FAQ Contents:
- Why it is better to use Advertising API and the Data Extraction Engine together
- Can we use only Amazon Data Extraction Engine?
- Do we really need Magento?
- How to exclude unnecessary products
- Comparing the synchronization rate
- Where should we enter ASINs
- Orders processing
- What do you need to install the Data Extraction Engine
Why it is better to use Advertising API and the Data Extraction Engine together
Q: You have a mix - API and html for the high resolution images?
A: Both channels have their advantages. API has requests per a moment of time limits.
Currently default API account can handle to update ~1000 of products per 5 minutes. The rest can be done with html scraping software.
That is why we have to use Affiliate API + html parsing. If we need to get qty and scrap prices fast for lots of products, we have to use Amazon Data Extraction Engine.
You search and import products in Magento with API, but Amazon Data Extraction Engine syncs products and update products in Magento if they changed.
API has some limitations on data provided - you can not choose which price and qty it gives if there are many sellers. Therefore, prices from the API are different.
Can we use only Amazon Data Extraction Engine?
Q: I need the product from Amazon to be download with hi-res images, correct price, with fast sync for qty and price only. But the product to be in Magento. Is this can be done only with html scraping or we need API as well?
A: It is highly likely the API will be required a little. EAN, UPC and some other attributes are not provided on the html page in most cases. But it is available within the Amazon Advertising API.
But in this case, if we only need API to request once per product - it is fine for millions of products.
Do we really need Magento?
If you need to sale Amazon products, Magento is an ecommerce platform with all the payments, shipping, etc. Most of our clients actually use other marketplaces for that. And in some cases they only need Magento as a middle point.
But Magento is quite slow and eat lots of server resources when we have to constantly update inventory.
How to exclude unnecessary products
Q: We plan to have around 20k products including configurable. We need to have ONLY items from Prime sellers. Can the current solution (API) be ok?
A: I guess it is possible to setup Magento to do that. But still I would recommend to have Amazon Data Extraction Engine for that. It is more reliable and easier to configure for certain needs - like to parse data with only prime offers, not to take international China merchants(shipping from China still prime but long to get). Also you can exclude products like Addons, which are not sold alone, or sold with additional fee.
Comparing the synchronization rate
Right now Parsing Tool can handle like 300k products on a dedicated server with ssd's synced per 3-6 hours. That is sync of qty/price. If it is only within Magento without Parsing Tool - it will be like 50k products synced per 10 hours on the same server.
| Amazon Advertising API | Data Extraction Engine |
|---|---|
| Update 50k products | Update 300k products |
| 10 hours | 3-6 hours |
Q: can we sync 1 products per 1 sec?
A: It is possible, but for that sync has to run miltithread. It will eat more resources and might reach API requests limit. So, the limitations here are in slow Magento and low API account limit. Data Extraction Engine is not Magento and does not use API to sync products.
Where should we enter ASINs: in the Data Extraction Engine or Magento side?
It can be either Magento or Data Extraction Engine. Extension in Magento can search Amazon products by keywords. But if you have list of ASINs, there is no need in search.
Q: So are we gonna use current Magento interface to download products and the Engine it will work on background or we have to log in to the Engine to say witch ASIN we want to download?
A:Yes, you can use it Magento interface.
Orders processing
Q: If order comes to Magento with ASIN we have to go to Amzon and type everything manualy (name address etc). Is there any way to send this info directly form the Magento order to Amazon order?
A: Right now we don't have any automation for that. But as i know, there are already some solutions which do that automatically, like zinc.io. They take some percent for the service. Our system will not brake their plugin. Since we create real Magento products, which behave as they should.
Q: If we do order automation and if the Magnto has a order that is not form Amazon, do you think this is gonna be a problem with the ZInk API?
A: I guess they should handle that somehow. By some attributes holding ASINs, etc. Anyway it should define somehow which product goes from where. Most likely their API gets the product url from Amazon itself.
What do you need to install the Data Extraction Engine
Engine needs a proxy and dedicated server.
For example proxyrotator.com - rotating proxy. Proxy rotator give an different IP for every request and Amazon don't become very angry about each IP. The basic is around $10/mo price.
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