Amazon Buy Box Suppression – How to Handle and Avoid it
If you sell on Amazon, you have to win the Buy Box as often as possible. There’s no way around this. Having no Buy Box share means no visibility, means no sales and no revenue. However, in some cases, there is no Buy Box to be won because it does not exist. These cases of Buy Box suppression are a lose-lose situation for buyers and sellers alike. Luckily enough, this is not something that simply has to be accepted, but can be circumvented or reversed when it happens to your products.
In this article, we’ll be looking at the possible reasons for Buy Box suppression and how to handle and avoid it, so your business can continue running smoothly.
What Is Amazon Buy Box Suppression?
Under certain circumstances, Amazon decides not to award the Buy Box to any seller on a product listing. Instead of showing the familiar “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button, customers only see the “See All Buying Options” link. This removes the streamlined path to purchase and forces shoppers to browse through multiple offers, which often leads to fewer sales.
A suppressed Buy Box is not the same as a lost Buy Box. If you lose the Buy Box, another seller wins it and customers can still buy easily. It also means you can win the Buy Box back from your competitor. Buy Box Suppression on the other hand means that the Buy Box does not exist for the time being. This means that no seller gets higher visibility and buyers also don’t have as much opportunity to find a good deal.
For example, imagine you’re selling a popular phone case at $15, but Amazon considers that price uncompetitive compared to other marketplaces. Instead of awarding the Buy Box to you or anyone else, Amazon suppresses it. Customers must click through to a secondary page, which lessens the likelihood of them buying anything significantly.
Why Does Amazon Suppress the Buy Box?
There are multiple reasons for a suppressed Buy Box, find them listed below in accordance to relevance:
How This Affects You as a Seller
When the Buy Box is suppressed, the impact on your business is immediate and severe. Since around 80–90% of Amazon sales happen through the Buy Box, losing it can cause a drastic drop in traffic and conversions. Customers may also view your offer as less trustworthy if it’s harder to purchase, which damages your reputation. Over time, suppressed listings can slip in organic rankings, making it even harder to recover visibility and sales.
Identifying a Suppressed Buy Box
You can spot Buy Box suppression in several ways. The simplest is a manual check: if the product detail page shows “See All Buying Options” instead of “Add to Cart,” the Buy Box is suppressed (see image above for reference). Another way to check for a suppressed Buy Box is through Seller Central. Reports you receive from Seller Central also highlight suppressed listings and provide you with more detailed insights.
How to Fix Amazon Buy Box Suppression
While the issues for a suppressed Buy Box on Amazon are easily identified, it may take some time to resolve them. Check out the troubleshooting table below for pointers.
| Cause | What to Check | How to Fix It |
| Pricing issues | Is your price higher than Amazon, other sellers, or external marketplaces? | Adjust your pricing strategy, do not overprice, and regularly monitor competitor and external marketplace prices. |
| Listing quality | Are key details missing (title, images, bullets, description, attributes)? | Optimize listings with complete, accurate, and compelling content, in line with Amazon’s requirements. |
| Compliance problems | Is the condition accurate? Is the product in the correct category? Any restrictions? | Double-check product condition, confirm category placement, and ensure the item isn’t restricted. |
| Low seller performance | Are your metrics slipping (ODR, late shipping, low ratings, cancellations)? | Improve order defect rate, speed up shipping (use FBA if possible), and actively request/maintain positive reviews. |
| Inventory issues | Are you running out of stock or showing inconsistent availability? | Keep stock levels consistent, forecast demand, and consider using FBA for reliable fulfillment (FBA users are heavily favored by Amazon). |
Proactive Prevention Strategies
Dynamic repricing: Although Buy Box suppression on Amazon can happen due to many reasons, the most common reason is uncompetitive pricing. What is meant by “uncompetitive” is, for one, overpricing, but also rigid pricing. Selling on Amazon means that you have to adjust your prices multiple times a day, a practice that quickly becomes tedious if you have more than 60 items in your inventory. That’s why all professional sellers switch to automations when it comes to repricing. Not only do software automations like the SELLERLOGIC Repricer prevent your products from being suppressed, they also save you vast amounts of time you would otherwise spend manually adjusting your prices.
Regular listing audits
Another effective way to prevent Buy Box suppression is to regularly audit your product listings. Amazon frequently suppresses offers with incomplete or inaccurate detail pages, so it’s crucial to make sure that titles, images, bullet points, and product attributes are always up to date and fully optimized. By scheduling regular checks, you reduce the risk of overlooked errors or missing information that could trigger suppression.
Monitor external marketplace pricing
Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy doesn’t just compare prices within its own marketplace – it also looks at external platforms such as Walmart, eBay, or your own online store. If your product is significantly cheaper elsewhere, the Buy Box can be suppressed. That’s why it’s important to always monitor external marketplaces and adjust your Amazon pricing strategy accordingly. This ensures that your offers remain competitive and Buy Box eligible.
Wrapping Up
What can we take away from this? The Buy Box is the lifeline of Amazon sales – up to 90% of purchases happen through it. When it’s suppressed, your visibility and revenue drop quickly, and climbing back to the top can be a real struggle.
The good news: suppression isn’t permanent. By keeping prices competitive, maintaining strong listings, following Amazon’s rules, and monitoring account health, you can avoid most issues. Sellers who act quickly when suppression occurs protect their visibility and ensure steady, long-term sales growth.
Even better, sellers who prevent suppression from the start — for example, by using dynamic repricers — put themselves in the best position to consistently win the Buy Box.
FAQ
Yes, in many cases suppression can be avoided. By keeping your pricing competitive, following Amazon’s listing guidelines, and maintaining strong seller performance metrics, you reduce the risk of the Buy Box being removed. Regular monitoring of your listings and account health also helps you spot potential issues before suppression happens.
Amazon suppresses the Buy Box when it believes an offer doesn’t meet its standards for customer value or trust. Common causes include:
– Prices that are higher than the market average or external websites
– Poor listing quality (incomplete titles, missing images, or weak content)
– Account health issues such as late shipments or policy violations
– Inconsistent or unreliable fulfillment methods
Yes, a Repricer can significantly reduce the risk of suppression. By automatically adjusting your prices in line with market conditions and Amazon’s rules, it helps keep your offers competitive without manual effort. While a Repricer cannot fix issues like poor listing quality or account health problems, it does tackle one of the main triggers: uncompetitive pricing.
