This is a guest article from BQool, experts in Amazon Repricer software.
“How to win the Amazon Buy Box?” has always been the most frequently asked question within the Amazon seller community. In order to win the Buy Box, Amazon needs sellers to meet several requirements. Amazon doesn’t just allow any old random seller to win the Buy Box.
Amazon sellers that want to be in the running for the coveted Buy Box must meet the following criteria:
Rule 1: Have Featured Merchant status
The Buy Box is reserved for Featured Merchants. These are the sellers that have a successful track history of selling and fulfilling orders to Amazon’s standards. Amazon grants this status to sellers that it believes can fulfill orders to their customers’ expectations. To achieve this, you have to be sure that your claims and chargebacks are kept to a minimum, and your customer feedback is glowing. Amazon will take a look at these factors along with other metrics. Amazon also evaluates other seller performance metrics such as shipping, customer service reviews and overall selling experience.
Rule 2: Be a Pro Merchant
All you have to do is go to your Amazon seller page and click on ‘Seller Help’ then ‘Pro Merchant Services.’ Sign up for the Pro Merchant Plan for $39.99/month. The $0.99 closing fees for the individual seller account are waived, so if you sell more than 41 items in a month, you will save your hard-earned cash. There are other inventory templates and product listing advantages included in the plan.
Rule 3: Sell only new items
Although from November of 2013, Amazon rolled out its new Buy Used Box, thus allowing sellers’ used items to be sold through the same coveted Buy Box on the listing pages.
Rule 4: Use FBA
Though it’s not a requirement, it’s highly recommended that you use Amazon’s FBA fulfillment service to gain an advantage over other sellers. It’s not far-fetched that Amazon promotes products of its own or the products that use Amazon’s FBA service.
So how can you check to see if an item in your inventory is eligible for the buy box? Your best bet is to enable the ‘Buy Box Eligible’ column in ‘Manage Inventory’ so you can see if and when your status changes. To do this, go to ‘Manage Inventory’ and click the ‘Preferences’ button at the top. Check the box for ‘Buy Box Eligible’ and then click ‘Save Changes’ at the bottom of the page.
Now you’ve qualified for the Buy Box… what’s next?
After you qualify for the Buy Box and meet all of the criteria (most competitive sellers do), there’s one more point to consider.
How do you compete with those that have already made the cut?
Despite already jumping over the hurdles placed by Amazon, you’re still competing with a host of other sellers who can keep up with you in the race to the Buy Box. You wouldn’t journey this far only to come out of this empty-handed. What you need is a tool that can help you to maintain a competitive edge. What is it, you may ask?
First of all, you have to understand that with all other factors being equal (equal to your competitors in availability, volume, refunds, customer feedback, customer support, A-Z claims, and Featured Merchant Status), the deciding factor that Amazon defaults to prior to awarding sellers with the Buy Box is… PRICING.
The lowest price will clinch the deal and turn the tide. As a rule of thumb, the more competitive your offer price is, the greater the opportunity is to land the Buy Box. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Just drop your price lower than the lowest price, right? But when everyone is as engaged in lowering their prices as you are, a price war ensues. The nuances of a price war can be tiring and frustrating.
It may sound like it’s just a game to see whose bottom line is lower, but you actually deserve a better solution to stay ahead of the competition and that’s why here at BQool, we’ve developed a repricer to help Amazon sellers. It not only helps to develop your strategies but also allows you to stay competitive without losing sleep. Learn more here: Should I Use Repricing Software on Amazon?
We hope that you have found this article interesting, happy selling!
Want more advice for winning the Amazon Buy Box? Check out this video:
