Amazon reinstates API access for Lendle

Lendle reports that their access to the Amazon API, which was revoked yesterday and is crucial to the startup’s operation, has been reinstated.

Yesterday we covered Amazon’s decision to revoke Lendle’s API access. Amazon didn’t provide much information, simply telling Lendle that their service does not “serve the principal purpose of driving sales of products and services on the Amazon site” — despite hordes of users reporting on Twitter that Lendle was the reason they’d purchased so many books from Amazon.

Lendle today received a response from Amazon’s Associates Account Specialist and were finally told more specifically which Lendle features violated the API access terms. Lendle was forced to remove their Book Sync feature, but are now back in operation with all other features intact.

It’s worth asking why there is no system in place that gives developers time–even a short 24 period–to deal with issues like this before Amazon takes disruptive action. Shutting down access as a first step is bad for the online retailer’s PR and has an impact on the lives of startup owners and employees.

We covered Lendle last month, a service that enables Kindle users to lend books to other users they don’t personally know. The service makes use of the Kindle’s own legitimate lending feature, and facilitates lending for a greater network of people.