About AWS
Using AWS
Building Applications and Making Money

About AWS

Q: What is Amazon Web Services?

Web services are self-contained functions that can be published and invoked across the web using XML-based protocols. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides functions for directly accessing Amazon's technology platform and product data, ranging from retrieving information about a set of products to adding an item to a shopping cart to checking on the status of a transaction. Using Amazon's Web Services, you can build dynamic, highly-effective web sites and web applications. You can access Amazon Web Services through an XML over HTTP (also called "XML/HTTP") or a SOAP interface.

Q: Why should I use AWS?

AWS empowers developers to innovate and build businesses that leverage Amazon's data and technology platform using standard web services technologies. Read more about the value of using AWS.

Q: How can I get started with AWS?

There are two ways to get started with AWS:

• Create an AWS account -- joining our community is completely free!
• Sign up for any of our web services. If you don't already have an AWS account, we'll help you create one when you sign up for a web service.

Q: Who should use AWS?

Anyone who wishes to build web applications and sites that leverage data and technology provided by AWS. AWS is particularly well-suited for these groups:

• Amazon Associates: The Amazon Associates program allows web site owners to link to Amazon web sites and earn referral fees for any sales made through their links. Amazon Associates may use AWS to display a rich variety of product data in flexible and innovative ways on their web sites. (Note: To earn fees on sales made through links built from AWS, you must also apply to become an Associate. Unlike AWS, each Amazon site (US, Japan, UK, and Germany) has a separate Associates program that you must sign up for. Please see the US Associates web site for more information.)
• Amazon Sellers and Merchants: Anyone who sells their own products on the Amazon platform may use AWS to obtain product information, including pricing data, which helps Amazon venders sell their products more competitively and effectively.
• Solution Providers: Have an idea for an application or business that would make innovative use of AWS functionality or data? Want to create a product for Amazon Associates or Sellers? The opportunities are endless!

As a side note, using AWS requires some web site development expertise and other skills. Use of SOAP requires programming expertise. We recommend the following:

• Working knowledge of SOAP, HTML, and Perl or another programming language, or working knowledge of XML, XSLT, and HTML
• Ability to write and work with CGI scripts (or mod_perl or similar)
• Network bandwidth sufficient to facilitate data transfers

Q: How old is AWS?

Amazon launched AWS in 2001 in response to customer interest in Amazon's data. The AWS offerings have evolved as customers have requested more access to Amazon's massive e-commerce platform. Today, Amazon remains committed to exposing its industry-leading e-commerce technology through web services.

Using AWS

Q: Now that I have an AWS account, how do I start calling AWS?

Your AWS account gives you automatic access to some web services. You may call these web services at any time using your RequestKey ID. You can also sign up for other web services and call them using your RequestKey ID and Secret RequestKey. To learn more about using your RequestKey ID and Secret RequestKey, read our article on AWS Request Authentication.

Q: What are AWS account identifiers?

If you have an AWS account, Amazon has assigned you several identifiers that uniquely identify your AWS account and/or allow you to make requests to AWS:

• Account Number: All AWS accounts have an Account Number. This is a unique value that is associated with your AWS account and that will never change. Your Account Number is displayed at the top of the Account Activity page. Should you ever need to contact Amazon about your AWS account, it will be useful to have your Account Number handy.
• RequestKey ID and Secret RequestKey: All AWS accounts have a RequestKey ID and Secret RequestKey combination. Include your RequestKey ID in your requests to AWS to identify yourself as the party responsible for the request. Use your Secret RequestKey to sign requests to AWS that require a request signature. To learn more about request signatures, including why and when you use them and how you calculate them, read our article on AWS Request Authentication.
• Subscription ID: If you created your AWS account prior to October 2005, you have a Subscription ID. If you have already built an AWS application using your Subscription ID, you may continue using your Subscription ID. If you are building a new AWS application, we encourage you to use your Secret RequestKey and RequestKey ID instead.
• Developer Token: If you signed up for AWS prior to August 2004, you have a Developer Token. As Developer Tokens are no longer supported and will not work with newer services, we encourage anyone who has a Developer Token to create a new AWS account.

Q: What are the rules for using AWS?

Please see the Amazon Web Services Licensing Agreement for full information on supported uses of Amazon Web Services.

Q: Is it free to use AWS?

Some web services are free to use. Others are available on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis. Pricing information for each web service is available on that service's detail page.

Q: What if I need help using AWS?

Visit AWS Developer Support to explore a variety of documentation and interactive resources as you build on AWS. Share your ideas and work through challenges with the AWS community!

Our Forums are read by active developers who already use Amazon Web Services, and they will often help you with any issues that you may be experiencing. In addition, members of the Amazon Web Services team monitor the boards and respond to questions, as appropriate.

When you pose questions or report problems to boards, it is important to supply as much relevant information as possible. This will ensure a more speedy and accurate response from those who are in a position to help or advise you. In general, the minimum information you provide should includes:

• Type of request that you tried:
  • REST (XML/HTTP)--include the entire URL
  • SOAP--include the name, version, and URL of any tools or toolkit that you used
  • XSLT--include the entire URL, including the URL of the XSLT file
• Parameters that you supplied to the request
• Expected results
• Observed results and/or error messages

Amazon takes all Web Services problem reports seriously, and takes reasonable measures to reproduce them in an effort to determine their potential impact. If a problem can be reproduced, we generally post a note to the Forums when it has been fixed.

Please be aware that it is not possible for Amazon to provide technical support to specific individuals. However, you will from time to time see us respond to questions that we believe are of general interest to the broad community of developers.

Q: Can I request new AWS features?

Yes! We are always looking to expand our services in useful and innovative ways, and we welcome new feature ideas. Please post your feature requests to the Web Services Feature Requests folder in our Forums.

Q: How do I inform AWS of bugs?

Please post any bugs or questions about expected behavior to the Forums. If you are sure that a particular issue is a bug, please post a message in the Web Services Bug Tracking folder. If you are unsure whether a particular issue is a bug, please post a question to the General folder first.

Q: How do I manage my AWS account?

Click this button on any page on the AWS web site to access AWS account management options, including communication preferences, payment method, and account activity information:

Building Applications and Making Money

Q: For whom can I build applications?

We welcome applications for the Amazon ecosystem of customers, Merchants, Associates, and other developers. Use AWS and your imagination to build creative applications that address the needs of one (or more!) of these audiences.

Q: How can I let Amazon know about applications I build?

Please send any applications that you would like us to review to awseditor@amazon.com. In addition to sending your application to Amazon for review, you can always feel free to post any of your solutions to the AWS Forums.

Q: Will you publish information about my application if I send it to you?

We are very committed to promoting third-party applications to our customers, merchants, Associates, and other developers. While we can't guarantee that we'll publish every application, we may publish those which we feel would be useful to the larger Amazon community. Share with us!

Q: Can I get paid for AWS applications I build?

You may be paid for the sales you generate through your application if you also apply to become an Amazon Associate. We are also considering several options for compensating external developers who create tools for our Associates. We welcome suggestions about how to compensate developers fairly and appropriately - please send them to webservices@amazon.com.

Can't find what you're looking for? Need more technical information?

Visit Developer Support to learn about available resources and support options, or email us at webservices@amazon.com.