How to Win the Amazon Buy Box in 13 Steps: All Important Metrics in One Blog Post!

The concept you have to internalize is quite simple: whichever Amazon seller gets the Amazon Buy Box, wins. However, the Amazon Buy Box formula or algorithm is the online giant’s best kept secret and finding out how to win the Amazon Buy Box requires criteria that are often difficult for sellers to handle alone, which is why some use online tools specialized in Buy Box optimization. But which sellers fulfill the Amazon Buy Box requirements? The algorithm decides this based on various parameters. Only sellers that belong to the best of the best have chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box, so monitoring your performance is crucial at this point. 

But why is winning the Amazon Buy Box so important?

Well, the larger your share of the Buy Box, the higher your sales rate will be. The reason for this is that 90% of all Amazon customers buy products by clicking on the Buy Box, meaning it is definitely worth taking a closer look at! In this blogpost, we want to show you how the Amazon Buy Box works, which metrics are the most relevant and how to win the Buy Box on Amazon in 13 steps!

New to Amazon? Check out our best tips on selling on Amazon for beginners!

Most Important Amazon Buy Box Requirements

You are currently viewing a placeholder content from Youtube. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.

More Information

Unblock content Accept required service and unblock content

Step 1: Shipping Method

Winning the Amazon Buy Box is not as easy as one might think. In order to be placed in the popular yellow field, sellers have to offer an optimal customer journey at all times. Customer satisfaction should therefore be top priority. The shipping method is also equally important, as it determines when customers receive their goods. As an Amazon seller, you basically have three different options on how to handle your fulfillment.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

Since the online giant places a very high value on the perfect customer experience, Amazon has developed a shipping method that ensures the highest possible customer satisfaction: Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). For the end customer, this means free and fast shipping, excellent service, an easy return process, and much more. The seller benefits from increased customer loyalty, the Prime Label and the indication ”Shipped by Amazon”. As a seller on Amazon, you can select this option and send your goods to Amazon‘s logistics centers. The shipping giant then proceeds to take over from there on out. In many cases, FBA is the only possible answer on how to win the Buy Box on the Amazon listing.

Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)

Alternatively, of course, you can take care of fulfillment independently, handling all processes from A to Z yourself. However, these products will not receive the coveted ”Prime Label“. 

Prime by Seller or Seller Fulfilled Prime

In this alternative, Amazon provides the seller with specific information regarding the order (e.g. the specification of which sender is chosen). Naturally, these products also display the popular Prime Label, helping you address the largest Amazon buyer group: the Prime customers. 

Step 2: Final Price

When talking about how to win the Amazon Buy Box, the final price is often confused with the price of the item, when in fact, the final price is made up of the product price and shipping costs. Before setting a final price, you should ideally check the prices of your competition.

Buy Box Optimization Tip – Automated Repricers

When monitoring your competitors, you will probably notice that their prices change regularly several times a day. This is a sign that repricing tools are being used. Through their automated price adjustment, these tools give their users a significant advantage. Manual adjustment requires a lot of effort and time. Once you are using a dynamic repricer, however, this task is taken care of for you. I you are looking for ways how to win the Amazon Buy Box, we recommend using a dynamic repricer which automatically adjusts your price to that of the competition and thereby fetches you the best price as a seller.

Step 3: Shipping Time

The faster the delivery, the better the ratings, and thus the chances of winning the Buy Box. However, delivery times often depend on the product category. Batteries or cosmetic products are quickly packaged and shipped, whereas furniture or large electrical appliances reach the customer after several days. Because of this, it is very difficult to give a clear answer on how to win the Amazon Buy Box in this regard. 

Buy Box Optimization Tip – Monitoring Your Competitors & Choosing Shipping Methods

Check on your competition and get an overview regarding delivery times of certain product categories: If your competitors promise delivery within two days for a similar product, this should also be the minimum requirement for you. Don’t be too optimistic when you set your delivery guarantee. Late deliveries affect your seller rating on Amazon negatively, which has consequences for your scoring value and the positioning of your offers in the Buy Box. This value is only applied to merchants who process their own fulfillment. It does not apply to FBA merchants, who receive the highest score in this metric due to using Amazon as a shipper.

How to Win as an Amazon Seller: More Buy Box Criteria

Step 4: Order Defect Rate

The rate of defective orders is an important aspect for the rating of your seller profile. It includes all orders placed in the last 60 days with at least one defect, which may include negative ratings, an unaccepted A to Z warranty claim or a chargeback.

Step 5: Cancellation Rate Before Order Processing

“When a seller cancels a customer‘s order before it‘s processed, it‘s usually because the item is currently out of stock.”

– Amazon

This value is also an important factor if you, as an Amazon seller, are wondering how to win the Amazon Buy Box. It indicates the percentage of the orders that the seller has cancelled in the last 7 days and is considered an indicator of the seller‘s inventory management. It is relevant for sellers not using FBA.

Step 6: Late Shipment Rate or Late Dispatch Rate

With Amazon Prime, the company has set the standards of e-commerce shipping in many ways. Customers want their goods to arrive as quickly as possible, but at the very least, they want them to arrive on time. Many of them rely on the expected delivery dates. 

If these conditions are not met, the disappointment of the customers will reflect badly on Amazon in the form of warranty claims and negative reviews. We don’t need to tell you at this point that these should be avoided under all circumstances.

A delivery is considered to be delayed if it was sent AFTER the expected shipping date has expired. The late delivery ratio indicates the percentage of all delayed deliveries in the last 30 days.

Step 7: Valid Tracking Rate

Sellers dealing with the issue of how to get the Amazon Buy Box should keep the following in mind: Tracking numbers make customers happy. Why? Simply because you are able to see the progress. Especially if the scheduled delivery date has not been met, many customers want to know where their parcel is currently located, or whether it has perhaps already been left with a neighbour and is just sitting there, waiting to be picked up. 

Step 8: On-Time Delivery

As we already mentioned, customers not only want to receive their goods as quickly as possible but above all, they want them on time. On-time delivery is a huge factor for customer satisfaction and therefore immensely important regarding the question how to win the Buy Box in Amazon. 

For the calculation, Amazon uses the package tracking information and calculates the percentage of the deliveries in the last 30 days that arrived on time at the customer‘s location. Since the tracking number is important for determining punctuality, Amazon only considers shipments that have this option in its calculation.

Step 9: Return Dissatisfaction Rate

The dissatisfaction rate for returns measures the sum compared to  all valid return requests and must not exceed 10%. It counts all requests that have not been answered, or have been wrongly rejected, within 48 hours. Negative feedback is also included in the calculation. Buyers expect to receive quick feedback on their complaints and to be able to return their purchases without any problems. Your goal as an Amazon seller should be to reduce negative feedback, disputes, and complaints. 

Step 10: Average Seller Rating and Number of Buyer Feedback

When thinking about how to win the Amazon Buy Box with a product, sellers must not forget the feedback from buyers. Amazon evaluates all customer reviews from the last 30, 90 and 365 days, placing higher value on most recent reviews than on your older reviews. 

Step 11: Response Time

The perfectly structured customer journey is the key figure on how to win the Amazon Buy Box. Especially fast customer service is an important factor for the sales metrics at Amazon and therefore also for the Buy Box. Amazon‘s Service Level Agreement requires a response time of 24 hours – even on weekends and holidays. A late response or lack of response will immediately have negative consequences on your Buy Box placement.

Update: In 2018, Amazon announced the removal of this metric. However, given its impact on the customer experience and hence feedback, the response time remains an important aspect.

Step 12: Dissatisfaction with Customer Service

There are many reasons to contact customer service. Whether it be questions about the delivery or complaints. In any case, customers expect a friendly contact person who will take care of their concerns.

When buyers contact customer service, they are asked whether their concerns have been resolved. If they answer “no“, the seller automatically receives a negative evaluation. This should not only be avoided with regard to the Buy Box, after all, you want to ensure that your customers are completely satisfied so that they recommend you to others, and come back to repetitively buy from you. So this is not even important on how to win the Amazon Buy Box, but to build a loyal customer base. 

But it is also important to avoid any dissatisfaction with the customer service, since Amazon wants to provide its customers with the perfect overall experience in every case and therefore also places great importance to the fact that the winners of the Buy Box provide outstanding customer support. So keep this ratio as low as possible. 

Step 13: Refund Rate

Refunds are unavoidable in online trading. Amazon does not want to sanction anyone for being particularly customer-oriented and making the return of items as easy as possible. Especially since Amazon themselves do exactly that. 

However, Amazon believes that if the reimbursement rate is very high, there is a fundamental problem with the seller that should be investigated. A low refund rate, on the other hand, shows Amazon that the seller can reliably deliver the described items. The reimbursement rate is the ratio of the reimbursements of the last 30 days and the total number of orders. 

Update: In 2018, Amazon announced the removal of this metric.

A Novel Metric – Step 14: Invoice Defect Rate

In 2020, Amazon introduced the Invoice Defect Rate, which refers to Business customers who depend on invoices for their tax and accounting management. This metric represents the percentage of orders for which the seller did not provide an invoice on time related to total orders from Business customers. In this case, “on time” implies that the invoice has to be handed in by midnight on the first weekday after the day of shipment confirmation.

In a Nutshell: How to Win the Amazon Buy Box? Optimize Your Metrics!

So, how do you win the Buy Box on Amazon? At the end of the day, the only colour that matters is yellow and the only way to get into the field with the yellow button is to optimize your metrics. How the Amazon Buy Box works exactly still remains a mystery. Following the rules which the online giant has, however, is an absolute must! This way, your own products are placed prominently and sales can considerably increase. For you as an Amazon seller, how to win the Buy Box is extremely important, since 90% of all sales on Amazon take place in this field.

Amazon is committed to providing the perfect customer experience – so the high demands in terms of customer service are therefore completely understandable and can also to be expected from the world’s leading e-commerce platform. 

The more professional you handle your business and your customers, the higher the chances of you winning the Buy Box. At the very least, continuous professionalism will guarantee that you position yourself well.

Amazon is selling the same product that you are? Find out here how to win the Buy Box against Amazon.

Image credits in order of appearance: © Tierney – stock.adobe.com / © aanbetta – shutterstock.com / © aanbetta – shutterstock.com / © Stockwerk-Fotodesign – stock.adobe.com