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By far, most items on Amazon are sold by merchants. Amazon itself
is one. For that reason, ItemSearch is one of the most
heavily used Amazon Associates Web Service operations. Because there are so many items for sale on Amazon, ItemSearch has many input parameters that help
target a request. ItemSearch requests can also use many response groups, which can tailor the type of information returned with each item..
At first, the number of ItemSearch input parameters
might seem overwhelming. This section explains the parameters most commonly used. By mastering these, you can create highly targeted requests. For a description of all of the ItemSearch parameters, see the ItemSearch chapter in the Amazon Associates Web Service API Reference.
Each search index supports only a subset of all ItemSearch parameters. For example, in the US locale, when you specify the Blended search index, you can only use one parameter: Keywords, in a request. Using any of the other parameters in that request would return an error.
All other search indices support multiple parameters. For example, when you specify the Beauty search index, in the US locale, you can include one or more of the following parameters in the request:
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The search index—parameter combinations, for the most part, make sense. For example, if you use the Automotive search index, the Author parameter is invalid in the request. This restriction makes intuitive sense. So, in general, it is not the case that you need to memorize all of the parameters that can be used in each search index.
There is one further restriction on the use of parameters in an ItemSearch request. The search index values that can be used in an ItemSearch request vary by locale. For example, the Baby and Beauty search indices are available in the US but not in the UK locale. An error is returned if you use a search index value that is not supported in a locale. The limitations on the use of search indices by locale therefore also limits the use of ItemSearch parameters.
For a complete list of ItemSearch parameters supported in each search index and in each locale, see the Search Index and ItemSearch Parameter Combinations.
