Amazon Releases New Selling Partner API (SP-API)
Amazon SP-API offers an updated approach for automated operations, analytics, and seller insights.
It has been a couple of years since Amazon first released the next-generation version of the Amazon Marketplace Web Service (MWS) called the Amazon Selling Partner API (SP-API) for Amazon Seller Central and Vendor Central accounts.
Update: As of June 21, 2023, Amazon has released a new, near real-time Amazon SPAPI for Vendor retail analytics. This is a real game-changer for Vendors!
What is the SPI-API?
The Selling Partner API is REST-based API access for accessing listings programmatically, orders, payments, reports, etc. Like MWS, the new API allows sellers to automate access to data for selling efficiency, automate manual processing, discover insights as to when customers may be more likely to purchase, optimize ad spend, and inform inventory management decisions to target special offers and promotions.
There are no fees associated with using the Amazon Selling Partner API. However, some of the services you can access through the API may have fees, such as Sponsored Advertising or Seller Central fulfillment fees.
There are some limitations on what you can do with the Amazon Selling Partner API. For example, you may not use the API for illegal or nefarious purposes or to access or transmit sensitive or confidential information. You must also adhere to Amazon’s terms of service and other policies and guidelines for your API use.
Why the change from Amazon MWS to the Selling Partner API?
The new SP-API functionality reflects a modernization of MWS APIs if you sell your products in the Amazon marketplaces. While Amazon has offered MWS programmatic access for over ten years, the technology shows age.
While MWS has performed well, the update to the new modern Amazon API approach will be welcome, offering sellers and developers a current set of tools to power e-commerce analytics. Kudos to Amazon for making a move.
What is the Selling Partner API?
As part of the move to the new API, Amazon is offering parity with current MWS data feeds, plus they are adding a dozen net new data feeds. This means familiar MWS APIs, including reports, orders, inventory, and many others, will look very knowledgeable to internal or third-party developers using the new API.
As part of the move to the new API, Amazon is offering parity with current MWS data feeds, plus they are adding a dozen net new data feeds. This means familiar MWS APIs, including reports, orders, inventory, and many others, will look very knowledgeable to internal or third-party developers using the new API.
One of the changes Amazon highlighted will be including APIs for vendors. Yes, you read that correctly.
Historically, vendors have had difficult and complex workflows with accessing their data. Amazon will be supporting Vendor Central directly with the new API. Hallelujah!
The SP-API leverages a collection of standards-based REST APIs from a tech perspective. The API embraces a JSON-based REST API standard, OAuth2.0 authorization (Login with Amazon), and a test API endpoint. Amazon has committed to maintaining the functionality currently available in Amazon MWS.
The new API will also leverage Amazon Web Services IAM for application registration and role credentials.
The SP-API will offer a global footprint and support all Amazon stores where Amazon MWS is supported today, including support for Merchant Fulfillment Network (MFN) sellers.
Another change will be the new API will leverage a different dynamic usage plan rate limit model:
Dynamic usage plans are designed to reduce throttling when compared to Amazon MWS. Today, in Amazon MWS, rate limits are applied uniformly without considering the business size or changing business needs. With dynamic usage plans in the Selling Partner API, you can move from a one-size-fits-all design to an approach that emphasizes right-sizing the rate limits for each selling partner based on business context and changing needs over time.
Moving to a right-sized model for limits should improve the reliability and predictability of working with the API. If your Amazon business model relies on timely data, the new API is welcome news.
How does the Amazon Selling Partner API benefit my business?
As MWS did, the new Seller Partner API offers direct, programmatic access to a suite of APIs that provide access to your data. Direct access allows you to take control of the data that fuels e-commerce operations.
The SP-API will allow you to unlock Amazon Seller Central and Vendor Central data silos securely into your private data lake or cloud warehouse technologies like Amazon Redshift, Amazon Redshift Spectrum, Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Azure Data Lake, Ahana, and Amazon Athena.
With your Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central data unlocked, you can turbocharge reporting, analytics, and insights tools like Google Data Studio, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Looker, Amazon QuickSight, SAP, Alteryx, dbt, Azure Data Factory, Qlik Sense, and many others,
Here is an example of the types of reports the API data can fuel:
Tapping into the API is necessary if you are undertaking manual report downloading, file manipulation, and processing downloaded CSVs.
In a fast-paced e-commerce environment, manual processes are too slow and prone to error. Remember that your competitors have found a faster, more helpful approach: API-based automation functionality.
Did you know that Amazon also offers extended support for Vendors? See our post, Secret To Unlocking Amazon Vendor Central Reports, for more information on the new reports.
Amazon PII, Tokens API, and RDT
Restrictions to PII data apply to the Selling Partner API as they did to the legacy MWS API application. In many ways, the process for accessing PII in the new SP-API is significantly more complex as the review and approval process is extensive.
What is PII? Amazon defines PII as “any information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate an individual (e.g., Customer), or to identify an individual in context. This includes, but is not limited to, a Customer name, address, e-mail address, phone number, gift message content, purchases, and latitude/longitude of buyer addresses”.
For example, this means Amazon will not return data in fields such as:
- Buyer’s First and Last name
- Buyer’s email address
- Buyer’s phone number
- Buyer’s Address Line 1, Address Line 2
- Gift Messages
When calling SP-API endpoints, the API requires special tokens to access a customer’s PII (Personally Identifiable Information). The Tokens API will issue RDT security credentials (access tokens) that allow an app to call restricted operations in various APIs. Report content will not be available unless you are approved for PII.
The approved Openbridge SP-API application will request a Restricted Data Token (RDT) for applicable resources. For more information on how we support PII, please see our reference guide, Understanding Amazon PII in the Selling Partner API.
Amazon MWS Sunset Schedule
The Amazon MWS Orders and Amazon MWS Reports end of life was July 30, 2022. Other Amazon MWS Products will be sunseted by the close of 2022. At that point, any Amazon MWS-based application will no longer function.
See the migration guide for more information on the timing and the broader switch from MWS to SPAPI. See the developer guide if you want to build a customer application.
Getting Started with the Seller Partner API
Your team spends hours looking for the right data, downloading it, and copy-pasting it on a spreadsheet. That type of manual data wrangling is slow, messy, and expensive. Start using the SP-API!
Hiring a Seller Partner API developer or registering as a developer is unnecessary to build a custom application. If you do not have the technical knowledge or desire to construct a custom authorization workflow and code for a suite of REST APIs, Openbridge can help.
Amazon Seller Central
No more manual file downloads. Openbridge offers code-free, fully automated Amazon Selling Partner API data pipelines for orders, inventory, traffic, fulfillment, finance, etc.
Amazon Vendor Central
Amazon Vendors can take a lot of time and effort to process their data manually. Openbridge automation will automatically collect, process, route, and load your Vendor Central data to a private destination.
Amazon Advertising
While not part of the SP-API, Openbridge also allows teams to harness the power of Amazon Ads API automation, ensuring your teams have the data they need to optimize media investments.
Openbridge is an official Amazon Selling Partner developer that automates seller data into a trusted, private data lake or cloud warehouse like Amazon Redshift, Amazon Redshift Spectrum, Google BigQuery, Snowflake, Azure Data Lake, and Amazon Athena owned by you.
You can use tools like Google Data Studio, Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, Looker, or Amazon Quicksight with unified data.
Fuel forecasting, analysis, reporting, and marketing efforts. Create a new custom dashboard, enhance an existing dashboard, or perform a breakdown of sales; data automation will get you what you need.
