Developer Questions Turned Off My Listing Loader Credentials!
I am having a HUGE issue right now.
I downloaded the newest listing loader because my old one told me it was out of date.
So, I needed to get my MWS credentials again, to put in Excel and connect.
When I went to MWS, it immediately asked me questions about if I was developing applications. I answered truthfully and said that I was not. Then my MWS credentials were turned off and I can no longer use them for the listing loader. WHAT THE HECK! Those questions were totally misleading. None of them indicated they would cut off access to my ability to use the Excel Automations.
I also now noticed that I can no longer use ScanLister for Uploading and Labeling inventory!
How many other sellers are going to answer those questions and get their inventory loader turned off? CRAZY! Does it really take MWS Support 30 days before they get to your case? Is there any way to get them to turn it back on sooner? I have got to get new stuff uploaded!
10 replies
Seller_Y7RS9pvWYQkLs
Black Rock,
I am sorry to hear that happened to you. In my experience it does take Amazon quite a bit of time now to get through the developer ID approval process because the process much more strict and challenging than it used to be. I pay close attention to these MWS forums and I am not aware of any way to speed up the developer approval process. However, you could try opening a separate support case and explaining what happened and asking for your developer ID to be reactivated while you are going through the re-approval process. If you do this, I suggest you keep the message as brief and to the point…
If it is an emergency, you should be able to work with any MWS developer with an active developer ID that offers consulting services to the public to get your interfaces working temporarily until you get your own developer ID working again. You are welcome to send me a private message if you want to have an offline discussion.
David Nelson
Dynamic Enterprise Technologies Inc
Seattle Washington USA
Seller_uNUiyRYUdefW6
Another example of Amazon substantially changing policies without seeming to care about side effects, or even giving anyone much information about it.
There are substantial risks from software bad actors helping sellers bypass safeguards on a large scale, and even more threats from rogue use of developer keys (often without sellers knowledge I would imagine). Restricting the quantity and use of the keys make sense, but in typical Amazon fashion the solution throws a huge curve ball to sellers that depend on 3rd party tools to any extent.
Amazon software like the listing loader (set of excel macros) and the merchant transport utility (auto download reports to local storage) were designed to run locally. They depend on direct seller access to MWS and so have been made obsolete by the new policies, as have the majority of the little freeware tools. Hosting tools in the cloud does not fit very well with most freeware business strategies, and they will also likely have to be rewritten first. Replacements will involve a certain amount of process change as well.
Consultants that promise to get your local tools working again are engaging in somewhat sketchy behavior. This would almost certainly involve putting their own credentials into your local software, forbidden by more than one of the new MWS policies. Given our current brave new world of network security challenges, it is probably time for everyone to up their computer hygiene anyway.
Seller_Y7RS9pvWYQkLs
I strongly disagree. A local tool could be loaded on a consultant’s secure system and can interface with Amazon in the approved manner without the seller having access to the developer’s credentials. In addition, the sellers data can be transferred from/to the seller’s system in an approved manner. This can all be done within the MWS policies.
If you think there would be a violation of MWS policy using this procedure, please specify exactly which policy you are referring to.
David Nelson
Dynamic Enterprise Technologies Inc
Seattle Washington USA
Seller_Y7RS9pvWYQkLs
This is not correct from my understanding. Any seller can authorize any “third party developer” under “Settings / User Permissions” using the button “Authorize new developer” and adding a developer ID and company name to the list. After doing this, the seller then sends their Seller ID and the “MWS Auth Token” to the developer.
The developer then uses (a) the Seller provided Seller ID (b) the Seller provided “MWS Auth Token” © the developer’s own Developer ID (d) the developers own Secret Key, to access the sellers account (the same as if the seller’s own developer ID were active)
David Nelson
Dynamic Enterprise Technologies Inc
Seattle Washington USA
Seller_Y7RS9pvWYQkLs
In the case of a company using an Excel sheet that uses a macro to interface with MWS for example, and if they suddenly and unexpectedly have their Developer ID deactivated for whatever reason, in brief summary (not getting into every detail):
- Seller sends the Excel sheet to the developer in a secure manner
- Developer enters the four pieces of data into Excel as noted in my previous post
- Developer presses the “interface” button
- Developer removes the four pieces of data as noted in my previous post
- Developer sends the results to the Seller in a sure manner
- Developer deletes Excel sheet
No sketchy behavior, no licensing issues, and legit. It would work well enough and would be be easy and practical in case of emergency on a temporary bases to until the seller (a) gets their developer ID reactivated (b) gets replacement software working.
If the volume of data is small, it may be better for do manual updates in Seller Central. If the volume of data is large, it may be cost effective to pay for assistance until a better solution is found. The seller can determine which is better for themselves. My point is assistance is available if desired.
I’ve studied the MWS policy in detail, and I don’t see a violation using the procedure. If you consider this procedure a violation of the MWS policy, please specify exactly which part of the MWS policy you think it violates.
David Nelson
Dynamic Enterprise Technologies Inc
Seattle Washington USA
Seller_Y7RS9pvWYQkLs
The solution I suggested is the only immediate fix posted here so far. If you have a better immediate fix, please post it.
I did not offer my commercial assistance. Please quote where I offered commercial assistance.
Agreed. In this case the seller’s automation was failing, and I suggested a temporary solution until a better long term solution could be found.
Any experienced developer who know the MWS API and Excel programming should be able to handle any Excel sheet with MWS macros. Also, anyone with a MWS developer ID also has a seller account that could be used for testing before executing the Excel macro against a production seller account. White the code should be reviewed, I expect the code would not need to be modified in the case where the seller has already been using the solution for some time and found it satisfactory.
David Nelson
Dynamic Enterprise Technologies Inc
Seattle Washington USA
