- About Amazon credentials.
- Amazon Associates program - get an affiliate ID.
- Product Advertising API - get Amazon access keys.
- Migrating from AWS / Managing access keys in Amazon Web Service.
- Saving Amazon credentials in RSS Ground account.
About Amazon credentials
To search for targeted affiliate products and generate Amazon feeds you need: Amazon Associates ID, Amazon Access Key, Amazon Secret Key.
Amazon Associates ID - is your personal affiliate ID embedded in product links to track commissions.
Amazon Access Keys - is a pair of Access and Secret keys to sign programmatic requests to the Amazon products database. Read more here.
To obtain all needed Amazon credentials you need to sign up for the Amazon affiliate program and Amazon product advertising API.
Before the changes on Amazon, you also had to sign up for Amazon Web Service. Right now you can obtain your Amazon access keys just after you join the Amazon affiliate program and Amazon product advertising API.
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Amazon Associates program
If you wish to promote Amazon products and receive fair commissions you need to sign up for the Amazon affiliate program.
Amazon affiliate program is called Amazon Associates.
In the registration form, you need to enter your website URL, other profile information and specify your preferred Associates Store ID. This will be part of your Amazon associates ID.
Every time you log in to your Amazon affiliate account you can see your associate (affiliate) ID in the upper right corner:
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Product Advertising API
In our service, we use programmatic access to Amazon’s product database. But each call to this database has to be personalized. That's why you need to join the Amazon Product Advertising API to obtain your personal access keys.
Go to your Amazon associates account and in the main menu choose Tools > Product Advertising API
On the next screen press Join.
You will receive a pair of an Access Key and a Secret Key. These two keys work only together and can't be used separately.
You can copy and save these keys or use the Download Credentials option.
Note: Secret Key is available only when you first create an Access Key pair. For security reasons, a Secret Key cannot be retrieved later. Please make sure that you save both the Access Key and its matching Secret Key. If you forgot either of your keys, you must create a new Access Key pair over again.
You will use these keys along with your Amazon associates ID in the Amazon Feeds generator in RSS Ground.
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Managing access keys in Amazon Web Service
Migrating keys from AWS.
Once before, in order to obtain your Amazon access keys, you had to sign up for the Amazon Web Service. And if you did so, you can still use these keys in RSS Ground Amazon Feeds and continue to manage them in your AWS account.
But now you can migrate from AWS and manage your Access keys in your associates account in the Product Advertising API section. To do so, log in to your Amazon associates account, and go to the Product Advertising API. Then press MIGRATE button. You will be offered to generate a new set of access keys.
But be aware! As soon as you generate a new set of access keys in the Product Advertising API section your previous keys from the AWS account will stop working and all your generated feeds will also stop working. You will have to regenerate your Amazon feeds using your new keys.
But if you still wish to migrate from AWS to Product Advertising API and keep your feeds running, please contact our support team for further instructions.
Managing access keys in AWS.
Login to your AWS account, press your username in the upper right corner and choose My Security Credentials.
Open up the Access Keys (Access Key ID and Secret Access Key) section.
You see the list of Access keys. You only need a key that has Active status.
But together with Access Key you also need a Secret Access Key.
Note: Access Key and Secret Access Key always come together and can't be used without each other. You receive a unique Secret Access Key when you create a new Access Key. If you don't have it saved, there is no way to retrieve it. The only way is to create a new pair of Access Key and Secret Access Key.
Amazon allows only two active access keys at a time. So if you already have two active access keys in the list and you don't remember their paired secret access keys you need to deactivate or delete them.
To create a new Access Key, press Create New Access Key button below the list.
You will see a success message.
Use the Download Key File option to save a file with your keys on your computer.
Use the Show Access Key option to copy and save your keys to a safe location.
Be careful with your pair of keys. You won't see them together again. If you don't remember which Secret Access Key associates with your Access Key you will need to generate them over again.
No matter if you manage your Amazon keys under your AWS account or under your Amazon Associates account, we recommend using the default settings option in RSS Ground to save your Amazon keys.
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Saving Amazon credentials in RSS Ground account
You need your Amazon Associates ID and Amazon Keys every time you generate new Amazon product feeds.
You can save your Amazon credentials in your RSS Ground account and avoid entering them manually over again
Go to the ACCOUNT - Default settings menu.
Add your Amazon credentials to the appropriate fields and press the Update button.
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