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I started an app using the LinkShare Merchandiser Query API and queries against it were working just fine. I was able to run queries via IE, my app or Yahoo Pipes (the approach I settled on - feed my app from the service via Yahoo Pipes).

After a week or two of using this service while developing my app, it started to randomly return errors about 1 in 5 queries, always after what it seemed to be a timeout (response took 5+ sec). Now that I'm resuming the project after a 2-week hiatus, the query does not work at all. Not even once.

The error is always the same, same as what used to be when it randomly failed. It seemed (and still seems) to me that it is an internal problem on their side but I can't believe it has been (and is) broken 100% of the time for the past 48h.

Any query fails. A sample: 

http://productsearch.linksynergy.com/productsearch?token=**token**&keyword="DVD+Player"&cat="Electronics"&MaxResults=20

And its response:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<result>
  <Errors>
    <ErrorID>7187145</ErrorID>
    <ErrorText>Internal error 18171650 occurred: FSW server connection.</ErrorText>
  </Errors>
</result>

There is no documentation, cannot find any mentions of this on the web and have received no response from them as of yet. I'm not sure where to go from this at this point.

Ideas? Experiences? Should I dump this approach and start anew with a different provider? Any input will be appreciated.

loonySnork
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  • 1-8-13 Fixed. Received a very corteous reply from LinkShare letting me know that they are very committed to the API and the issue should not repeat again. Hope that is the case but definitely raises a flag and need to make sure the app properly handles such situations by using alternates or what not instead of becoming crippled. – loonySnork Jan 08 '13 at 18:30

0 Answers0