Book excerpt: Profit with Amazon Web Services—as a Buyer, Seller, or Independent Developer In a few short years, Amazon has evolved from an online bookstore into a complex marketplace comprised of thousands of vendors, millions of customers, and an ever-widening selection of products. With the launch of Amazon Web Services, buyers and sellers have unprecedented access to the immense body of data underpinning this marketplace. Mining Amazon Web Services: Building Applications with the Amazon API shows you what you can do with these powerful tools, and exactly how to do it. As a buyer, you'll build applications that let you comparison-shop far more effectively, consistently saving money and finding exactly the right product. As a seller, you'll leverage Amazon Web Services in ways that help you attract more customers, make more commissioned referrals, and improve your bottom line. This book is also a great resource for independent developers who want to create and publish—even make money with—applications for others. Here's some of what you'll find covered inside: Performing complex product searches Analyzing the data obtained in your searches Connecting Amazon Web Services to a local database Building a Web Services-based shopping cart Using Amazon-supported search technologies, including XML over HTTP and SOAP Improving speed and reliability Building applications for mobile devices Building and publishing applications for others All that's required is some basic experience with any one of several programming languages, including VBA, Visual Basic 6, Visual C++ 6, Visual Basic .NET, Visual C# .NET, Java, and PHP, all of which are fully represented in the book's downloadable code.