Amazon E-Commerce Service (ECS) has unlimited potential for a variety of applications--you're only limited by your own imagination and creativity. You can integrate ECS with your own Web site or Web services in a wide variety of ways.
This section of the documentation describes some of the ways you can earn money using ECS and provides sample applications and Web sites that are already benefiting from Amazon's technology platform.
As an Amazon Associate, you can earn money by providing links from your Web site to Amazon. When someone purchases items on Amazon through your links, you'll earn a commission through the Amazon Associates Program. ECS makes you more successful as an Associate by giving you access to extensive product information that you may in turn use to merchandise products better on your Web site or application.
Here are some links to sample Associate sites that are already powered by ECS:
You can learn more about the Amazon Associates Program by visiting one of these site:
As a seller in Amazon's Marketplace program, you can sell used, new, refurbished, or collectible items on Amazon. To price your products more competitively, use ECS to find out how your competitors are pricing those products. You'll maximize your prices while ensuring that your inventory moves. You may also use ECS to get more information about the products you are selling. Marketplace Seller, thrift_books, is an example of someone already taking advantage of ECS.
If you want to use ECS for Marketplace product pricing but you don't want to build an application to retrieve prices yourself, you can use a software tool provided by a third-party software provider, such as Monsoon Retail or Seller Engine.
You can learn more about the Amazon Sellers Program by visiting one of these site:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/misc/sell-your-stuff.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/static/-/used/sell-your-stuff
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/stores/static/-/used/sell-your-stuff
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/static/-/used-store/sell-your-stuff
http://www.amazon.fr/exec/obidos/tg/static/-/used-store/sell-your-stuff
http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/subst/marketplace/sell-your-stuff.html
As an Amazon Merchant partner (US only), you can upload your inventory to Amazon's catalog and your products will be featured alongside products from other merchants, such as Amazon, Target, Borders, Harry & David, Nordstrom, and many others. But what if you want to create a site that features only your products? Can ECS help you create your own site?
Yes! Using ECS, you can programmatically retrieve details about your products, as well as the latest pricing and availability information, to create a rich Web site that leverages Amazon's technology platform, including our catalog and shopping cart. With help from Pulver Technologies, a third-party integration partner, Grill.com was able to create its own site built on Amazon technology.
As a developer, you may choose to create a store builder application that creates part or all of a Web site for an Amazon Associate, Marketplace Seller, or Merchant. Store builders make it very easy for less technical vendors or Web site owners to create a customized Web experience for their customers. Here are some example sites offering store builders:
Another option is to create productivity software for Amazon's large Marketplace Seller community. Marketplace Sellers are interested in software that helps them price their products competitively based on prices of products already listed on Amazon. They're also interested in tools that integrate pricing and inventory management functionality. Here are a few examples of developers in this space:
Some developers and development firms provide highly customized integration services that result in high quality, technical solutions that meet the needs of specific vendors or Associates. Development groups that offer these kinds of services include: