PSA: Fix Amazon Wish List Links

Public Service Announcement: If you link to your Amazon Wish List on your site, you may need to change that link. I've noticed that standard Wish List links are not working lately—but you won't know whether or not it's working if you have the Amazon cookie. For example, when I click on this link in my browser on my computer:

http://amazon.com/o/wishlist/3FOF79BIVB2XX

I see my Wish List. But if I click on that link in another browser (with no Amazon cookie, or a different cookie), I see a generic Wish List page. And more importantly, so will anyone else clicking the link. To link directly to your Wish List so others can see it, change wishlist in the URL to registry, like so:

http://amazon.com/o/registry/3FOF79BIVB2XX

Now the URL will point to my Wish List no matter what, and everyone can buy me stuff! Test out your own Wish List link yourself with various browsers (especially one without an Amazon cookie) to make sure you have a good link. (Note: The o in the URLs above is a shortcut for exec/obidos—just one of the many hints you'll find in Amazon Hacks. ;) )

Dec 2^nd, 2003, 6:16 pm

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I stumbled across a post in the AWS discussion boards that basically said this was the officially good way to do a wishlist link (because it also includes your associates tag):

http://amazon.com/o/redirect?tag=[ASSOCIATETAG]
&path=registry/[WISHLISTID]

by Ben on Dec 2nd, 2003 at 8:47 pm

Thanks for the tip, Ben!

(Note that I added a line break to his example URL to save my inflexible design, but there shouldn't be one. It's a URL, after all.)

by pb on Dec 2nd, 2003 at 8:59 pm

I guess another point to throw in would that you might want to escape the ampersand characters as well, if you're into that sort of thing.

by Ben on Dec 3rd, 2003 at 7:17 am

I can't even search on amazon for my wishlist and find it anymore (I never did have it linked anywhere). do you have a hack for that????

by rebecca blood on Dec 4th, 2003 at 4:58 pm

correction: I can search using the "find a wish list" link, but not by using the form in the sidebar.

by rebecca blood on Dec 4th, 2003 at 5:02 pm

Thank you very much!!

by Scof on Dec 4th, 2003 at 8:36 pm

Hi rebecca, as far as I know the "find a wish list" form is the only one that will search for Wish Lists. They aren't included in the main search form on the Amazon front page, or any product searches. Just to be sure your Wish List is available to searchers, click "Edit Info" under "Wish List Information", and be sure that the "Keep my Wish List searchable" option is checked.

by pb on Dec 5th, 2003 at 11:07 am

Thanks!

by Evan on Dec 7th, 2003 at 9:09 am

Thanks very much; this has been boggling me for ages! :)

by Simon Starr on Jul 21st, 2004 at 12:03 pm

Hi! You're reading a single post on a weblog by Paul Bausch where I share recommended links, my photos, and occasional thoughts.

onfocus

PSA: Fix Amazon Wish List Links

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