You Can’t Win the Buy Box on Price Alone

Today there are many misconceptions about what it takes to win the Amazon Buy Box and what tools actually help sellers do so. This guide dispels some of the common myths about repricing on Amazon.

Myth: I have to win the Buy Box!
Truth: Yes, but not at any price.
Although all Amazon Marketplace sellers are after the same Buy Box, it is not the goal every time around. Consider some sellers as not much of a threat to your business, but rather a threat to your profitability. Don’t compete with low-cost providers at any cost, instead let them sell out their stock (or run themselves out of business), a strategic pause that will quickly prove wise and rewarding. In terms of repricing software, this is a weakness of rule-based repricers. Setting rules will often drive you to the lowly playing field, competing with low prices that are far from optimal, is shortsighted and can lead to losses.

Myth: I can’t avoid a price war!
Truth: You don’t have to take part in them in the first place.
You don’t have to beat the price a competitor offers, not every time. As explained in the Myth above, some of the lowest offers are made by insignificant sellers, which won’t be here tomorrow, or when the next search is made. Furthermore, Amazon does not decide the winner of the buy box on price alone. The next busted Myth will explain the complex formula that Amazon uses to determine the winner in greater detail.

Myth: Price is everything when it comes to winning the buy box.
Truth: The lowest price doesn’t always win the buy box.
Amazon values sellers and assigns them a score when determining the buy box winner. The score is determined according to the seller’s rating, whether the seller is FBA or FBM, seller’s performance metrics, sales level, credibility, product availability and the seller’s price. No repricer can take all these factors, collect the information and decide the optimal price with rules alone. It takes a repricing software such as Feedvisor’s to handle the complex formula that will help you win the buy box.

Myth: I have full control of rules!
Truth: Rules will hobble you in more than one way.
Unlike full automated tools, rules will bind you to setting and monitoring them. As sophisticated as they may be, customized and flexible? Rules don’t write themselves and you will find yourself, or an employee, busy working for the rules at your expense.

Feedvisor’s smart repricing software avoids price wars, optimizes prices without driving them to the ground, takes all factors into consideration (and calculation), and gives you full control? hands-free.

Want to get one step closer to winning the buy box? Click here