Items Sold by Merchants
By far, most items on Amazon are sold by merchants. Amazon itself is one. For that
reason, ItemSearch is one of the most heavily used
Product Advertising API operations. Because there are so many items for sale on Amazon, ItemSearch has many input parameters that help target a request.
ItemSearch requests can also use many response groups, which
can tailor the type of information returned with each item..
At first, the number of ItemSearch input parameters might seem overwhelming. This
section explains the parameters most commonly used. By mastering these, you can create
highly targeted requests. For a description of all of the ItemSearch parameters, see ItemSearch.
Parameter Support by Search Index
All other search indices support multiple parameters. For example, when you specify the Beauty search index, in the US locale, you can include one or more of the following parameters in the request.
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The search index—parameter combinations, for the most part, make sense. For
example, if you use the Automotive search index, the Author
parameter is invalid in the request. This restriction makes intuitive sense. So, in
general, it is not the case that you need to memorize all of the parameters that can
be used in each search index.
Search Indices, Parameters, and Locales
There is one further restriction on the use of parameters in an ItemSearch request. The search index values that can be used in
an ItemSearch request vary by locale. For
example, the Baby and Beauty search indices are available in the US but not in
the UK locale. An error is returned if you use a search index value that is not
supported in a locale. The limitations on the use of search indices by locale
therefore also limits the use of ItemSearch
parameters.
For a complete list of ItemSearch parameters supported in
each search index and in each locale, see the Search Index and ItemSearch
Parameter Combinations.