Amazon API Changes Will Affect Review Content
Just today Amazon announced that they will be making changes to their product advertising API which will mean that customer reviews will no longer be available to display in the form they were before. They will still provide the reviews but they will be provided in an iFrame format via the URL. This change will be effective as of November 1st, so we have around 2 months to adjust.
Here's the newsletter that Amazon sent:
Dear Product Advertising API Developer,
On November 8, 2010 the Reviews response group of the Product Advertising API will no longer return customer reviews content and instead will return a link to customer reviews content hosted on Amazon.com. You will be able to display customer reviews on your site using that link. Please refer to the Product Advertising API Developer guide found here for more details. The Reviews response group will continue to function as before until November 8 and the new link to customer reviews is available to you now through the Product Advertising API as well.
Thank you for advertising products for sale on Amazon.com.
How Does This Affect You?
If you are using ANY product which pulls and displays Amazon product reviews on your Niche Site then you WILL be affected by the change. Product developers will either have to adapt their features or remove the ability to display product reviews altogether.
Mark Hansen (The Niche Store Builder) is keeping an up to date list of products which will be affected by the change, you can see that here.
How Does This Affect Affiliate Wizard?
Well, as those of you who use Niche Site Platform will know, it gives the ability to display customer reviews from Amazon on your websites, we now have to re-think or remove this feature. With the type of change that's been made it's likely that I will decide to remove the feature BUT I haven't made my mind up yet.
If you have any comments or you are a user of NSP and would like to make any suggestions then I would like to read your comments.
Look at it this way. If EPN was in charge of this program, they would have given you two minutes to make the change, not two months. :)
Two minutes, that’s generous for them, with the API they usually give no notice :D
Just to say thanks for keeping me and other marketeers informed! It is just this kind of info that enables us to produce effective websites.
No probs Terry, it will likely mean I’ll have to remove the feature from NSP but unfortunately it’s out of my hands.
I have no doubt this whole issue will get tighter as time goes on but as Scott says EPN wouldn’t give people that lead in time Thanks for sharing
Well it certainly sucks for all participants in the Amazon program including myself. But we will all adjust!
This is another reminder not to put all your eggs in 1 basket when it comes to affiliate marketing.
On a side note: I just received an email that peaked my interest: Wizard Plugins?
Can we get a sneak preview? :-)
Daisy´s last [type] ..Top 10 Movie Halloween Costumes for 2010
It certainly does but hey, that’s life, like you say just accept it and move on.
Ah yes, still working on the finishing touches of them to be honest. They are some nice simple API plugins for CJ, Linkshare, Avantlink and Affiliate Window(planned). They are similar in function to phpBay and use shortcode to show your product deals in pages/posts/sidebar. Great for monetizing your content.
I’ll be releasing more info later this week.:)
Ben
Ben, it sounds wonderful! Can’t wait to hear the details!
Daisy´s last [type] ..Top 15 Christmas Toys 2010
Today’s the 8th of November, and I’m still returning review data in the xml response, ALONG WITH the iframe URL. Is it only the latest version of the API that this is affecting? Or is it going to take effect tomorrow?
I think they are gradually phasing it out, it may not be immediate but it WILL disappear. I’d recommend NOT displaying the reviews unless they are in the form of an iFrame, even if the program allows.
Yup, just noticed no more reviews! Thank god I spent a couple hours updating critical areas of my code.
I have no problem with displaying the customer reviews via iframe, but the fact amazon stopped returning important parameters like average rating and number of customer reviews really undermines my marketing efforts. Many affiliates are now complaining about this.
I can see a lot of people won’t be happy about it Danny,I don’t use Amazon content heavily myself so it hasn’t affected me massively, more so from the perspective of updating my software (which didn’t take long).
With the removal of reviews, star ratings and average number of reviews you’ve got to wonder:
1) How many people will continue using their content anyway
2) What other changes are on the cards for their API.
I found a solution to this problem here:
http://www.e-junkie.com/shop/product/456044.php#Amazon+API+Customer+Review%2FRating+Solution
Though it’s a little pricey for one file, it saved me TONS of work and keeps some of my sites looking great.
It’s really simple…it just returns all of the information in the iFrame as variables so that you can do whatever you want with them.
Thought this might help somebody.
Cheers,
Sarah
Sarah´s last [type] ..Plumbing- At all times in Need
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