The Amazon Buy Box

10 Secrets to Winning the Amazon Buy Box in 2022

With Amazon now accounting for just under half of all online sales, this is definitely where online sellers need to be. But just being on Amazon isn’t enough. If you want to make major sales, you’ll need to get your products featured in the Amazon Buy Box.

What is the Amazon Buy Box?

The Buy Box is the white box located to the top-right of Amazon product pages. Appearing in this prominent position is like being the only lit-up store on the main street. According to Statista, this box drives over 82% of the purchases made on Amazon.

The Amazon Buy Box

For most products on Amazon, there’s usually a selection of merchants selling it. But only one gets the Buy Box. Within this box, Amazon shoppers can click “Add to cart”. If you’re the seller showcased in the Buy Box, your product gets the sale.

Other sellers may appear further down the page, but there is nothing to differentiate them from each other. That’s why so many sales go to the Buy Box. Simply put, it is the easiest way to buy a product on Amazon.

Buy Box Eligibility: Who Qualifies?

To be Buy Box eligible, merchants must meet a number of requirements. They must have:

  • A Professional Amazon Seller Account: This costs $39.99 per month; the basic plan doesn’t offer Buy Box access
  • New stock: Products must be readily available and in brand-new condition
  • 2-6 months experience: You must have some trading history under your belt

How to Check If You Are Buy Box Eligible

If you have been selling products on Amazon for a couple of months and want to see if your listings are Buy Box eligible, you should:

  • Log into your Amazon Seller Central account
  • Go to the “Inventory” tab and select “Manage inventory”
  • Select the “Preferences” tab
  • Within the column display list section, select the “Buy Box eligible” tab
  • Then click “Show when available” from the drop-down

Now, when you look at the Buy Box eligible column, you’ll see a ‘yes’ beside any products which currently qualify. Some products may be Buy Box eligible, while others aren’t. This information is private.

Amazon Buy Box Eligible
Make sure you check your Buy Box eligibility in Amazon seller central.

But being Buy Box eligible is just the beginning. Beyond these basic criteria, the Amazon Buy Box algorithm determines who is actually featured at the top of each product page based on their performance.

How to Win the Amazon Buy Box

The Amazon Buy Box algorithm ranks merchants based on various metrics from their seller history. To win the Buy Box, sellers must have outstanding performance metrics and reviews.

Why? Because Amazon wants to provide value to customers. Only trustworthy merchants who consistently provide positive customer experiences and offer low prices get the Buy Box.

Once you’re eligible, you’ll want to improve your ranking with the Amazon Buy Box algorithm. Although the precise algorithm isn’t available, we know these ten top tips can improve your chances of winning the Buy Box.

1. Consider Using FBA

Amazon has two types of merchants – FBM and FBA. FBM, or ‘Fulfilled by Merchant’, is when you pick, pack and ship your own products. FBA, or ‘Fulfilled by Amazon’, is when Amazon does it for you.

Being an FBA merchant is thought to have the biggest impact on winning the lucrative Buy Box. Amazon favours FBA sellers because it knows their orders will be on-time. FBA sellers are also eligible for Prime shipping. To benefit Prime members, it makes sense to have them in the Buy Box.

This doesn’t mean FBM sellers can’t compete at all. However, new merchants who use FBA will start to land the Buy Box much quicker.

Amazon FBA
Using Amazon’s own fulfillment service (FBA) instantly puts you ahead in the battle for the Buy Box.

2. Set Prices Competitively

Ideally, your price points should be in-line with competitors’. The lowest price doesn’t always win the Amazon Buy Box, but it certainly improves your chances.

If your other performance metrics are low, you’ll need to reduce prices to compete for the Buy Box. But, if you have outstanding metrics, you can feature in the Buy Box with slightly higher prices.

However, don’t price items too low; always keep your base costs in mind. Repricing software can help you win the Buy Box without ever putting you in the red.

3. Ship as Quickly as Possible

Merchants who fulfill their own orders can’t make mistakes if they want to compete for the Buy Box. The faster they ship and deliver orders, the better.

Amazon requires at least 96% of orders to ship on-time. In your Seller Central Account, you can adjust your handling time to suit you. If you don’t, it defaults to 1-2 days. As for deliveries, Amazon likes over 97% to be on-time.

Fast shipping shipping
Make sure your products are shipped quickly as this will help your products’ Buy Box competitiveness.

4. Offer Tracking Information

Valid Tracking Rate is a recently introduced metric for all merchants. This represents the percentage of your deliveries offering full tracking information. Shipping software tools like ShipWorks or ShipStation can help with this.

5. Put Customer Happiness First

Amazon is customer-centric. Even if you minimize shipping times and maximize value, this won’t make up for problems with your products or customer service.

Amazon’s Order Defect rate highly influences your ability to win the Buy Box. This metric is based on your feedback scores, A-Z guarantee claim rate and service charge-backs.

To reduce returns and negative reviews, make sure your product listings are accurate. Listen carefully to feedback and always go above-and-beyond for customers.

Customer happiness
Putting your customers first and providing an excellent customer experience will put you ahead in the battle for the Amazon Buy Box.

6. Respond to Queries Quickly

Customer response time is also extremely important. If you take too long to reply to queries, your customers and Amazon won’t be impressed. Responding within 12 hours is brilliant. But any longer than 24 hours violates Amazon policy.

If an incoming message doesn’t require a response, make sure to mark it as so.

7. Request Reviews

The Amazon Buy Box algorithm not only takes positive and negative reviews into account, but it also looks at the number of reviews received.

Without them, your account’s visibility can drop significantly. So follow up with customers to request reviews, using a feedback tool to automate the process.

The algorithm looks at feedback from the past 30, 90 and 365 days, but recent feedback is most important. These stats can be seen in your Seller Account.

Top Ratings affect Buy Box performance
Requesting reviews will help you to maximize your positive reviews. This is hugely influential to your products’ Amazon Buy Box performance.

8. Stay Stocked Up

Recently, back-ordered items have begun to feature in the Amazon Buy Box. But having products consistently and currently in stock is looked upon more favourably by the Amazon Buy Box algorithm. This indicates that you can handle the influx of sales that come with winning this placement.

9. Keep an Eye on Your Account Metrics

Amazon Seller Central provides a wealth of knowledge on your performance across all areas. Frequently check in on your metrics to identify and address issues as soon as possible. This protects your reputation and allows you to invest resources in areas which will influence your Buy Box competitiveness most.

10. Be Careful With New Metrics

Amazon recently introduced two new metrics to improve their data around customer experience. These are the Return Dissatisfaction Rate and Customer Service Dissatisfaction Rate. At the moment, these figures don’t influence the Amazon Buy Box algorithm. But you’ll want to keep these customer-focused measurements in shape, as they may affect rankings in the future.

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