Amazon Services
Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) Documentation

Deprecation Notice:

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (MWS) will no longer be available after March 31, 2024. All MWS developers must migrate to Selling Partner API (SP-API) to avoid service disruptions. Refer to the Migration Hub for more information.

Amazon MWS Documentation

Registering to use Amazon MWS

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is a secure environment that uses signatures for authentication and lets sellers delegate calling rights to developers by using the Amazon MWS authorization service. To be eligible to develop Amazon MWS applications you must:

  • Comply with the Acceptable Use Policy and Data Protection Policy.
  • Have a Professional selling plan. For more information, see Selling plans in the Seller Central Help.
  • Submit the Amazon MWS Developer Registration and Assessment form. We will evaluate your submission and assign you a role based on the level of Amazon MWS access you require. We will request that you submit the form during registration.

    For more information about the form, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Register as a developer

  1. Go to the User Permissions page in Seller Central and log into your Amazon selling account as the primary account holder.
  2. Under Amazon MWS Developer Access Keys, click the Visit Developer Credentials button.
  3. On Developer Central page, under Are you a software developer building applications using MWS?, click the apply for access here link, and then follow the instructions on the Amazon MWS Developer Registration and Assessment form.

We will evaluate the information that you provide in the form and then follow up with a support case log and next steps. For more information about developer registration and assessment, see Frequently Asked Questions.

Using your Amazon MWS Developer ID and Access Keys

Important: Do Not Share Amazon MWS Access Keys

Sharing your Amazon MWS Access Keys is a violation of Amazon’s Terms of Service. Sharing your Access Keys may result in suspension of your selling account and Access Keys.

The following is an example of the Amazon MWS Developer ID and Access Keys:

  • Developer ID (a 12-digit identifier): 1234-3214-4321
  • AWS Access Key ID (a 20-character, alphanumeric identifier): 022QF0EXAMPLEH9DHM02
  • Secret Key (a 40-character identifier): kWcrlEXAMPLEM/LtmEENI/aVmYvHNif5zB+d9+ct

If you are developing an Amazon MWS application for sellers or are providing Amazon MWS-related development services to sellers, you must provide your Developer ID to those sellers so that they can authorize you to access their Amazon seller accounts using Amazon MWS. Asking for a seller's own Amazon MWS developer credentials is a violation of Amazon Terms of Service.

The AWS Access Key ID is associated with your Amazon MWS registration. You include it in all Amazon MWS requests to identify yourself as the sender of the request. The AWS Access Key ID is not a secret. To provide proof that you truly are the sender of the request, you must also include a digital signature. For all requests except those generated using the Amazon MWS client libraries, you calculate the signature using your Secret Key. Amazon uses the AWS Access Key ID in the request to look up your Secret Key and then calculates a digital signature with the key. If the signature Amazon calculates matches the signature you sent, the request is considered authentic. Otherwise, the request fails authentication and is not processed.

Important: Your Secret Key is a secret that only you and Amazon should know. It is important to keep it confidential to protect your account. Never include your Secret Key in your requests to Amazon MWS and never e-mail it to anyone. Never share it with anyone, even if they claim to be from Amazon. No one from Amazon will ever ask you for your Secret Key.

Resetting your AWS Access Key ID and Secret Key

If you need to change your AWS Access Key ID and Secret Key, contact Seller Support in your home marketplace via chat, telephone, or Contact Amazon MWS form and ask to reset your AWS Access Key ID and Secret Key. If you use the form, provide the following information:

  1. For Subject, enter "Reset access keys to my Amazon MWS account".
  2. For Your comment, enter "Please reset the AWS Access Key ID and Secret Key for my account.".

You will receive a reply from the Seller Support team with a link to the User Permissions page on Seller Central, where you can generate a new key pair for your account. Only administrators can use the link to create new keys.

Note: When Seller Support deletes your key pair, all applications that use your current keys will be denied access to your account information until you update those applications with your new keys.

Authorizing a developer

A seller must authorize a developer to make calls to Amazon MWS on the seller's behalf.

For a seller to authorize a developer

  1. The developer must be a registered Amazon MWS developer. See Registering as a developer.
  2. The developer gives their Developer ID to the seller.
  3. The seller goes to the Manage your apps page in Seller Central and logs into their Amazon seller account as the primary account holder.
  4. The seller clicks the Authorize new developer button and follows the authorization workflow.