5 ms·

The Zinc API and pivoting before demo day

35 points by gwintrob 10y ago

chatmasta 10y ago
I hadn't heard of Zinc. Looks like a cool service. Is it possible to collect Amazon affiliate commissions when "selling" a third party Amazon item? I can't imagine Amazon would be okay with that, since every "sale" would come from the same IP of Zinc servers.
- FriedPickles 10y ago
  A good rule of thumb here: if the orders are being placed on the end consumers' accounts, retailers are okay with using affiliate. If you're placing the orders on your own account, they're not okay with it. Exact policies vary from retailer to retailer.
  - chatmasta 10y ago
    Right. So does your API support "making a purchase" on behalf of the consumer (through the consumer's account) and then collecting affiliate revenue? If so, how do you manage the mechanics of that? Does Amazon have an OAuth feature or do you need to request the consumer's credentials?
    - brianwawok 10y ago
      Amazon has no oauth to buying products, because it is not a supported feature of the API. So they would need your real Amazon password.
    - FriedPickles 10y ago
      We do this for a couple niche API users. We need the consumer's credentials--none of the retailers support OAuth with ordering permission.
  - ikeboy 10y ago
    I would use priceyak significantly more if they supported the following features: 1. Support more sites. I need staples, bestbuy, and sears mainly for now. 2. Add ability to collect portal cashback, customizable to select the highest paying one at the time of purchase. Track whether purchases got the cashback and provide a list of ones that didn't so they can be reported to the portal. 3. Ability to place orders using gift cards uploaded by the user. Related: use store points (like sears shop your way points) if available. 4. Support product limits per account, so e.g. if a product can only be ordered 3 times on an account, automatically order from the next account if more than 3 sell. 5. Support listing on Amazon and fulfilling using retailers. Right now priceyak only supports eBay listing. I'm considering building something like this myself, but I don't have much interest in actually running it, I just want something that works. If priceyak had something like that I'd use them instead of rolling my own.
xemdetia 10y ago
It would be nice if they mentioned something about getting some sort of agreements from the sellers they were aggregating. This just smells of the classic sort of pitfall that the things you are standing on could pull out the rug and leave you with nothing.
- FriedPickles 10y ago
  Doug from Zinc here. We have agreements with some (but not all) of the retailers that we work with. Reliability should be a huge concern for any developer choosing what services to build atop. The Zinc API has been operating without a significant service interruption for several years now, and we consider our ability to provide uninterrupted service to be one of our primary competitive advantages. We have very long term plans for Zinc which is why we've earned the trust of several big institutions. Please reach out if you are thinking of using the Zinc API and would like to discuss reliability.
allv 10y ago
As many as similar service: easync.io, hydralister. Why is this service better?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
kapauldo 10y ago
I wish this was a podcast, it would be a great weekly.

35 points by gwintrob 10y ago

I hadn't heard of Zinc. Looks like a cool service. Is it possible to collect Amazon affiliate commissions when "selling" a third party Amazon item? I can't imagine Amazon would be okay with that, since every "sale" would come from the same IP of Zinc servers.

FriedPickles 10y ago
A good rule of thumb here: if the orders are being placed on the end consumers' accounts, retailers are okay with using affiliate. If you're placing the orders on your own account, they're not okay with it. Exact policies vary from retailer to retailer.
- chatmasta 10y ago
  Right. So does your API support "making a purchase" on behalf of the consumer (through the consumer's account) and then collecting affiliate revenue? If so, how do you manage the mechanics of that? Does Amazon have an OAuth feature or do you need to request the consumer's credentials?
  - brianwawok 10y ago
    Amazon has no oauth to buying products, because it is not a supported feature of the API. So they would need your real Amazon password.
  - FriedPickles 10y ago
    We do this for a couple niche API users. We need the consumer's credentials--none of the retailers support OAuth with ordering permission.
- ikeboy 10y ago
  I would use priceyak significantly more if they supported the following features: 1. Support more sites. I need staples, bestbuy, and sears mainly for now. 2. Add ability to collect portal cashback, customizable to select the highest paying one at the time of purchase. Track whether purchases got the cashback and provide a list of ones that didn't so they can be reported to the portal. 3. Ability to place orders using gift cards uploaded by the user. Related: use store points (like sears shop your way points) if available. 4. Support product limits per account, so e.g. if a product can only be ordered 3 times on an account, automatically order from the next account if more than 3 sell. 5. Support listing on Amazon and fulfilling using retailers. Right now priceyak only supports eBay listing. I'm considering building something like this myself, but I don't have much interest in actually running it, I just want something that works. If priceyak had something like that I'd use them instead of rolling my own.

xemdetia 10y ago

It would be nice if they mentioned something about getting some sort of agreements from the sellers they were aggregating. This just smells of the classic sort of pitfall that the things you are standing on could pull out the rug and leave you with nothing.

FriedPickles 10y ago
Doug from Zinc here. We have agreements with some (but not all) of the retailers that we work with. Reliability should be a huge concern for any developer choosing what services to build atop. The Zinc API has been operating without a significant service interruption for several years now, and we consider our ability to provide uninterrupted service to be one of our primary competitive advantages. We have very long term plans for Zinc which is why we've earned the trust of several big institutions. Please reach out if you are thinking of using the Zinc API and would like to discuss reliability.

allv 10y ago

As many as similar service: easync.io, hydralister. Why is this service better?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

kapauldo 10y ago

I wish this was a podcast, it would be a great weekly.