Amazon E-Commerce Service (ECS) is the best way to make money on the Internet. Amazon has spent ten years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing a world-class web service that millions of customers use every day. As a developer, you can build ECS applications that leverage this robust, scalable, and reliable technology. You get access to much of the data that is used by Amazon, including the items for sale, customer reviews, seller reviews, as well as most of the functionality that you see on www.amazon.com, such as finding items, finding similar items, displaying customer reviews, and product promotions. In short, ECS operations open the doors to Amazon's databases so that you can take advantage of Amazon's sophisticated E-commerce data and functionality. Build your own web store to sell Amazon items or your own items.
Best of all, ECS is free. By signing up to become a ECS developer, you join the tens of thousands of developers who are already realizing financial gains by creating ECS-driven applications and web stores. In 2006, ECS developers sold well over $600 million worth of items. Would you like a percentage of that revenue?
E-commerce is the practice of conducting business over the Internet. This guide explains in detail how you can use ECS operations to create storefronts in which you enable Internet customers to search for your items, see pictures of them, find related items, get customer reviews, and purchase items.
With e-commerce, the barrier of distance between the shopper and the store goes away: the local video store must compete with stores across the country. E-commerce levels the playing field: the web site of an individual seller can appear as sophisticated and intoxicating as that of a major retailer. ECS is your opportunity to enter the world market where patronage is not limited by the size of your storefront, foot traffic or locality. Welcome to the world of ECS E-commerce.
Note: | In this guide, Amazon E-Commerce Service will often be referred to as "ECS." All copyrights and legal protections still apply. |
This chapter answers some basic questions about ECS in the following sections: