Ever wondered why you’re doing so good with your sales on Amazon and then suddenly the sales plummet to even 0? Or you just launched your listing and then you saw that there’s no ‘Add to Cart’ button on your listing. These are the usual instances that you’ll ask ‘How to get the Buy Box’ on Amazon.
What is the Buy Box?
The Buy Box is the white box located on the right side of the Amazon product detail page that contains the ‘Add to Cart’ button so customers can add items to their cart to purchase the item.
Do note that just because you’re listing was approved on Amazon doesn’t mean you can start selling immediately. With a lot of sellers selling the same products (even 100% exact match), Amazon has devised systems to ensure that only eligible Amazon sellers can have this ‘MUST HAVE’ metric.
How to become Buy Box Eligible
Amazon has not directly stated how to land or win the ‘Add to Cart’ button but the following conditions below are the minimum qualification for you to be eligible:
- A Professional Seller account;
- The Buy Box eligibility status by checking your status in Amazon Seller Central;
- Should be a new item;
- Should have low Order Defect rate;
- Good customer shopping experience like reviews; and,
- You should have enough stocks and 100% Availability.
If Amazon detects that you lack any or some of the conditions above, its algorithm will remove the button on your listing and give it to another Amazon seller. So if you notice that your sales are suddenly dropping, you can check Business Reports under Seller Central and check the Buy Box Percentage.
The Buy Box percentage can be found under Amazon Seller Central Business Reports. You will have the option to see the report either by date or ASIN.
Season Amazon sellers use this to create a strategy on how they should price their product. When you analyze the data, view it by individual ASIN where you’ll see the percentage of page views when the Buy Box appeared on your product listing and your customer saw the ‘Add to Cart’ button. The higher the percentage, the better it is for you since it only means that Amazon has awarded you with the button and that those viewing your listing have always the option to buy your product (and not skip to the next product).
If you are not careful though, you can easily lose your ‘Add to Cart’. When you run out of stock, this can affect your Buy Box. Of course, buyers can still view your listing even if you don’t have available stock but they won’t be able to click the add to cart button. Worst is if you have restocked your listing and the ‘Add to Cart’ button is not immediately restored. Amazon rewards those who have the available stocks and can fulfill the orders asap.
If you’re not careful about the quality of your products that will result in high returns, defect rates, and negative reviews, Amazon will also penalize you by taking away your Button. So do your diligence and maintain a high quality of your products so your buyers will also have a great experience with you and your item.
Pricing also matters with the Buy Box. If your price is too high or too low, you can also lose it. If Amazon’s AI has detected that you have different pricing on other online platforms, they will also hold your Buy Box.
So even if you have the money to burn with PPC and a top-notched listing but no Buy Box, your efforts will just go to waste. Hence, always balance and check the Buy Box data to ensure that you’re on top of your product.
