POST/v1/amazon/categories

Amazon Categories API

List all Amazon top-level browse categories with their slug IDs. Taxonomy from $0.01/call.

Fetch the full list of Amazon top-level categories for any country. Returns 59 departments with their display names and slug IDs — the same slugs used by the best-sellers endpoint.

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Try it live

Fill in the fields and hit Run to see a real response.

POST/v1/amazon/categoriesamazon-categories$0.01/call

Response

Example response — hit "Send Request" to see a live result

{
  "ok": true,
  "data": {
    "status": "OK",
    "data": [
      {
        "name": "All Departments",
        "id": "aps"
      },
      {
        "name": "Books",
        "id": "stripbooks"
      },
      {
        "name": "Electronics",
        "id": "electronics"
      },
      {
        "name": "Software",
        "id": "software"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Features

✓

All Amazon top-level departments

A single /v1/amazon/categories call returns the full list of Amazon top-level departments (around 59 for the US) — the complete department taxonomy in one request.

✓

Display name + slug ID

Each category returns its human-readable name (e.g. "Electronics") and its slug id (e.g. electronics) — the same slug the Best Sellers endpoint expects as its category parameter.

✓

Nested subcategories for fashion

Fashion departments include their nested subcategories, giving you a deeper branch of the taxonomy where Amazon itself splits the department further.

✓

Multi-country support

Set the country parameter to fetch the correct department taxonomy and slugs for any supported marketplace.

✓

Near-static taxonomy (24h cache)

The category list changes rarely, so responses are cached for 24 hours — cheap, fast lookups for a reference table you'll fetch infrequently.

Use cases

Category Navigation

Build Amazon-style category navigation for your catalog app.

Best-Sellers Dashboards

Drive best-sellers widgets keyed on the official Amazon slugs.

Quick start

Copy this snippet and start making calls.

const res = await fetch('https://api.yepapi.com/v1/amazon/categories', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    "country": "US"
  }),
});
const data = await res.json();
console.log(data);

The Amazon Categories API for the department taxonomy

The YepAPI Amazon Categories API returns Amazon's full top-level department list for any country. A single call to /v1/amazon/categories gives you every department — around 59 for the US — each with its display name and slug id, such as { name: "Electronics", id: "electronics" }, at $0.01 per call.

This is the reference endpoint that makes the rest of the suite usable. Those slug IDs are exactly what the Amazon Best Sellers API expects as its category parameter, so Categories is the lookup you call first to discover valid slugs and build Amazon-style navigation.

What is an Amazon Categories API?

An Amazon Categories API returns Amazon's department taxonomy — the top-level browse structure — as structured data. For a given country you get the full set of departments, each with a display name ("Books", "Electronics", "Software") and a slug id (stripbooks, electronics, software), with fashion departments expanded into nested subcategories. It exists as the canonical lookup that powers everything keyed on Amazon's official categories: you can't drive a best-sellers ranking or build category navigation without first knowing the valid department slugs, and this endpoint is the source of truth for them.

Build your own category navigation

Call /v1/amazon/categories once, cache the result, and render Amazon-style department navigation for your catalog app. Each slug id you get back plugs straight into the Best Sellers API's category parameter to drive ranking widgets, and the numeric browse-node flow pairs with the Products by Category API for deeper grids. It's the small reference call that unlocks the larger Amazon endpoints — all on one YepAPI key.

Amazon Categories API pricing — $0.01 per call

The categories lookup costs $0.01 per call, but because the taxonomy is near-static it's cached for 24 hours and you'll rarely need to call it more than once per market per day. There are no quotas or minimums. It's the cheapest, lowest-frequency endpoint in the suite by design — a reference table, not a polling target — so it adds almost nothing to your bill while making the priced endpoints around it work.

The lookup that powers best-sellers and navigation

What makes Categories distinct is its role: it's not a data feed you monitor, it's the key map for the rest of the suite. The slug IDs it returns are the required input for the Best Sellers API, the department names build your navigation UI, and multi-country support means you fetch the right taxonomy per marketplace. Fetch it once, cache it, and key every downstream Amazon call on its official slugs.

Try the Amazon Categories API free

Start with $5 in free credit — no card required — and pull the full department taxonomy for any marketplace to wire up your navigation and best-seller slugs. The same key covers every other Amazon, SEO, and scraping endpoint at YepAPI.

Start making API calls in 30 seconds

$5 free credit on signup. No credit card required. Pay per call.

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Frequently asked questions

Fetch the full list of Amazon top-level categories for any country. Returns 59 departments with their display names and slug IDs — the same slugs used by the best-sellers endpoint.

Each API call costs $0.01. No monthly minimums or subscriptions — you only pay for what you use.

Sign up for a free API key, then send a POST request to /v1/amazon/categories. Check the code example above for a ready-to-use snippet in JavaScript, cURL, or Python.

YepAPI bundles SEO, AI, and web scraping APIs under one key with no monthly minimums. You get lower per-call pricing, a unified dashboard, and one billing account instead of managing multiple providers.