- Amazon’s “Buy Box”: What Is It?
- 10 Tested Ways to Win Amazon Buy Box
- 1. Register with Amazon FBA (not necessary but recommended)
- 2. Maintain a Price Advantage
- 3. Monitor Your Stocks
- 4. Guarantee Prompt Delivery
- 5. Keep Your Seller Rating High
- 6. Maintain a Great Rating in Customer Satisfaction
- 7. Ensure a High Rate of Valid Tracking
- 8. Respond to Customers Quickly
- 9. Have a Minimal Rate of Defects
- 10. Optimize Your Prices & Listing
- Final Thoughts
The Amazon Buy Box is a highly desirable and crucial feature for Amazon merchants, and winning the Buy Box can have a major impact on a seller’s revenue and profile.
In reality, most of Amazon’s sales happen in the Buy Box. Thus, items shown there get more eyes on the market.
The “Buy Box” accounts for nearly eighty percent of all Amazon sales, with an even more noticeable shift towards mobile devices. Thus, not being in the Buy Box reduces your sales prospects.
In this article, we’ll provide you with ten proven strategies to help you achieve Buy Box success, ensuring you can maximize your potential on the Amazon marketplace.
Amazon’s “Buy Box”: What Is It?
Do you often see the words “Buy Now” and “Add to Cart” next to the description of a product? That’s Amazon’s “Buy Box”.
Due to the convenience of being able to make an immediate purchase without leaving the product description page, this seemingly insignificant button can really set one seller apart from the competition.
There are two main categories of vendors on Amazon:
- Amazon itself
- Independent sellers (just like you)
As was previously mentioned, the Buy Box on Amazon is a time-saving tool for customers because it shows the price and shipping information without requiring them to click through and see who the actual seller is.
If a buyer clicks “Add to Cart” before another seller does, the one who currently has the Buy Box will make the sale.
When numerous vendors on Amazon offer the same item, the Buy Box determines which one is featured first.
Amazon, along with its Buy Box algorithm, determines which products are featured in the rotations. Hence, abiding by Amazon’s rules is crucial. Keep in mind that Amazon is merely a place to sell things, but it is also a seller, and it can sometimes be your biggest competition.
How Important is Amazon’s Buy Box to Sellers?
The importance of the Buy Box comes from the fact that customers often click on it and buy right away, without looking at the other listing choices first. Your Amazon sales can rise with a Buy Box listing.
Additionally, knowing that the Buy Box is responsible for most of Amazon’s sales makes it clear that winning it is a guaranteed way to boost sales.
How the Amazon Buy Box Works
The first thing the Buy Box system does is look at every single offer from every single seller. The system analyzes each bid in terms of the seller’s past performance, the bid price, and other factors.
Amazon then gives the Buy Box to the product it has determined to be the best option for its customers based on this analysis.
But not all sellers can be in the running for the Buy Box. Amazon no longer gives the Buy Box to just one seller. Instead, the Buy Box is given to different buyers at different times.
How Does Amazon Choose Who Gets a Buy Box
In addition to pricing, fulfillment, and seller rating, Amazon also considers a few more things before deciding who gets the sought-after Buy Box. It is important to note, though, that this method is not infallible.
Since the parameters governing the Buy Box rotation are dynamic, the Buy Box winner could shift periodically.
Professional Selling Plan
To contend for the Buy Box, sellers must have an Amazon professional selling plan. Those with individual accounts do not meet the eligibility criteria, so upgrading your plan is a smart initial step if you aspire to win the Buy Box.
Buy Box Eligible
To compete for a portion of the sales from the much sought-after Buy Box, a seller must be Buy Box Eligible for the product.
There may be some products for which a seller is qualified to compete for the Buy Box and others for which they are not. Using Amazon FBA, vendors can speed up the process of becoming Buy Box Eligible.
In order to be eligible for the Buy Box, your Cancellation Rate, Defect Rate, and Delayed Shipping Rate must be kept at a minimum and your seller’s account age must be 3 months or older.
Product Condition
Used products can no longer outrank brand-new ones for placement in the Buy Box; for “like-new” items, a “Buy Used” option sits beside the standard Buy Box.
Available Inventory
It goes without saying that you can’t compete for the Buy Box if you aren’t actually selling the product.
10 Tested Ways to Win Amazon Buy Box
So, how does one get into the Amazon Buy Box? How can sellers guarantee themselves a spot in the Buy Box? Here are ten tested ways to win an Amazon buy box:
1. Register with Amazon FBA (not necessary but recommended)
Amazon gives a lot of weight to fulfillment rates, making it a crucial factor. FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), FBM (Fulfillment by Merchant), and SFP (Seller-Fulfilled Prime) are the three fulfillment options available today.
When it comes to shipping options, delivery timeliness, and stock levels, Amazon provides FBA a flawless rating. For this reason, competing with FBA sellers is a long shot for businesses.
It all comes down to your company strategy, but FBA is the better option if you want to compete for the Buy Box.
2. Maintain a Price Advantage
Consider Amazon’s landed price, as this is the second most important criterion in securing the Buy Box.
The landing price of an item on Amazon is the final price paid after all fees are factored in. In order to get the Buy Box, you need to have the lowest landed price possible. The aim is to maintain pricing parity with other site vendors. Many Amazon experts change their prices to contend for the Buy Box.
Avoid making your prices too cheap in an attempt to win the Buy Box; instead, set reasonable goals for yourself. Evaluate your financial situation to see if buying the Buy Box at the present pricing is feasible.
However, when all professional sellers offer identical prices and service levels for a highly demanded commodity, other considerations take center stage.
3. Monitor Your Stocks
If Amazon believes you have enough stock to fulfill the purchase, you will have a better chance of snagging the Buy Box.
It may seem complicated but if you aren’t able to meet customer demands, you will have a harder time securing the Buy Box.
Check inventory reports often to ensure stock levels are accurate. You may rest assured that you’ll never run out of stock with this method.
4. Guarantee Prompt Delivery
Online shoppers’ expectations for shipping times have been revolutionized by Amazon Prime.
Amazon follows the current trend by giving more exposure to vendors who provide expedited shipping. Because of this huge advantage, FBA and SFP merchants have a much better chance of winning the Buy Box.
5. Keep Your Seller Rating High
Each seller on Amazon can be rated out of a possible 100 stars. The more stars you have, the more likely you are to be selected for the Buy Box.
Multiple aspects contribute to your overall seller rating. For example, you should strive to keep your defective order rate on Amazon to less than one percent. More than one percent of defective products shipped will result in a fine.
Also, your chances of getting the Amazon Buy Box are improved by how rapidly you answer consumer questions. Your seller rating may take a hit if you take too long to respond to customer inquiries.
6. Maintain a Great Rating in Customer Satisfaction
Amazon updates your feedback rating based on purchase reviews and seller feedback scores. Each order from the last 90 days is weighted more in your feedback rating.
The purpose of the Amazon Seller Feedback system is to let prospective buyers choose between sellers on Amazon based on the feedback of previous customers. Seller Feedback is very different from Product Feedback.
Customers often give unintentional ratings on seller feedback platforms, which can negatively impact your Feedback Rating if there are many poor reviews.
The good news is that if you contact Amazon about the problem, they will usually fix it. If you find inaccurate or unrelated comments about a product on Amazon, you can file a case and request that it be removed.
For FBA products, you can file a case to have a seller rating removed if it’s unfavorable about packaging or shipping, which Amazon is responsible for.
7. Ensure a High Rate of Valid Tracking
Amazon’s latest performance statistic is the proportion of parcels that have active tracking information. In determining a valid tracking rate, the most recent seven and thirty days of data are taken into account.
You must provide valid tracking numbers for the majority of your shipments to maintain your Buy Box eligibility. Their prospects of getting the Buy Box or making any sales in a particular category could be hurt if they fall short of this.
8. Respond to Customers Quickly
Your response time to client queries and the percentage of dissatisfied customers are two indicators of service quality and the overall customer experience.
Professional sellers on Amazon who want a shot at the Buy Box must answer customer questions within 24 hours, and Amazon gives extra weight to those sellers who consistently receive great ratings in post-transaction surveys.
9. Have a Minimal Rate of Defects
In addition to how well you deal with customers, shipment times, and product quality may all be gauged by your defect rate. Therefore, Amazon carefully considers your order defect rate (ODR) before including you in the Buy Box.
This is calculated by the algorithm, which considers vendors’ historical performance in terms of both positive and negative feedback, as well as the top-down claims and chargebacks.
10. Optimize Your Prices & Listing
It’s a common misconception that offering the lowest price guarantees you’ll get the Amazon Buy Box.
Although we’ve mentioned “have low prices for your product” earlier, let’s talk more about it.
Consistently cheap prices hurt profits and give customers the impression that you don’t care about providing good value.
You can almost guarantee yourself more Buy Box placements by optimizing your product’s price. When a competition goes out of stock, your ability to raise prices and enhance your earnings will shine.
It’s important and difficult to find the sweet spot for pricing any given product. Get it close enough, and you might close a few deals; get it just right, and your earnings will skyrocket.
Secondly, it’s important to make your listing’s images attractive and professional — it will bring higher CTR (click-through-rate), more views and in turn — more sales, which will impact your buy box win-rate.
Final Thoughts
By now, it should be clear that the Amazon Buy Box is a sophisticated and multi-tiered operation. As a third-party seller, you have a lot of leeway on Amazon, and you should use it to your advantage.
You might also benefit from knowing how you can get the Amazon choice badge (our guide here).
In addition, the Best Seller badge is also what you should aim for!
If you have any questions or you need to buy a fresh or aged Amazon account for yourself — don’t hesitate to contact us!