Setting up Subscription API/Notification API – ChannelMAX

What is Amazon MWS Subscription API and SQS?

Amazon MWS Subscription API released in the month of August 2013 to provide the sellers ability to reprice the items more rapidly than the older 'Products API'. This is useful for many of you who use the automated repricers as this new feature works based on the SQS(Simple Queue Service) triggers received within the lowest 20 offers for each item repriced.

New Subscription API would provide you the ways to filter your repricing strategies with quick efficacy as the market moves. Hence, you can make use of features like detecting the competitors as Featured or non-Featured (which was the main drawback of old Products API) or ignore the competitors, reprice based on your(or competitor) position in offer listing page etc.

As the name suggests this new API is available at subscription from Amazon, and is not free for you. You will have to create an account using web aws.amazon.com, input your credit card details, and enable SQS under 'AWS Management Console' to subscribe to this feature. Depending on the number of active SKUs repriced, Amazon may charge a fee. Generally, for the SKUs count less than 10,000, it's free. However, actual cost of this service would depend on the number of XML triggers received per month.

How to Setup Amazon MWS Subscription API and SQS?

You may refer the following steps to setup Amazon MWS Subscription API and SQS.

1) Open a browser such as Google Chrome and type in aws.amazon.com, and login using your Amazon Seller Central "main" login email and password, employee login will not work. Please refer to the screenshot AWS_Home_Page.
2) Now fill in your contact information as shown under the AWS_Contact_Info_Page image attached.
3) Next input your Credit Card details under Services-->Payment Methods as per the image AWS_Payment_Methods.
4) Now, under Services-->Your Security Credentials-->Access Keys as shown in screenshots AWS_Security Credentials, AWS_Security Credentials_Create_Access_Key and AWS_Security Credentials_Display_Access_Key.
5) Then, click on "SQS" under "Services" as shown in screenshot AWS_Enable_SQS.
6) As a next step, complete your identity verification by entering your phone number and click on "Continue" with the "Basic" plan as per the screenshots shown under AWS_Identity_Verification, AWS_Identity_Verification_Phone, AWS_Identity_Confirmation, AWS_Support_Basic_Plan.
7) Finally, AWS Access Key and AWS Secret Access Key obtained should be saved in ChannelMAX under "Settings --> Account--> Selling Venues --> Amazon USA" (AWS Keys Section) or any other appropriate Amazon Channel and click on "Save AWS Settings". Now, when clicked on Validate AWS Keys, we will see a green color popup that Connection has been Validated!!! as shown in the screenshot CMAX_SQS_Validation.

8) When the keys saved in ChannelMAX are valid, please contact us via support ticket or email us to support@channelmax.net for migrating the repricer to the new API. When repricer is migrated to new API,"Settings --> Account--> Selling Venues --> Amazon USA" (AWS Keys Section), just below AWS Secret Key, we would see option set to "Yes" meaning, New API is enabled.

AWS_Contact_Info_Page: