Amazon Machine Tags WordPress Plugin Not Working After Upgrade

If you are using the Amazon Machine Tags plugin for WordPress then you are aware that Amazon recently changed their policy for the Amazon Product Advertising API and now will require that all requests are authenticated. Initially with the AMT (Amazon Machine Tags) plugin you wethe re only required to have the Amazon Access Key ID configured and not the Amazon Secret Access Key. Most people probably already had the Secret Access Key configured however if you did not have your “Secret Access Key” configured then after upgrading the AMT plugin will no longer work. If this is the case then your Amazon Machine Tags will display like the below in your WordPress posts instead of displaying the product properly.

Example AMT WordPress Post Tag: “[ amtap book:isbn=0596510489 ]”

As you can see above the Amazon Machine Tag that typically would display a product is now only showing the tag in your post. To resolve this issue simply add the Amazon Secret Access Key as explained below and then clear your cache if you are using the WP Super Cache plugin.

Add Amazon Secret Access Key to WordPress Amazon Machine Tag Plugin:

Open WordPress Admin: First login to your WordPress admin site typically located at http://www.yoursite.com/wp-admin.
Expand WordPress Settings: Expand the “Settings” in the left navigation menu in WordPress admin to display all of the options available under Settings.
Modify Amazon Tags: Now in the left navigation menu click on “Amazon Tags” to open the Amazon Machine Tags settings. Near the top will be the option to modify the AWS Access Key Identifiers which include the Access Key ID and the Secret Access Key. Click on the link above these settings, titled “Get your own Amazon Web Services Access Key Identifyers” to obtain your Secret Access Key and enter it into the proper field under AWS Access Key Identifiers.
Save Amazon Tags Settings: Now click on the “update options” button directly below AWS Access Key Identifiers to save the options.
Verify Changes: Open your site and verify that the Amazon products are now displaying properly in your WordPress posts.

It is also possible that you simply need to upgrade the Amazon Tags plugin to adhere to the new Amazon rules. If this is the case visit the plugin homepage to obtain more information and be sure to donate to Martin Kliehm for creating such a great plugin.