Hello, I have a question regarding tags and the API. Suppose I want to offer some of my partners to be able to profit from my sites when they bring me traffic. So they give me their tag and when I recognize the referral - I want to replace my tags in the links to Amazon with theirs. So the questions are: * Does Amazon allow links that have been generated through the API to have the tag replaced? * Will Amazon honor their tags in the event of a purchase for those links? Here is a sample link generated by the API: hxxp:// www . amazon . com/SDS-VARIABLE-SPEED-ROTARY-HAMMER/dp/B00435TOV4?SubscriptionId=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&tag=TTTTTTTT-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00435TOV4 Code (markup): So as you can see there is the "SubscriptionId" XXXXXXXXXXXXXX which is the API Key, and then the tag TTTTTTTTT I guess my question is it enough to replace the tag, or should I also ask for their public API Key and replace the SubscriptionId as well. And of course this is the technical aspect of it, then there is the legal aspect, is Amazon generally ok with this? Common sense says this should be OK, but it's good to be on the safe side. It's an awkward question but I'm hoping someone can shed more light on it.
The Amazon API Key and Secret Key are not tied to the Associate Tag, from my experiments. So you can do what you say theoretically. However Amazon are strict on people posting links on sites they do not own, which is essentially what is happening here. They may ban the users accounts. Unfortunately they are quite cryptic about what they allow and what they don't.
Then someone like the creator of Associate-O-Magic is doing it wrong?! (He get 20% of the clicks with his ID, unless he has changed it)
By my interpreation of Amazons terms of use, yes. Although I do very much they would close their account due to the amount of attention AOM has brought to the Amazon associate scheme over the years.