Amazon MWS Report Type "_GET_MERCHANT_LISTINGS_DATA_" result attributes meaning

Question

In Amazon MWS API, when requesting report of type "_GET_MERCHANT_LISTINGS_DATA_" What is the difference between the returned attributes:

• product-id
• listing-id
• asin1

Answer 1

I also have tried to find any reference for the tab-delimited report types, but it seems to be scattered all around the web. The best description I found was part of the instructions for the Amazon Inventory Loader. (Note: may require a MWS seller login, the corresponding XLS does not have all columns described on the linked webpage) That page should answer most of your questions.

Since the link above might require a login, here's a short description on what these columns do:

asin1 refers to an item's Amazon Standard Identification Number. Every item on Amazon has such a number, there even is a Wikipedia entry describing what it is.

product-id along with product-id-typerefers to the item's non-Amazon standard identification number, if such a thing exists (otherwise it'll contain a copy of the item's ASIN).

• product-id-type=1 -> product-id is ASIN
• product-id-type=2 -> product-id is ISBN.
• product-id-type=3 -> product-id is UPC
• product-id-type=4 -> product-id is EAN (now called GTIN)

sku is your own item identifier such as part number. You created the link between an ASIN and your own SKU by creating the product. (I know you didn't ask for this, but this is for the sake of completeness)

listing-id There does not seem to be a lot of documentation on what theses are. There is a page explaining how to find out an item's listing id. It does not say why you'd ever want to know, though. I assume a listing ID identifies a certain seller's (your) offer for a specific item, but all MWS requests I've ever done either required me to link to a ASIN or my own SKU, but there may be others that require this id.

Sidenote: I find it weird that a single listing-id may relate to more than one ASIN - otherwise, why are there columns named asin2 and asin3?