supports the following features:
- Single-entity CRUD and synchronous batch operations for managing ad groups, ads, keywords, and campaigns.
Reporting data and campaign management for Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products.
Asynchronous daily performance reports, inclusive of conversions, impressions, clicks, attributed sales for every entity, and costs.
Ad management function to let users develop and update Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brand campaigns, portfolios, and ad groups.
OAuth 2.0 flow to permit a client to take actions on behalf of a particular advertiser, with a customizable sign-in experience.
Support for Ad groups with default CPC bids. Keep in mind that for vendors there is a limitation of one ad group for each campaign.
Automatic keyword targeting instead of manual targeting.
Asynchronous snapshots of entities as a fast way of synchronizing a complete account state.
Reporting function that allows you to download reports for Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands campaigns with varying levels of granularity.
Keywords support negative match types (exact, phrase), standard match types (broad, exact, phrase) at both campaign level, ad group, and optional CPC bids.
Campaigns support start dates, end dates, and daily budgets.
Here’s a summary of these features:
- Entity: Budgets Parameters: profile, campaign
Entity: Start and end dates Parameters: campaign
Entity:Keyword-targeting Parameters:ad group (broad, phrase, exact)
Entity: Negative keywords Parameters: campaign (phrase, exact), ad group (phrase, exact)
Entity: Bidding Parameters: ad group (CPC), keyword (CPC)
Entity: Automatic targeting Parameters: set at a campaign level, applied at the ad level
Entity: Reporting segmentation Parameters: query
Entity: Bid recommendations Parameters: ad group, keyword
Entity: Report granularity Parameters: campaign, ad group, keyword, ad, keyword-search query
Amazon Product Advertising API
One of the less known Amazon APIs is the Product Advertising API. It was created for Amazon affiliates who were a part of the Associate’s program. And the goal of the API is to enable affiliates to retrieve Amazon product listing details to show and promote products on their websites.
But due to software developers using the Product API to create Amazon listings as well as rank tracking software, the eCommerce giant has limited access to this API and its usage.
What does Amazon have to say about the Amazon Product Advertising API?
Amazon states that as a developer you’ll be able to create Product Advertising API applications that leverage this scalable, reliable, and robust technology.
You’ll get to access a variety of data used by Amazon including customer reviews, items for sale, and seller reviews.
You also will gain access to a lot of the functions you see on Amazon.com like displaying customer reviews, product promotions, and finding items.
The Product Advertising API operations give you access to Amazon’s huge databases so you can use Amazon’s top-notch eCommerce functionality and data to build a personal website to sell items from Amazon or your products.
Who is Eligible for the Amazon Product Advertising API?
To be eligible to access the Amazon Product Advertising API you need to be an Amazon Associate that has already been accepted into the program.
How Can I Access the Amazon Product Advertising API?
To get access to the Product Advertising API, apply to become an Amazon Associate. Immediately you’re accepted, you can then apply to get access to the API through the Amazon Associates console.
Here’s where to sign up for Amazon Associates: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/
What Does the Product Advertising API Service Contain?
The Product Advertising API lets affiliates to do the following:
- Create a Shopping Cart
Acquire information on particular items
Locate Amazon listing items
Navigate through Amazon’s browse tree nodes.
Why Do you Need the Product Advertising API?
If you intend to promote Amazon listed items on your platform, then this API will work perfectly for you.
A typical use of the data that the Product Advertising API provides is the display of particular Amazon product listing content on your website to generate extra revenue for your website through Amazon affiliate payouts.
Features of the Product Advertising API
The Product Advertising API has the following features:
- Get information about the latest offers and products in Amazon’s product catalog/database.
Find out offers and products using improved search results of products for content research by filtering for FulfilmentByAmazon, Prime, and other programs.
Gain programmatic access to the newest Amazon product offerings via information about sales ranks, images, attributes, and offers.
Promote products that are in PrimePantry, Fulfilled by Amazon programs, and Prime exclusive to boost your conversion among customers on Amazon.
Reduce integrating cost with API by utilizing SDK for PHP, JavaScript, Java, and Python and enhance data processing with JSON.
Locate the best items to promote via more granular sales rank in categories.
Get access to the most relevant product information on Amazon’s retail platform such as data on new offerings like Free Shipping, Prime, etc are all available via Product Advertising API.
Globalize your content and scale to the global market via multiple languages and currencies.
Product Advertising API returns new offer data like SubscribeAndSave promotion with discounted pricing.
Amazon Vendor Central Selling Partners API
Automating data exchange with Amazon Vendor Central has been a difficult process for vendors. Developing accurate orders demanded using extensive workarounds such as manual file import and export processes as well as data scraping techniques.
While software solutions like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) are common, it is an outdated and largely regulated technology that’s been around for decades with little to no change. And lacks the efficiency in tools most vendors are on the lookout for.
So an API would be the easiest way to process orders. This is because APIs permit near instantaneous automated communication between different software, allowing users to quickly connect their personal order processing software to Amazon.
But not all vendors have had the option of an API, even though affiliates and sellers have had access to Amazon’s APIs for years.
This is set to change as Amazon is unveiling an API for its Vendor Central hub, which is set to replace their Vendor Central EDI.
Who is Eligible for the Vendor API?
Amazon’s vendor API function is only accessible to a few select vendors currently, however, the eCommerce giant has put out a plan to assist users understand what features will be available and when to expect them.
The current plans suggest that Amazon intends to put this API out there for all Vendors by the end of the year 2020.
Why is the Vendor Central API Needed?
There are so many reasons vendors who are currently using the EDI would want to switch over to API:
- Simple Infrastructure: When using an API there would be no need to host services like if you were dependent on EDI transactions. Client apps will be able to connect with partner APIs directly.
Fast Connectivity: Because of the multiple security layout it uses, EDI runs rather slowly and can result in vendors falling behind if they intend to keep up with sudden market changes.
Easy Access: EDIs because of their multiple security layers for security purposes makes it hard for users to understand its full capabilities. An API, on the other hand, is a lot simpler and therefore easier to use effectively and implement.
More Features: The API offers vendors more features – for example, EDIs cannot create produce shipping labels but APIs can.
Features of the Vendor API
Amazon has already listed some of the first features that will be a part of the beta release of the Vendor Central API. Vendors will now be able to manage aspects like accepting orders, sending invoices, purchase orders, and confirming shipment.
Upcoming features have also been made public by Amazon. For instance, in 2021, vendors will be capable of using Amazon Vendor APIs for item cost updates, purchase order cancellations and changes, and product listing.
Here are some other features:
- Transaction Status: Confirm shipment transaction status
Invoices: Submit invoices
Acknowledge Orders: Confirm or reject POs
Get Purchase Orders: Access bulk PO data and numbers with data range parameter
Amazon Vendor EDI
Amazon Vendor only offers its API to a select few, so vendors who want to integrate with the retail giant have to make do with EDI.
Keep in mind that an EDI is not an API but is simply a workaround. The EDI used by Amazon Vendor allows you to retrieve order management data. It is a type of data exchange between the client and the server.
With regards to Amazon Vendor, the EDI messages relate to processing invoices and purchase orders.
What Does Amazon have to say about Amazon Vendor EDI?
Amazon states that its vendor EDI is created to boost business to business processes and automate and accelerate them to improve efficiency and reduce cost as our brands interact.
Who is Eligible to Access the Vendor EDI?
Only users with an Amazon Vendor Central account are able to access the Vendor EDI and its related capabilities.
How can I Access the Vendor EDI?
If you already possess a Vendor Central account you can access the Vendor EDI from your account.
What Does the Amazon EDI Contain?
There are 4 primary EDI messages that can be implemented which all relate to core order management functions:
- Purchase Order Acknowledgement (EDI 855)
Invoice (EDI 810)
Purchase Order (EDI 859)
Advanced Shipping Notice (EDI 856)
Can I Use Amazon Vendors EDI for other Functions?
There are numerous other tasks that you’ll need to accomplish as an Amazon Vendor, like managing your account statement of uploading new products. Are you able to integrate such actions with your system via EDI? Unfortunately, no.
While there’s an EDI message for updating your inventory list prices it has major limitations when trying to use it to manage your stock.
Why Do You Need the Vendor Central EDI?
By integrating your processes with EDI data you can manage Vendor Central Purchase Order management and fulfillment, alongside other general VendorCentral performance monitoring.
A typical application of EDI data is incorporating purchase order data into an ERP system to enable the vendor process orders within the ERP rather than via the Vendor Central portal.
Other use cases include synchronizing inventory, submitting invoices to Amazon, managing API transactions, and fulfilling orders to Amazon.
Conclusion
There are a lot of diverse Amazon APIs that can help you in making the marketplace easier to manage and to scale up your team’s processes. Discover the best API for your needs and integrate it into your system.
Have additional thoughts or questions? Leave a comment below