Did you know that 83% of all Amazon sales happen through the Buy Box and even more on mobile? Consequently, if you’re not in the Buy Box, your chances of making a sale are pretty slim.
This definitive guide will help you understand how the Amazon Buy Box works, what factors you need to excel at in order to win the Amazon Buy Box in 2024 and how to optimize your Amazon prices.
This post will cover:
- What is the Amazon Buy Box?
- Buy Box on Amazon Overview
- How the Buy Box Works
- Amazon Buy Box Factors
- How to Win the Amazon Buy Box
- Buy Box Requirements
- The Suppressed Buy Box
- Buy Box Myths
- How to Optimize Your Prices on Amazon
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What is the Amazon Buy Box?
There are two types of sellers on Amazon, Amazon itself, and third-party sellers.
For the majority of items, there will be a number of buying options for the buyer. When a buyer selects, “Add to Cart”, the seller who has the Buy Box at that moment in time (the Buy Box winner rotates but more about that later), gets that all-important sale.
A Buy Box on Amazon allows customers to make a quick purchase without considering who they are buying from (Amazon or a third-party seller).
Amazon’s net revenue sales have grown steadily in the last ten years reaching over $574 billion in 2023 with over $476 billion worth of sales coming through the Buy Box—WOW! (Source: Statista).
So, with an estimated 83% of Amazon sales (more for mobile sales), going to the Box winner, it’s vital for sellers to know how the Buy Box works and what they can do to win a share of it.
Buy Box on Amazon Overview
- 83% of Amazon sales come from the Buy Box so all Amazon sellers will want to get a share of it.
- The Buy Box rotates between sellers who have Buy Box eligibility and are competitively priced.
- Having the lowest price does not guarantee the Buy Box. The Buy Box price is not always the lowest price on Amazon.
- The Buy Box considers location.
- Over 80% of third-party sellers use FBA, with an average of 45% having an advantage in winning the Amazon Buy Box.
- The Buy Box is only for items in new condition.
- Amazon shares the Buy Box with third-party sellers, most of the time.
How the Buy Box Works
The Buy Box algorithm starts by analysing each offer by all the sellers of the product. It then evaluates each offer on the basis of seller history, price and many other variables (more on those later).
After carrying out the analysis, Amazon rewards the Buy Box to what it deems as the best buying options for its customers.
Not all sellers are eligible to win the Buy Box.
Amazon no longer awards the Buy Box to one seller but instead rotates the Buy Box between multiple sellers.
Amazon Buy Box Factors
Whilst, Amazon doesn’t disclose the specific performance metrics for the Buy Box, we can divulge a list of the most likely factors, which vary in importance, which Amazon considers before awarding sellers the much-coveted Buy Box.
How Do I Get the Buy Box on Amazon?
Excelling in all of these factors thus delivering an outstanding customer experience is the best way to win a share of the Buy Box.
1. Fulfilment method – Very important
Fulfilment is probably the most important variable considered by Amazon.
Fulfilment can now be done in three ways, through FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), FBM (Fulfilment by Merchant) or Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP).
Amazon gives FBA a perfect score for multiple variables including shipping method, on-time delivery and inventory depth. This makes it highly unlikely for merchants to beat FBA sellers.
However, in 2015 Amazon introduced Seller-Fulfilled Prime which allows FBM sellers to reach Amazon Prime members without housing the goods in Amazon’s fulfilment centre. This is of particular interest to sellers of heavy goods as they can make savings on shipping.
Sellers enrolled in Seller-Fulfilled Prime will have a greater chance of winning the Buy Box than FBA sellers. Sellers who wish to enrol in the Seller-Fulfilled Prime program must have strong performance metrics and a proven record of meeting customers’ expectations.
Related: Amazon Fulfilment Options: FBA Vs FBM
2. Landed price – Very important
There are two prices on Amazon, the price you list an item and the landed price which includes shipping and VAT (UK and EU only). It’s important to take these things into consideration when pricing your products.
Typically, presenting a lower price on Amazon demonstrates to the platform that you’re delivering value to customers, a practice they highly appreciate. This strategy encourages customers to stay on Amazon and discourages them from seeking alternatives elsewhere. With numerous sellers potentially offering the same product, using competitive pricing can provide a significant edge, increasing your chances of winning the Buy Box more frequently for any given ASIN.
If your seller performance is higher than your competition for any given product, you may be able to raise your price rather than lowering it and still get your share of the Buy Box – thereby making more profit per sale.
Using Amazon repricing software helps you to set your pricing on automation whilst making even more sales and profits in your sleep.
3. Shipping time – Very important
The amount of time a seller takes to ship an item is known as the shipping time. This has a high impact on winning the Buy Box, particularly for products such as birthday cards and perishable items.
Shipping time is arranged into the following brackets, which only includes working days: 0-2 days, 3-7 days, 8-13 days, 14 or more days.
The shipping time can be seen on the product detail page where it states the date the item should arrive between.
Related: Amazon Shipping Price Tips
4. Stock availability – Very important
Usually, if you don’t have the item in stock, you can’t win the Buy Box and it will rotate to another seller. This is why it is crucial for sellers to keep good stock levels of their bestsellers.
One exception to the above rule is when a product can be listed as “back-ordered” alongside a note on the product page. With backorders, the customer orders the item with the understanding that it is not immediately available and will be shipped at a later date.
Backordered items can be featured in the Buy Box, however, products that are immediately available are favoured.
Related: 8 Strategies For When You’re Almost Out of Stock on Amazon
5. Order defect rate – Important
Order defect rate (ODR) comprises three different metrics: negative feedback rating, A-Z guarantee claim rate and service chargeback rate.
Amazon calculates these three metrics to find out the number of orders which were defective. According to Amazon, the ODR should be below 1% and any sellers above this will be penalised.
To diminish your ODR (Order Defect Rate), prioritize product quality throughout its production to delivery process. Customers expect their items to arrive undamaged and fully functional. Ensure accurate and comprehensive product listings that truthfully represent what you’re selling. Misleading or incomplete information can disappoint customers and result in refunds. So, include all essential details in your listings to prevent dissatisfaction and uphold customer trust so you can win the Amazon Buy Box more often.
6. Valid tracking rate – Important
This is a new performance metric from Amazon, which is the percentage of total packages shipping with valid tracking.
Valid tracking rate is considered on the basis of the last seven and 30 days.
In order to protect your Buy Box eligibility, valid tracking numbers should be provided for 95% of packages shipped. Anything less than this could affect their chances of winning the Buy Box and even selling in a certain category.
7. Late shipment rate – Important
Late shipment rate is the number of orders shipping later than the expected ship date. You can set your handling time in Seller Central, sellers who don’t will be given the default shipping time of 1-2 business days.
A late shipment rate below 4% will aid your chances of winning a share of the Buy Box. This metric can be viewed for the last seven and 30 days in Seller Central.
8. Delivered on-time rate – Important
The percentage of orders that buyers received by the estimated delivery date.
Sellers should aim for a percentage of 97% or greater. This metric can be viewed for the last seven and 30 days in Seller Central.
9. Feedback rating – Important
Feedback rating is the culmination of all feedback score the seller has received over the last 30 days, 90 days and 365 days, with the most recent feedback having the greatest impact.
Feedback rating can be seen in Seller Central.
Save time and automate your feedback requests with an Amazon feedback tool.
10. Customer response time – Important
Again, Amazon checks responses for the last seven, 30 and 90 days and compares them for all competing sellers. It is considered, that replying to customers within 12 hours increases your chances of winning the Buy Box.
If more than 10% of messages were replied to after 24 hours or never replied to, this can have an adverse effect on the ratings. However, by marking as no response needed, the seller can save themselves from negative points.
11. Feedback count – Important
Feedback count is the number of buyers who have given seller feedback. A higher feedback count can lead towards winning the Buy Box.
13. Inventory depth/sales volume – Somewhat important
Amazon prefers sellers who have enough inventory to deal with the demand that the Buy Box can create. As a result, sellers with a large inventory, consistent sales, and good stock history can be granted a higher Buy Box share.
If you’re frequently out of stock, your chances of winning the Buy Box are slim to none.
14. Cancellation and refund rate – Somewhat important
The number of orders cancelled before being shipped by the seller and the number of orders refunded after being shipped make up the cancellation and refund rate.
A rate higher than 2.5 % could affect your chances of winning the Buy Box.
Related: 6 Steps to Take When Dealing with Amazon Returns
New metrics – No impact currently
Amazon introduced two new seller metrics aimed at improving the buying experience, the Return Dissatisfaction Rate and the Customer Service Dissatisfaction Rate.
Although Amazon is currently not considering these two new metrics as Buy Box factors, it’s worth keeping them in good health as they are likely to be factors in the near future.
Learn more about these new seller metrics.
How to Win the Amazon Buy Box
In order to win a share of the Buy Box, sellers need to improve their metrics without forfeiting performance in other areas. It is not always easy to find a perfect balance between customer support, price and several other factors.
Here are four strategies that may help you increase your Amazon Buy Box ownership.
- Know your metrics: Sellers should be aware of their seller metrics in Amazon Seller Central.
- Focus on the important metrics: Some sellers might choose to focus on those metrics that have the most impact on the Buy Box. Your seller feedback score is an important metric. This is one of the reasons sellers use Amazon feedback software like FeedbackExpress.
- Improving seller performance: Use Amazon Seller Central to identify the key areas of performance you need to improve on.
- Be priced competitively: This does not mean having the lowest price. If you don’t want to reprice manually consider using repricing software to save time and keep your prices competitive.
Amazon’s Buy Box Requirements
There are four key criteria sellers must have to compete for the Buy Box:
- Professional Seller account: Only sellers with a Professional Amazon Sellers account which costs $39.99 per month are eligible to win the Buy Box. Individual or Basic Seller accounts are not eligible.
- Buy Box eligibility: A seller must be Buy Box Eligible (previously called Featured Merchant) for the product in order to compete for a share of the much-coveted Buy Box for that product’s sales. Sellers can be eligible to win the Buy Box for some products and not for other products. Sellers can fast-track their way to Buy Box Eligibility by using Amazon FBA. To be Buy Box eligible, your Order Defect Rate, Cancellation Rate and Late Shipment Rate metrics must be in good standing.
- Item condition: Items that are used cannot win a Buy Box position over a new item—instead, there is now a Used Buy Box which is separate to the main Buy Box.
- Stock availability: An obvious one but if you don’t have an item in stock, you can’t win the Buy Box with the exception of a back-ordered item.
You can check your Buy Box eligibility within Seller Central inventory reports.
The “Buy Box Eligible” column is not shown by default. You can switch it on by doing the following:
- Select “Manage Inventory”
- Select “Preferences”
- Select “Buy Box Eligible”
- Save changes
The Suppressed Buy Box
A suppressed Buy Box is when Amazon removes the Buy Box from the product page. Instead of seeing the “Add to Cart” button (“Add to Basket in the EU$, you will see a box that states “See All Buying Options”.
When a user clicks this button, they will be redirected to another webpage with offers usually sorted by price from lowest to highest.
Why is there no Buy Box on Amazon?
The most popular reason is that Amazon thinks the price offered by sellers is too high.
Amazon has a Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy which states:
“Amazon regularly monitors the prices of items on our marketplaces, including shipping costs, and compares them with other prices available to our customers. If we see pricing practices on a marketplace offer that harms customer trust, Amazon can remove the Buy Box, remove the offer, suspend the ship option, or, in serious or repeated cases, suspending or terminating selling privileges.”
But there are three other occasions when it may suppress the Buy Box such as when:
- Sales volume is too low for the high prices offered.
- The sellers’ seller metrics aren’t good enough to be Buy Box eligible.
- The listing needs to be improved such as images, product description or bullet points.
Using repricing software, it’s really easy to lower the price of your products to make the Buy Box magically appear again. And even if it doesn’t you still have a good chance of getting a sale on the “See All Buying Options” page in the meantime.
Tip: If you go to the “Manage Inventory” view in Seller Central you can select “Buy Box Price” and “Buy Box Eligible” columns under preferences to see what items are Buy Box Eligible.
How to Calculate Your Buy Box Percentage?
If a product is viewed 100 times and you are in the Buy Box for 65 of those, then your Buy Box Percentage is 65%
If there are five sellers of the same product and you all have identical pricing and performance metrics and stock availability then theoretically each seller should get a Buy Box percentage or share of 20%.
Amazon Buy Box Myths
- Amazon doesn’t share the Buy Box – Although Amazon often wins the Buy Box on listings that it sells on, third-party sellers can win a share of it.
- The lowest price always wins the Amazon Buy Box – Price is a major factor in the Buy Box algorithm but not the only one, e.g. fulfillment method.
- You can keep the Buy Box to yourself – No one is guaranteed exclusive access to Amazon’s Buy Box. Other merchants can appear at any time.
- You need to turn Buy Box eligibility on – Amazon decides if you’re eligible for the Buy Box, not you.
How to Optimize Your Prices on Amazon
As discussed above, one of the biggest myths surrounding Amazon’s Buy Box is that having the lowest price makes you a certainty for winning a Buy Box.
By always having your prices at rock-bottom prices, you’ll reduce your profit and customers may perceive your product quality to be low.
However, optimizing the price of your product will almost certainly increase your chances of winning the Buy Box. With price optimization, your prices and subsequent profits will increase when a competitor runs out of stock.
Repricing software such as Repricer.com can save you huge amounts of time and effort as well as helping you win the Buy Box. Repricer works within your defined pricing rules, ensuring your prices are optimised within your min and max price settings.
It worked for this seller, who increased his Amazon Buy Box Percentage by 61% because he signed up for Repricer.com
As you can probably tell by now, the Amazon Buy Box is a complex and multi-faceted system. Amazon gives a lot of control to third-party sellers and you should always try to take full advantage of its incredible potential.
Delivering a first-class customer experience gives sellers the ability to raise their prices and still maintain a healthy Buy Box share.
Finding the optimal pricing point for every product is crucial and challenging. Get it almost right and you’ll probably win some sales; get it exactly perfect and you’ll watch your profits soar!
P.S. Increase your Amazon Buy Box percentage today by signing up for a free 14-day trial of Repricer.com, Amazon repricing software.
