Thread: Amazon API no longer offers reviews !

I had got this email from Amazon. From now on, amazon no longer offer reviews in their API response. That will hurt developer and autoblog, especially WP robot.
Do u have any solution for this problem?

A couple of scripts won't post comments anymore (which in reality were the reviews).
For the sites that looked like user-active blogs this is bad.

For the sites that are setup like stores or product-overview sites it's not the end of the world.
Amazon said they will supply links in their API that lead to the reviews.
So a product page needs a link or button which reads "Click here to check out the reviews" (or something of that order).

To read the reviews your traffic lands on Amazon. That's where I wanted them anyway...

yes.. and I know why:

I and my buddys have been sued by some company for "stealing" their amazon reviews... I am still fighting with the attorneys.. this is madness (Germany).
They say that I have stolen their review and have to pay 1000 $.. I told them that the review is coming from amazon apis so it is legit... but they cant understand what an api is and want probably to shut my sites down if I dont pay.

... so, because of such problems, Amazon decided to remove the reviews from the APIs... and they dont give a ******** about their affiliates... if any of you needs help, forget amazon.. they wont help you to get out of this shit.

@qxxxp

Sorry to hear about your probs with some legal eagles.
Even if you're able to put get rid of them, it still stole some of your time and caused unnecessary stress.

Strange point they have. One would say that the rightful owner of a review is the reviewer and not Amazon. Unless there's something on their site that states otherwise.

It applies to more areas, comments on blogs, newspapers, etc.
If by using their media you lose all rights it would be crazy to participate there. They could use it for anything using your name.

Just hope that the link to reviews will still generate the tracking cookie

Yep...
Reviewazon already has a link in their script/template that leads you directly to the reviews. Has nothing to do with the API.
Wonder though if the scripts (like Reviewazon, WPZon, etc) break the moment the reviews are removed from the API.
Means in the worst scenario I have to update 100s of blogs...
I had other plans for my VA's in November.

All the scripts/plugins using the api will probably have to be updated by the developer and the webmaster if they're using reviews.

I think the link they're going to push will be an iframe to still display the reviews on your page, it just won't be in your html.

Don't see why.... doesn't the script write the review as content and instert it into your database?

Yes, the comments added to the posts are in the database but there's also a linktag in the single post template that leads directly to the reviewspage on Amazon.

Thankfully, I decided some time ago to move my sites away from amazon to something more profitable. The more restrictive amazon gets, the less profitable it becomes. When they changed to the 24 hour cookie, I lost a tremendous amount of business, and have only used their affiliate program for certain sites since then.

Their business decisions have always been aimed at maximizing profit, which I can't blame them for. However, since my motivations are driven my profit also, this decision of theirs just firms my decision to stay with other merchants and CPAs, and stop promoting Amazon completely.

Of course, if I had a single site getting millions of buyers a day like amazon does, I would probably do the same thing they are doing.