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Amazon Hacks
book

Amazon Hacks

by Paul Bausch
August 2003
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
304 pages
7h 33m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Amazon Hacks

Browse and Search Categories with Browse Nodes

Use browse node IDs to find books based on categories.

Just as Amazon has alphanumeric IDs for every item they sell, they also have ID numbers representing each subject area to which items belong. Once you know the browse node IDs for subject areas you’re interested in, you can bypass the standard search forms and perform narrow, specialized searches from a URL.

Finding Browse Node IDs

The first trick is finding the browse node IDs. They’re not quite as easy to come by as ASINs because they don’t appear in URLs as frequently. They also don’t seem to follow any logical pattern, so there’s no way to guess. Instead you can browse the “category tree” that Amazon has made available through their Associates program. You don’t have to be an associate to browse the tree, however; you can reach it at http://associates.amazon.com/exec/panama/associates/resources/build-links/amazon-recommends/browse-bestsellers.html.

Once at this page you’ll see a list of the highest product category levels: Baby, Books, Camera, Cell Phones, and so on. Click Books and you’ll start to see browse node codes in the URL; in this case:

http://associates.amazon.com/exec/panama/associates/resources/build-links/[RETURN]
amazon-recommends/browse-bestsellers.html/086-9645301-8693838?t=&node=1000
               [RETURN]
&mode=browse-books

The only section we’re concerned with is the node= and its value. The node here is 1000 and represents all books. On this page the categories are refined ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0596005423Supplemental ContentCatalog PageErrata