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Comment by VectorLock | Hacker News Reader

I've always wondered how CCC interfaced with Amazon. Are they using bots to scrape the site? Are they just coasting along until Amazon tries to shut them down, or is there some kind of agreement in place?

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Their blog[0] has some info. There was a great Software Engineering Daily podcast about it [1] - specifically they use the Amazon Advertising API (still) although the nature of their relationship has changed over the eleven years. I imagine the affiliate rates drastically dropping during Covid, hurt them a fair bit.

[0]: https://camelcamelcamel.com/blog/how-our-price-checking-syst... [1]: https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2019/05/24/camelcamelca...

On the bottom of the about page [0] they have an "In association with Amazon" badge, so I'm guessing they have Amazon's consent.

Edit: D'oh. Had I looked a bit longer I would have seen the legal disclaimer that confirms this at the bottom of the about page:

> camelcamelcamel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program

[0] https://camelcamelcamel.com/about

It looks like they're part of the Amazon Associates Program which is probably where that banner is from (and it says it further down on the page.). I know there is some API locked behind a signup program for that, so I was curious if thats only what they use or if there is some other scraping going on.

There is an API that is limited to be used exclusively by Amazon associates. It gets the latest pricing for items based on ASIN

Ive wondered too. I mean I've definitely bought things because of a price alert -- and not necessarily that it was that much of a discount. It more or less just reminded me of something I wanted. So, maybe amazon sees it as beneficial.

I recall reading something about how Amazon threatened to block them unless CamelCamelCamel stopped crawling other retailers as well... Surprise, CCC now only does Amazon.

Can't find any info on that so may be mistaken though.

The story I recall was when they lost NewEgg API access

https://camelcamelcamel.com/blog/newegg-data-is-unavailable

Since they send traffic to Amazon from people who want to buy things, I don't think Amazon minds. And I don't think they care if they pay out to any one affiliate vs. another.

Even if they are sending Amazon traffic, sometimes companies get a little edgy about people aggregating and republishing their data.

It is against Amazon's api terms of service to do price comparison.

And they will cut you off, no questions asked, for violating that.

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