[Informative] How the Buy Box works and Not winning the buy box despite being only seller and eligible ... by Oneida
How the Buy Box works and Not winning the buy box despite being only seller and eligible
(I started this post originally in 2017 on another thread - updates listed at the bottom)
… I decided to just split this out as a separate thread since there are still so many threads started asking.
I am not an expert or pretend to be but here’s my thoughts, for what they’re worth, to date :
Anyone interested in learning more should start with reading over :
-
How the Buy Box Works - (Amazon Help Page)
-
Become Buy Box eligible … Disregard the statement “If you’re a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) seller, you are automatically eligible.” It is no longer true from what we are seeing
-
Buy Box product placement - (Amazon Help Page)
-
Winning the Buy Box - (Amazon Help Page)
Total Lack of a Buy Box on the Product Page … possible issues
- Offers are higher than the Amazon entered MSRP
- No Buy Box eligible sellers or none within an acceptable price range
- Lower prices found by Amazon on other sites. YES this is considered by Amazon.
UPDATE - April 5, 2019 … Amazon just updated it’s MWS API’s to provide this data for your consideration.
.
CompetitivePriceThreshold Post by MWS
Summary
This was just released by Amazon April 5th 2019 …
The AnyOfferChanged notification now includes the optional CompetitivePriceThreshold element, which is available for some items sold on and off Amazon. The CompetitivePriceThreshold element provides the lowest price for an item from sellers not selling on Amazon. This does not consider prices from other Amazon sellers. The seller’s offer might be ineligible for the Buy Box if their landed price is greater than this price.
Buy Box Eligible Status (slightly edited by me) … which is either Yes or No
If you’re a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) seller, you’re automatically eligible to win the Buy Box, or at least when this was written you were. If you’re not FBA , you must meet all of the conditions listed below. Amazon does not guarantee placement in the Buy Box.
- Type of selling account: You must have a professional account. Here’s how you can upgrade.
- Metrics: Your Order Defect Rate (ODR), Cancellation Rate (Apparently Amazon is using a 30 day rate equal to the 7 day target here), and Late Shipment Rate are metrics that determine eligibility— exceed the %'s and you lose eligibility — the better you perform, the higher your chances are of becoming/staying Buy Box eligible. You can see how you’re doing on the Account Health Dashboard.
- Order volume: So that Amazon can accurately assess your performance, we require that you have sufficient order volume (which varies among categories).
This next part is based on data I’ve gathered … but Amazon is always changing the BB Algorithm … so it’s hard to be precise.
The main considerations I’d say are :
- Fulfillment
- Pricing
- Metrics
- Shipping Times
- Shipping Rates
- Sometimes it helps if you enter an MSRP (comment by redacted)
Fulfillment
FBA usually gets in first and is good for sellers not otherwise eligible. Lately, at least in Books, using FBA has not been automatic in winning the BB
Pricing
Amazon uses your Landed (product price + shipping charge)
Metrics - The Buy Box and Performance-Based Requirements
Performance-Based Requirements relates basically to Performance Metrics … or your Customer Service Performance (ODR) … and I believe also goes down into Shipping Performance and likely even Product Policy Compliance sometimes
ODR refers to a perfect buyer experience, one without any issues and under 1%. This takes into account several areas :
- Negative feedback (as compared to the total number of orders, not feedback left)
- A-to-Z Guarantee Claim
- Chargeback
Shipping Performance - Late Shipment Rate
- Pre-fulfillment Cancel Rate
- Valid Tracking Rate
- On-Time Delivery Rate
Buyer-Seller Contact Metrics - Buyer-Initiated Message
Amazon divides the number of perfect orders you have from the past 90 days by the total number of orders from that same time frame.
Shipping
- Shipping Options Offered
-
NOTE : Changing your shipping settings (can and does impact Buy Box).
Sellers who offer faster shipping options (such as Expedited delivery or Prime Shipping) are more likely to win the Buy Box and are given preference. You can look up your available options in Shipping Settings.
-
Note: Only items that can be shipped to the customer's shipping address are eligible to win the Buy Box.
- Handling Times
-
Extended Handling Times can cause you to lose the Buy Box. Some experience it at 4 days, but I think for most it's 5 or higher.
- From (Latest change to who wins the Buy Box)
-
Where you ship from appears also to impact who is displayed. A seller closer to the buyer could then have a faster shipping time and be displayed to the buyer. This can make it harder to really know who is in the Buy Box.
Shipping Rates
Shipping rates that exceed standard carrier rates by more than 20% will be considered unfair. Excessive shipping rates harm customer trust, and Amazon will remove the Buy Box, suppress listings, or in serious or repeated cases, suspend or terminate your selling privileges.
(Updated the links March 2018 after Amazon Help Page revamping)
(Updated the contents March 2019)
(Updated the contents May 2019)
Seller_cu1Lr54OxusWw
I just want to point out the recent confirmation from Amazon about how they consider prices found elsewhere on the internet into the Buy Box Algo. … and that they are now supplying that information through MWS.
April 5, 2019 … Amazon just updated it’s MWS API’s to provide this data for your consideration.
The AnyOfferChanged notification now includes the optional CompetitivePriceThreshold element, which is available for some items sold on and off Amazon. The CompetitivePriceThreshold element provides the lowest price for an item from sellers not selling on Amazon. This does not consider prices from other Amazon sellers. The seller’s offer might be ineligible for the Buy Box if their landed price is greater than this price.
Seller_3N7yVnTXPzLkL
I would like to add that the published targets on Performance Metrics are not necessarily the targets for Buy Box eligibility.
Performance which is acceptable under the target may still disqualify you for the Buy Box.
And the eligibility targets may differ by category.
Seller_cu1Lr54OxusWw
I just want to point out the recent confirmation from Amazon about how they consider prices found elsewhere on the internet into the Buy Box Algo. … and that they are now supplying that information through MWS.
April 5, 2019 … Amazon just updated it’s MWS API’s to provide this data for your consideration.
The AnyOfferChanged notification now includes the optional CompetitivePriceThreshold element, which is available for some items sold on and off Amazon. The CompetitivePriceThreshold element provides the lowest price for an item from sellers not selling on Amazon. This does not consider prices from other Amazon sellers. The seller’s offer might be ineligible for the Buy Box if their landed price is greater than this price.
Seller_V26KAKqjF0Dtd
Thank you for your reply
Seller_4mcVCJvBL6iWQ
Thanks for posting this all in one place. I looked through it all but we may be in a situation not stated above in any of the possible sections. The https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VGKQTNZ product is in the “Total Lack of a Buy Box” situation, however we are the manufacturer, brand owner, only seller (unless someone tries to sell counterfeits), and use FBA. In sellercentral it says the listing is “Buy Box Eligible” “Yes”. The “GetLowestPricedOffersForASINResult” confirms we have the lowest (only) price and it matches the buy box price.
Of the bullets in “Total Lack of a Buy Box” the one that maybe could apply is “Offers are higher than the Amazon entered MSRP”, however I don’t see an “MSRP” or any similar field in sellercentral. If is our issue, then where is “MSRP” coming from?
This product has been stocked for sale for 10 days. I wonder if maybe there’s some sort of built-in delay or wait period?
Seller_3N7yVnTXPzLkL
Could be be cause it is more expensive than the Amazon’s Choice Product
B072FRVJSM
Which is similar.
Seller_4mcVCJvBL6iWQ
The inventory was loaded and the first sale was on 2019-08-12. Some time between 2019-08-22 and 2019-08-23 we suddenly got the buy box enabled, which is nice so now we can run a sponsored product ad and try to increase the new product’s visibility a little. Nothing changed regarding “MSRP” or other website offers in that time frame.
I suspect either we just held the best offer for 10 days, or we got more sales or something? It’s strange because we were “Buy Box Eligible” “Yes” this whole time. So it would have to be an Amazon delay on the ASIN itself…?
In regard to the “Amazon’s Choice” question, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072FRVJSM is also our product. Seems weird we could possibly have the Buy Box disabled on one product because of the higher performance of another…? I doubt that’s related here, although I suppose it’s not impossible.
Seller_Wun3v7a8dXJDQ
I just checked and it appears that you do have the Buy Box. It was on Amazon App. Maybe it’s your browser. Try viewing from a different computer or a browser that you don’t normally use.
Seller_ACnGNBi7Ogwr1
We have been plagued by losing the buy box due to pricing error “currently ineligible for being a featured offer on the product detail page because those items are priced higher on Amazon than at other retailers.”
Which websites does Amazon compare pricing to? Is it just Walmart or are there others? I’ve been back and forth with CS several times trying to figure this out and they never give me a straight answer. Our products are not cheaper elsewhere, so I can only think that Amazon algorithm has some sort of error. But since they will never tell me where they see the lower price, I cannot disprove them ever. Just have to wait and pray that I will get the buy box back. Sometimes it will happen after a few weeks, only to disappear again at some point.
Any ideas?
Seller_ACnGNBi7Ogwr1
No, I am not the only seller. But I am the only FBA seller with Prime available. And the other sellers do not have lower prices.
