Hi Leia,
This happens when Amazon does not allow the product to be used in the Product Advertising API. It is not that common an occurrence (although I have seen it popping up more often than I used to).
In cases like this, Amazon has agreed to not include the product if certain conditions apply – like the price drops below a certain amount, or if an item is out of stock (most specifically, if the item variant is out of stock). Additionally, if an item is no longer available but they are selling off the rest of the stock, it may not be in the API either.
Sometimes you can get around this by picking one of the other variations of the product and get that ASIN to add the product. By this, I mean sometime there is a different color or slightly different model.
In your example ASIN, which is a chainsaw, the ASIN B005H3FJI does not show up in the API, but the other variations do, for example B005H3NEZS.
In the second ASIN (again a chainsaw), the item has no variations, and it also discontinued. If you use the suggested “newer model” chainsaw, it is available.
I know this is not always ideal, but unfortunately there is nothing we can do about it. If Amazon does not include it in the API we cannot get the product – as the plugin relies on the API to get product data.
If you add an ASIN and it does not show up, you can check the product cache to see the response from Amazon – go to the AMAZON PRODUCT/PRODUCT CACHE menu and click on the link to show the XML data for the product matching the ASIN. In there towards the end of the data, if there is an error about the product, it will be listed there. In the case of the product not being allowed in the API, it will say:
<Error><Code>AWS.ECommerceService.ItemNotAccessible</Code><Message>This item is not accessible through the Product Advertising API.</Message></Error>
I hope this helps with the mystery.
Warmest regards,
Don
