Items are identified in an ItemLookup request using two parameters: ItemId and IdType. The second parameter specifies the value type of the first parameter. IdType can be:
UPC—(Universal Product Code) A 12-digit item identifier used in the US and CA locales. The UPC is identifier used in barcodes.
EAN—(European Article Number) A 13-digit equivalent of the UPC that is used in Europe for products and barcodes.
JAN—(Japanese Article Number) The equivalent of the EAN that is used in Japan for products and barcodes
ISBN—(International Standardized Book Number) An alphanumeric token that uniquely identifies a book. A book's EAN is typically set equal to the book's ISBN
SKU—(Stock Keeping Unit ) A merchant-specific identifier for a purchasable good, like a shirt or chair. Amazon's version of the SKU is the ASIN.
The following table shows the valid identifiers by locale.
| Locale | Valid Item Identifiers |
|---|---|
CA
| ASIN, EAN, SKU, UPC |
DE
| ASIN, EAN, SKU, UPC |
FR
| ASIN, SKU, UPC |
JP
| ASIN, EAN, JAN, SKU, UPC |
UK
| ASIN, SKU, UPC |
US
| ASIN, ISBN, SKU, UPC |
For non-ASIN searches, including searches by ISBN, JAN, SKU, UPC, and EAN, a variety of additional parameters become mandatory. For example, the default value of IdType is ASIN. For that reason, all non-ASIN searches require that you specify the IdType.