Amazon Store Integration
 

Finally, I've gotten around to putting together a version of the Amazon Store integration mod for vBulletin 3.6.

This mod allows you to add an Amazon store to your vBulletin. You can set it to search for a particular keyword, for different types of items - CDs, DVDs, Clothing, etc. A sample of the store in action is available here: http://www.lidragracing.com/amazon_store.php.

You will need to sign up for Amazon Web Services to get an AWS key in order for this to work. In addition, you need to have PHP 5 installed on your server.

Installation is very simple, upload 3 files, import the xml file and then add a link to the store in your navigation bar. See the attached file "ECS Amazon Store.txt" for the exact installation instructions.

Give it a try, let me know what you think. Make sure you click "Mark as Installed" if you've installed it.

Also, if you intall it and use it, please post the URL you have it installed at so I can see how it's being used.

{edit}

To upgrade to a newer version, re-upload the php files and then import the xml product file. Afterwards go to the admin control panel to check to make sure all of the fields are filled in properly.

can u make it with catgories?

Wow, I will be installing this later and I will let you know how I get on. Nice one!!:up:

What do you mean?

Thanks for sharing - I installed and went to view the store and got this error

do we enter the AWS key or the AWS secret key? I tried both and got the same error.

Don't really need it but it looks great. Thanks for the submission.

Interesting - but Amazon already has what's called an A-Store that can easily be embedded in webpages with IFrame: http://jpicforum.info/view.php?pg=shopjpic

Question: What makes this modification any better?

At anyrate - thanx for the sharing ;)

Jacquii.

[high]* projectego clicks install :)[/high]

Thanks!

You would enter the AWS access key.

As for the error you're getting - are you using PHP 5?

Thanks for the info. No - I am not using php 5, my php version is 4.4.7

I installed it on a test forum with no other hacks installed and got the same error.

I sure hope I can get it going - I like it a lot better than the A-store. Do you get affiliate payments from purchases at this store?

Lemmy rules! :)

You need to have php 5 or higher, the simplexml_load_file() function isn't available in php 4.

Yes, that's the whole idea. I've just realized that I didn't put in the AssociateTag, though, so you can't track your site's searches... I'll update it to add that.

You got that right!

aw ding dang it - is there any way to get this going for 4.4.7?

Not easily... the reason I held off on putting this together for 3.6.8 was because it was such a pain to decode XML with PHP 4. PHP 5 makes it real easy, instead of blocks and blocks of confusing code it's just a single function call.

looking forward to the associate id addition - will install once that's in place - nice mod!

I'm posting it now...

Is this Amazon Associates Central?

What?

See Image

Could your 3.0 version be made to work in 3.6.8?

Yes.

Probably not without a bunch of work. If you'd like to take it on, go for it!

Installed.... :up:

Set up store account and got an Amazon AWS key .....

Set up the mod in AdminCP with it....

Now, pardon my ignorance as I've never used this kind of thing before, but how do I start populating my own store with actual products such as books? I can't seem to figure out how to add a book so that it displays in the PHP page of our site? :confused:

Thanks for any help... :)

Regards,
Badger

BTW, we use Commission Junction for eBay referrals. Can this be used in any similar way, or is something that remains just direct with Amazon in order to earn commissions?

If you set all the options in the AdminCP properly, when you go to the amazon_store.php page it will pull the data from Amazon and will display the data for you. There's no need to "populate" the store, it pulls data real-time.

For example, if you want to display books about dogs, set the "keywords" field to "dogs", and the "Search Index" field to "Books". Note that the "Search Index" field is case sensitive, the field has to match the data from this page: http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AW...dexValues.html.

I think in the next version I'll make that a drop-down box so you can only select valid options...

If you get a page with no data when you go to the amazon_store.php page, then one of the fields you've entered in the AdminCP is invalid.

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking...?

I was wondering if Commission Junction supported Amazon, like they do for eBay, whereby one can earn commissions for people who click through and buy. I checked Commission Junction site and I don't think they support Amazon, so the question is probably academic. I think the Amazon AWS system is a similar thing, but an in-house system?

Anyway, I managed to get products displaying by using the keyword thing you mentioned. I can't figure out how to get multiple keywords. If I use commas or spaces between different words, it displays zero results. If I use just one keyword I do get results? :confused:

How do you string multiple search terms as well as multiple categories ie: Books and Videos together to narrow the search?

Thanks

Regards,
Badger

I got this working!

I simply added AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php to my .htaccess file.

Now I have another issue :)

I deleted the old product and installed the updated one, and entered my amazon associates ID, but I don't see it listed in the URL when I click on an item.

for instance - let's say my associates ID is: myamazonuser-20

If I get a link from amazon associates it looks like this:

but if I click on the link through the amazon store on my site it looks like this:

I don't see my associate's ID myamazonuser-20 listed in the link from my site...

Oh, I see. Yes, the Amazon Associates program is similar to Commission Junction.
[/quote]
Anyway, I managed to get products displaying by using the keyword thing you mentioned. I can't figure out how to get multiple keywords. If I use commas or spaces between different words, it displays zero results. If I use just one keyword I do get results? :confused:

How do you string multiple search terms as well as multiple categories ie: Books and Videos together to narrow the search?
[/QUOTE]

That I'm not sure about... for the moment I don't know how to do it, but I'm working on it. If you put multiple keywords in, it will use those keywords to narrow your search. For example, "dog" may return 100 results, but "guard dog" may return only 10. Make sense?

When I get multiple keywords and/or multiple categorie figured out I'll post about it here. Give me a day or so to work that out.

So then you've got php 5 running somewhere on your server.

Oops!

I'll have this fixed in the next version (later today or tomorrow). But for now if you'd like to fix it yourself, open both amazon_store.php and amazon_store_detail.php and search for "AssociateID". Replace it with "AssociateTag".

Thanks.... :up:

I think it's use will be too narrow unless one can string multiple terms together.....

Also, I don't understand this AWS key thing?

Is that ALL we need to do to get commision payments from Amazon if someone orders a book as a result of being redirected from our site on-line store using your mod?

Getting this AWS key alone seems to be different from the Amazon Associates Program page, which doesn't recognize the email address (account) that I used to get the AWS key? I wonder if they're two different programs and one has to register for both?

Regards,
Badger

can you tell us where to locate the AWS key on Amazon?

yep - my server runs both php 4 and php 5, but the default is php 4

I made the changes indicated and don't see any change in the URL displayed. I appreciate all of the support and interest in getting this working.

There are two items you need from Amazon. An AWS Key and an Associates ID.

The AWS key is what allows you to talk to AWS (Amazon Web Services) to get the data. The Associates ID is what tags your links, so you will get credit for them when somebody clicks them from your site and makes a purchase from Amazon.

To sign up for the AWS Key, go to https://aws-portal.amazon.com/gp/aws...ion/index.html.

To sign up for the Associates ID, go to http://associates.amazon.com.

Thanks.... :up:

That's helpful and clear....

I've got one, so I'll go apply for the other now.... :)

Regards,
Badger

Edit: Got the Associateds ID, so now is there anything special (any place) with this mod I need to put it like I did with the AWS number, or is just automatic?

In the ACP VB options for this mod there is a box to enter your associates ID. If you do not see it, then re-download the zip file and import the product again, since the author updated it to add the associates ID. The mod does not add the associates ID to the URL at this time, and the author has indicated that he will fix this issue, so keep an eye on this thread, and when he fixes the issue you can reupload the files and import the product again at that point. He supplied a fix a couple posts back that was supposed to fix this, but it did not work for me - still waiting for the official fix from him.

Ok, B3 is posted now. This fixes the Associates ID issue with the links.

Re-upload the php files, then import the XML file making sure to check the "allow overwrite" option.

Updated... :up:

Thanks

Regards,
Badger

Found it..... :up:

Updated to current B3 version....

Thanks ... :)

Only question I have is that I have two different associate ID's.... one for Amazon.com and one for Amazon.ca...

I entered for the mod the .COM one, so I wonder how that's going to sort itself out if someone orders from .CA? ;)

Regards,
Badger

Great job...

Mine is here - I added a search at the top and right now I am using the search term Movies. For some reason with Amazon it is difficult to add too many keywords. If you do you end up showing no products at all.

I really would like to incorporate more into this though such as a cache and a search. At the very least a conditional link to take people back to the main page of the store after they are done looking at a product...

It would be great to be able to get some of these products crawled and indexed and I don't think it will happen this way... All the same though, if you have a niche site and are looking to sell a specific category of products this will work well...

Thanks for your work...

I'm working on that.

I'll add that to the next release.

Looking at the pages Google has for my site (the one in the description of this mod), there are a whole bunch from the Amazon store... Also, I've got another site (non-vBulletin) that uses the same technology as this. I haven't completed the site yet, so the only thing that's publically available are links to items in the Amazon store. Google has almost 5000 pages indexes of nothing but Amazon products, displayed on my site. The pages are titled differently, though... the only thing I can tell you is to wait and see what happens when the spiders come crawling your site.

Thank you for using it!

I would think that your .COM ID would get credit for it, I don't think it matters what Amazon site a person orders from. But I'm not positive about that.

hello,
i installed this hack and i am getting this error ,

Fatal error: Call to undefined function: simplexml_load_file() in /home/xyz/public_html/Forums/amazon_store.php on line 55

Can u please help me
Thanks