Amazon sellers beware: Buy Box policy changes!

Recently, the Japan Fair Trade Commission conducted an on-site investigation of Amazon's Japanese subsidiary because the company was suspected of violating the provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law on "abuse of dominant position" and "restrictive transactions"!

According to relevant personnel, Amazon is suspected of forcing sellers to lower their prices on its own platform ( required to be lower than the prices on other online shopping platforms ) and use Amazon services ( including logistics and collection ) in exchange for the "prominent display rights" of the "Buy Box"!

If sellers do not set prices lower than those on other platforms, their products may be removed from the "Buy Box", seriously affecting their sales performance.

When multiple sellers on Amazon sell the same product at the same time, usually only one seller’s product can get a prominent position in the “Buy Box”, and users can add it to the cart or place an order with one click, while other products will only be linked to it in the form of “recommendations”, which directly affects the product’s exposure and sales opportunities.

This practice not only affects sellers’ pricing freedom, but may also limit their competitiveness on other platforms.

This action has caused widespread dissatisfaction and questioning, especially for sellers, who may face greater operating pressure and challenges because of Amazon's policy.

1. Everyone knows that the loss of the Buy Box has a huge impact on sellers, as follows:

1. Buyers can’t buy directly from your listing when browsing your products, which can lead to a significant drop in sales.

2. Influence buyers’ trust in your brand, especially those who value brand consistency.

3. If you rely on Amazon advertising to drive sales, losing the shopping cart may cause the ads to fail to turn on, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the ads.

4. Buyers are accustomed to one-click purchases. Losing the shopping cart may increase the buyer's purchasing barriers and lead to a decline in shopping experience.

Second, shopping cart loss may also be caused by the following factors:

★ 1. Price factor

• Reason: If the product price increases sharply in a short period of time and fails to maintain market competitiveness, the shopping cart can easily be lost.

• Solution: The pricing strategy should avoid extremes. Instead of pursuing an absolutely low price, a moderate and competitive price range should be selected. When adjusting prices, a gradual growth strategy should be adopted to avoid a one-time large price increase, which may trigger the risk of losing the shopping cart.

★ 2. New listings

• Reason: Newly listed products often lack sufficient weight in the system and therefore may not be assigned to the shopping cart, especially in the case of MFN.

• Solution: Increase sales. After a listing generates some orders, the Amazon system will sense the increase in the weight of the listing and may allocate a shopping cart.

★ 3. Frequently modify listings

• Reason: Frequent and substantial changes to listing content may have adverse effects, interfering with the search engine’s stable evaluation of the listing, directly affecting its ranking and weight in search results, and more likely to trigger Amazon’s system alerts, resulting in the deprivation of shopping cart permissions.

• Solution: When optimizing your listing, avoid making unnecessary, large and frequent changes to ensure the stability and competitiveness of your listing.

★ 4. Being copied

★ 5. Inventory

• Reason: When a product is sold out due to insufficient stock, the Amazon system will automatically take back the shopping cart.

• Solution: Ensure sufficient inventory supply to avoid product out-of-stock situations. If the inventory is sold out and the shopping cart is lost, the seller should take immediate action to replenish the stock urgently through air transportation and other means to quickly restore the inventory level.

★ 6. Negative reviews