The Amazon Buy Box can be hard to understand if you’re new to the platform. It’s a precious tool for sellers, but it’s not something that comes with an instruction manual. In this post, we’ll break down what the Amazon Buy Box is, how it works and why it’s important.
History of the Buy Box
The Buy Box is a powerful tool for sellers, but it’s also a powerful tool for buyers. The Buy Box is that placed on an Amazon product detail page where you can add an item to your cart and purchase it. When you click “Add to Cart,” this initiates the checkout process and sends your order off to be fulfilled by one of the sellers eligible for the Buy Box (if there are multiple eligible sellers, it will be chosen randomly).
The Buy Box has been around since 1999 when Amazon launched its Marketplace program. This program allowed third-party sellers to sell their products on Amazon alongside items owned by Amazon itself. This meant that customers could choose from many different options when buying their desired product: from Amazon directly or third-party merchants selling through Amazon’s platform (a practice called Fulfillment by Merchant). Today, nearly half of all units sold on Amazon come from these third-party merchants—and since 2000, more than 50% of sales have gone through the Buy Box!
What is Amazon Buy Box?
The buy box is the section on an Amazon product detail page that allows customers to add an item to the cart. It’s usually located at the top right area of a product detail page, and it looks like this:
The person who sells an item in the buy box gets paid by Amazon when a customer purchases their product. Many factors play into who gets awarded this coveted spot, including:
- Price: The lowest-priced seller gets it, but not always!
- Availability: A seller with more than one unit available will get it over sellers with only one unit available; however, if there are no other sellers at all, then even if you have a higher price/unit cost than another seller offering just one unit for sale (i.e., if we’re talking about used items), you still won’t be awarded the buy box because customers can’t purchase from you unless they’ve already added your item to their cart at least once before (more on this later).
Read More: How to Hunt Products on Amazon without Tools?
What is the Benefit of Buy Box on Amazon?
First, let’s talk about why the buy box matters. The buy box is the area on Amazon where you can see what is currently being purchased by customers. This means that if you’re not in the buy box and another seller has it, they’ll get all those sales.
This might not seem like much at first glance but keep in mind that Amazon uses an algorithm to determine who gets put into the buy box and who doesn’t. The whole point of this algorithm is to ensure that customers get the best experience possible when shopping for your product on their website (and also paying for it). So if a customer wants to purchase something from your store and finds out, multiple sellers are offering it at different prices, which seller should they choose? Well, the one with more reviews or higher ratings tends to sell more often than others, so naturally, this will impact whether you end up being chosen as “the” seller!
How to Get Buy Box on Amazon?
If you haven’t heard of the Buy Box before, it’s a spot on Amazon’s product page that appears at the top. It contains information about each seller offering the same product and buttons that let shoppers buy from them. The Buy Box is one of the more coveted spots on an Amazon page because it shows up in search results and can attract many clicks if displayed prominently.
How Often Does the Buy Box Rotate?
The good news is that no matter how much time passes between when your products sell out and when you place an order for new ones, your chances for winning back control over your Buy Box listing don’t diminish significantly. You won’t see any reduced visibility until several sellers offer identical products—and even then, you’ll likely still get some sales during this period!
How Does Amazon Decide Who Gets the Buy Box?
How does Amazon decide who gets the buy box?
Amazon looks at several factors to determine who gets the buy box:
- Price: The seller with the lowest price wins.
- Availability: If a product is unavailable, that seller loses out on the buy box.
- Shipping speed and customer service. As noted above, Amazon wants its customers to have a good shopping experience on its site; therefore, it prioritizes sellers with high ratings for shipping speed and customer service over those with lower ones in this regard (though all other factors have been equal).
What is a Good Buy Box Win Percentage on Amazon?
Buy Box is a feature that currently only exists on Amazon.com, but you should know about it if you sell on Amazon. The Buy Box refers to the “buy” button on an item page (or sometimes multiple controllers). It’s a spot where customers can easily buy the product they’re looking at without having to go through several steps and select shipping options.
If you’re unfamiliar with how this works, here’s an example: Say I’m shopping for headphones and want a pair from my favorite brand (Sony). The only place I can find them is from one seller with the highest price. But since no other sellers are listed in this case, nothing stops me from buying with them right away! This saves time for both my seller and me because I don’t need to go through any extra steps or wait around while they fulfill my order.
Suppose another seller wants their products featured in these spots next time someone searches for this particular product category (e.g., headphones). In that case, they can bid against each other during certain times of day until one emerges victorious as “buy box eligible” meaning they’re allowed access into that coveted space where buyers click “Buy Now.”
How Do I Buy the Amazon Buy Box?
If you’re not eligible for the Buy Box, there are a few things to consider.
- You haven’t been selling long enough. Amazon only gives the buy box to sellers with a history of good customer service, positive reviews and high inventory levels. If you’re new to selling on Amazon, try increasing your product data quality by adding keywords and setting up your inventory correctly.
- Your pricing is too low or high. The Buy Box winner must offer competitive pricing on its product listing for an item to be eligible for the buy box (see below). If your price is too low or high compared with competitors, this could affect whether or not you’re eligible for the buy box.
How Often Does the Buy Box Rotate?
The Buy Box rotates every 24 hours but does so on a per-product basis. In other words, if you get the Buy Box for one product and don’t get it for another, that could be because the two products have different inventory levels or prices.
The Buy Box can also rotate on a per-country basis. For example, if your products are sold in both the US and Canada, you may end up with different sellers winning the Buy Box for each country—which can change daily.
How Can You Tell if Amazon Shares the Buy Box?
How can you tell if Amazon shares the buy box? Look at the product detail page and scroll down to the “Offerings” section. If you see a message saying, “Amazon is now offering this item,” you know that Amazon shares the buy box. If there’s no such message, then it means that they don’t share it with anyone else—and therefore, neither do you!
Conclusion
So, if you want to know why you are not eligible for the buy box on Amazon, then you should read this article from Scan Fair. You will find some of the most common reasons why a seller doesn’t have access to it, as well as tips on improving your chances of winning this coveted position in the future!