Use cases / Amazon Products API

Amazon category research

Before launching or sourcing a product, map the category: what sells, at what price, and how well it is rated. Amazon's Best Sellers lists rank the top products in every subcategory; read them all and you have the shape of the market.

Last updated September 28, 2026. Response excerpts are recorded from the live API.

Try the Amazon Products API →

Who

Who runs this, and what for

Team	What they decide with it
Private-label sellers	Which subcategories have demand, a price band, and weak ratings to beat.
Retail and brand strategists	Which competitors lead each subcategory and at what price.
Investors in consumer brands	How a brand ranks across its category, from outside the company.

Pipeline

The calls, step by step

01Read the category and its subcategories
A Best Sellers call for a category returns its top products and its subcategories, each with a node_id. Categories can also be browsed from the top with the categories endpoint.
GET /v1/bestsellers?engine=amazon&category=electronics&page=1 · subcategories
```
[
  {
    "name": "Accessories & Supplies",
    "category": "electronics",
    "node_id": "281407"
  }
]
```
Recorded response. Live values differ.

02Read each subcategory's list

Each list has 30 products per page and two pages, ranked, with price, rating, and ratings count. Products with many ratings and a low average are the ones to beat.

GET /v1/bestsellers?engine=amazon&category=electronics&page=1 · results.0

{
  "rank": 1,
  "asin": "B08JHCVHTY",
  "title": "Blink Plus Plan with monthly auto-renewal",
  "url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JHCVHTY",
  "price_text": "$11.99",
  "price": 11.99,
  "currency": "USD",
  "rating": 4.4,
  "ratings_count": 280481,
  "image_url": null
}

Recorded response. Live values differ.

03Open the products you shortlist
The product endpoint adds the Best Sellers Rank in each category, the brand, the Buy Box seller, specifications, and variants.
GET /v1/product?engine=amazon&asin=B0CF3VGQFL · product.best_sellers_rank
```
[
  {
    "rank": 12,
    "category": "PC Gaming Keyboards"
  }
]
```
Recorded response. Live values differ.

Code

A script to start from

category_map.py

# Map an Amazon category: the top 60 best sellers in each subcategory,
# with price and ratings. Out: category.csv.
import csv, os, requests

API = "https://api.clair.im"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['CLAIR_API_KEY']}"}
CATEGORY = "electronics"

def get(path, **params):
    r = requests.get(f"{API}{path}", headers=HEADERS, timeout=90,
                     params={"engine": "amazon", **params})
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()

top = get("/v1/bestsellers", category=CATEGORY)
with open("category.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    out = csv.writer(f)
    out.writerow(["subcategory", "rank", "asin", "title", "price", "rating", "ratings"])
    for sub in top["subcategories"]:
        for page in (1, 2):  # 30 products a page, two pages per list
            body = get("/v1/bestsellers", category=CATEGORY,
                       node_id=sub["node_id"], page=page)
            for p in body["results"]:
                out.writerow([sub["name"], p["rank"], p["asin"], p["title"],
                              p["price"], p["rating"], p["ratings_count"]])

Set CLAIR_API_KEY to a key subscribed to the Amazon Products API. Each call is one request against that API's monthly quota.

Cost

What it costs per month

Schedule	Requests	Plan	Per month	Per 1,000
1 category, 25 subcategories1 top call plus 25 × 2 pages = 51 requests.	51	Pay as you go	$1.03	$20.20
5 categories, 25 subcategories, weekly255 requests × 4 weeks = 1,020.	1,020	Pay as you go	$20.50	$20.10
One category map plus 300 products opened51 list calls and 300 product calls = 351 requests.	351	Pay as you go	$7.06	$20.11

The cheapest Clair plan for each volume: the monthly fee plus overage past the included requests. USD, before tax. The free tier covers 200 requests a month for trying the pipeline.

Measured

Response times

	Amazon Products API
Succeeded	6 of 7
Median response time	15.1 s
95th percentile	18.5 s
Had price	83%
Had availability	100%
Had sold by	100%
Had rating	100%
Had best sellers rank	100%
Had variants	83%

Amazon product detail pages on amazon.com, delivery to ZIP 10001. ASINs from the recorded examples. 7 requests, one at a time, on September 27, 2026.

Limits

What to plan for

Best Sellers lists rank by recent sales, and Amazon updates them often. A single read is a snapshot; weekly reads show which products hold their rank.
Rank is not sales volume. Amazon does not publish unit sales; search results sometimes show a bought-in-past-month badge, in sales_volume.
Two pages of 30 per list, the top 60. The long tail of a subcategory is only reachable through search with category_id.

FAQ

Common questions

What is a node_id?

Amazon's id for a category in its browse tree, also called a browse node. Pass it to best sellers for a subcategory, or as category_id to search.

Can I estimate sales from Best Sellers Rank?

Only roughly, and not from Amazon's data: estimates come from third-party models. Use rank to compare products in the same category.

Does it work outside the US?

Yes, on all ten supported marketplaces with country. Category slugs can differ by marketplace; read the categories endpoint for each.

Run it on your own products

200 requests a month free on each API, no card. Enough to run the pipeline on a short list before choosing a plan.

Get API Key →Compare plans

Use cases / Amazon Products API

Amazon category research

Last updated September 28, 2026. Response excerpts are recorded from the live API.

Try the Amazon Products API →

Who

Who runs this, and what for

Team	What they decide with it
Private-label sellers	Which subcategories have demand, a price band, and weak ratings to beat.
Retail and brand strategists	Which competitors lead each subcategory and at what price.
Investors in consumer brands	How a brand ranks across its category, from outside the company.

Pipeline

The calls, step by step

01Read the category and its subcategories
A Best Sellers call for a category returns its top products and its subcategories, each with a node_id. Categories can also be browsed from the top with the categories endpoint.
GET /v1/bestsellers?engine=amazon&category=electronics&page=1 · subcategories
```
[
  {
    "name": "Accessories & Supplies",
    "category": "electronics",
    "node_id": "281407"
  }
]
```
Recorded response. Live values differ.

02Read each subcategory's list

Each list has 30 products per page and two pages, ranked, with price, rating, and ratings count. Products with many ratings and a low average are the ones to beat.

GET /v1/bestsellers?engine=amazon&category=electronics&page=1 · results.0

{
  "rank": 1,
  "asin": "B08JHCVHTY",
  "title": "Blink Plus Plan with monthly auto-renewal",
  "url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JHCVHTY",
  "price_text": "$11.99",
  "price": 11.99,
  "currency": "USD",
  "rating": 4.4,
  "ratings_count": 280481,
  "image_url": null
}

Recorded response. Live values differ.

03Open the products you shortlist
The product endpoint adds the Best Sellers Rank in each category, the brand, the Buy Box seller, specifications, and variants.
GET /v1/product?engine=amazon&asin=B0CF3VGQFL · product.best_sellers_rank
```
[
  {
    "rank": 12,
    "category": "PC Gaming Keyboards"
  }
]
```
Recorded response. Live values differ.

Code

A script to start from

category_map.py

# Map an Amazon category: the top 60 best sellers in each subcategory,
# with price and ratings. Out: category.csv.
import csv, os, requests

API = "https://api.clair.im"
HEADERS = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['CLAIR_API_KEY']}"}
CATEGORY = "electronics"

def get(path, **params):
    r = requests.get(f"{API}{path}", headers=HEADERS, timeout=90,
                     params={"engine": "amazon", **params})
    r.raise_for_status()
    return r.json()

top = get("/v1/bestsellers", category=CATEGORY)
with open("category.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
    out = csv.writer(f)
    out.writerow(["subcategory", "rank", "asin", "title", "price", "rating", "ratings"])
    for sub in top["subcategories"]:
        for page in (1, 2):  # 30 products a page, two pages per list
            body = get("/v1/bestsellers", category=CATEGORY,
                       node_id=sub["node_id"], page=page)
            for p in body["results"]:
                out.writerow([sub["name"], p["rank"], p["asin"], p["title"],
                              p["price"], p["rating"], p["ratings_count"]])

Set CLAIR_API_KEY to a key subscribed to the Amazon Products API. Each call is one request against that API's monthly quota.

Cost

What it costs per month

Schedule	Requests	Plan	Per month	Per 1,000
1 category, 25 subcategories1 top call plus 25 × 2 pages = 51 requests.	51	Pay as you go	$1.03	$20.20
5 categories, 25 subcategories, weekly255 requests × 4 weeks = 1,020.	1,020	Pay as you go	$20.50	$20.10
One category map plus 300 products opened51 list calls and 300 product calls = 351 requests.	351	Pay as you go	$7.06	$20.11

The cheapest Clair plan for each volume: the monthly fee plus overage past the included requests. USD, before tax. The free tier covers 200 requests a month for trying the pipeline.

Measured

Response times

	Amazon Products API
Succeeded	6 of 7
Median response time	15.1 s
95th percentile	18.5 s
Had price	83%
Had availability	100%
Had sold by	100%
Had rating	100%
Had best sellers rank	100%
Had variants	83%

Amazon product detail pages on amazon.com, delivery to ZIP 10001. ASINs from the recorded examples. 7 requests, one at a time, on September 27, 2026.

Limits

What to plan for

Best Sellers lists rank by recent sales, and Amazon updates them often. A single read is a snapshot; weekly reads show which products hold their rank.
Rank is not sales volume. Amazon does not publish unit sales; search results sometimes show a bought-in-past-month badge, in sales_volume.
Two pages of 30 per list, the top 60. The long tail of a subcategory is only reachable through search with category_id.

FAQ

Common questions

What is a node_id?

Amazon's id for a category in its browse tree, also called a browse node. Pass it to best sellers for a subcategory, or as category_id to search.

Can I estimate sales from Best Sellers Rank?

Only roughly, and not from Amazon's data: estimates come from third-party models. Use rank to compare products in the same category.

Does it work outside the US?

Yes, on all ten supported marketplaces with country. Category slugs can differ by marketplace; read the categories endpoint for each.

Run it on your own products

200 requests a month free on each API, no card. Enough to run the pipeline on a short list before choosing a plan.

Get API Key →Compare plans

01Read the category and its subcategories

02Read each subcategory's list

03Open the products you shortlist

What is a node_id?

Can I estimate sales from Best Sellers Rank?

Does it work outside the US?

Run it on your own products

01Read the category and its subcategories

02Read each subcategory's list

03Open the products you shortlist

What is a node_id?

Can I estimate sales from Best Sellers Rank?

Does it work outside the US?

Run it on your own products