Change # 2 — Keeping Access to PA-API So you build your site, jump threw inspection hoops and get API access. All done, right? No. You must maintain monthly sales to keep API access. This is a big problem for seasonal businesses or any other “lumpy” sales environments. If you go 30 days without any sales your API access will be removed. Your quota gets set lower or to 0.
You will receive a 5xx error message saying that you are “making API calls to quickly”. This is a form of throttling by Amazon. But if you are showing quantity and price via the API you will fall out of compliance with no ability to update. Your site is no broken. How Can You Check Your Keys for Quota or Other Issues? Amazon will send a 503 error when you have a quota restriction. The error message will say that you are “submitting requests too quickly.” Most affiliates don’t see this information, so the key fails silently. If you were updating product prices and quantity via the API it will stop updating.
We built a form that will let you check your key status at any time: Amazon PA-API Key tester. Why have they made the change? There was no formal explanation for the API rules change. The new policy was just announced. If you had API keys and you were able to keep them. However, if you don’t get the 3 sales within that 180-day windows, you can still reapply for a new associate account.
The new application is almost always accepted, but you no longer have API keys. You fall into the new system. My speculation is that they 1) felt they were using resources to service API calls for too many people who would ultimately not be a long-term affiliate and 2) they don’t want people to build sites to leverage their brand. Like most affiliate programs, Amazon wants to leverage your audience. “The goal of the program is to build affiliation with associates that have sites which are prepared to drive traffic through well-built, original, and established content. This is what creates a mutually beneficial relationship between Amazon and the associate.” Reading the tea leaves I have to believe that they thought the easy access created many low-quality sites and was a burden on their infrastructure. Two strikes against easy API access for affiliates.
Are there exceptions? Sure. Amazon’s affiliate program is huge. There will always be grey areas. I have seen people recently be given access to the API keys with their application. The common characteristics were: Established sites with traffic Blogs with lots of content People wanting to use Link Builder from Amazon (but still sites with healthy amounts of content) People who ask nicely and are genuine (but still sites with healthy amounts of content) What I have typically seen for rejection is sites with no historic sales and just a few pages of content. Also rejected are sites with too many affiliate products. The typical denial in these cases has been, ” too little original content when advertising removed”
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