The 14 most important criteria for winning the Buy Box on Amazon and how to keep your metrics under control

How is it that some offers are visible on Amazon while others do not appear in the Amazon Buy Box? The criteria for winning the little yellow button are the best-kept secret of the online giant, and qualifying for the Buy Box is not without its challenges. The Amazon algorithm decides based on certain rules which sellers are ideally suited for the field.

Because on Amazon, there are two types of sellers – Amazon itself and third-party sellers of merchandise and private label. When multiple sellers sell the same merchandise, a competition arises for the field on the right side of the product detail page, where customers can add an item to their cart or purchase it directly using a yellow button.

Typically, there is only one Buy Box on each Amazon product detail page, and all sellers offering this merchandise share this space. However, only the best of the best win the shopping cart field. How? You will find out here.

What is the Amazon Buy Box?

Anyone who wants to become a seller on Amazon must know it: the Amazon Buy Box, in German shopping cart field, sometimes also written as Buy Box or Buybox. The visually highlighted box on the product detail pages includes not only the price but also the yellow button labeled “Add to Cart.” Next to it is also the “Buy Now” field, through which customers can go directly to checkout. Essentially, it is the Amazon equivalent of the shopping cart in other online stores.

Since most customers do not take the time to check all offers for an item but simply click on the Buy Box to make a purchase, around 90% of all sales of a product go through the yellow button. The Buy Box thus guarantees a high sales rate for the items of the respective seller and optimizes sales figures on the marketplace.

Up to 90% of all sales occur in the Buy Box.

With this in mind, placement in the small yellow field on the product detail page is as coveted as ever and is the primary goal for online sellers on Amazon to remain competitive. But what criteria influence the awarding of the Buy Box?

The empty chair

An Amazon myth states that Jeff Bezos always brings an empty chair to his meetings. He places it at the conference table like any other chair. However, throughout the entire meeting, no one sits in it.

The chair serves as a symbol – it symbolizes the Amazon customer. The empty chair is meant to represent the customer sitting at the table, reminding all participants that all decisions are made for the benefit of the customer.

Whether this myth is true or not, one can easily imagine that the empty chair was also present during the discussion about the Buy Box algorithm. Thus, it is no wonder that only the offers in the Buy Box promise the best customer experience.

If you want to win the Amazon Buy Box, you must primarily provide excellent customer service.

An overview of all important Buy Box criteria

Shipping method, offer price, shipping duration, and inventory are not purely customer-specific metrics and are completely in the hands of the seller. The remaining ten metrics for winning the Buy Box are closely tied to Amazon’s strategy and aimed at making the customer happy. But let’s finally get into the details.

1. Shipping method

To guarantee fast delivery, the processes surrounding the sale must be coordinated. Such optimization takes a lot of time and money. As an online seller, you know the work involved in the processes surrounding the order:

The faster these processes run and shipping can start, the more satisfied the customer is, and thus your chances of winning the yellow field increase.

Amazon has significantly advanced the optimization of internal processes for order fulfillment and has been offering its own solution for several years with its “Fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA) program.

But what does FBA have to do with the Buy Box?

To do this, let’s compare the different shipping options at Amazon.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)

The merchant ships ready-to-deliver goods to Amazon. Amazon provides storage capacities, takes care of packaging, shipping, and customer service. The items are marked as Prime offers and with “Shipped by Amazon.” With Fulfillment by Amazon, the merchant has access to the most affluent customer group on Amazon, the Prime customers.

Shipped by Merchant (Fulfillment by Merchant – FBM)

The merchant takes care of all processes related to shipping and customer service. Offers are not marked as Prime offers. Since the entire fulfillment is in the seller’s hands, storage space, manpower, technology, etc. must be organized by themselves. Amazon acts here merely as a platform for offering products.

Prime by Seller / Seller Fulfilled Prime

In this shipping program, the merchant’s goods are marked as Prime offers. Although Amazon selects the shipping service provider itself, it provides Prime shipping labels. The fulfillment and customer service are also completely managed by the merchants. This shipping method is particularly suitable for online merchants who offer high-quality products, products with seasonal or unpredictable demand, fragile or bulky goods. However, the program is only accessible by invitation from Amazon and after extensive quality tests.

As you can see from the table above, the Amazon algorithm prefers products with Prime status – pure FBM offers often fall short in the battle for the Buy Box. This is intended to keep customer satisfaction at a high level.

And now?

Tip: Weigh all the pros and cons of each shipping method

A fast delivery and the best customer service are the most important prerequisites for winning the Buy Box, which are completely covered by Fulfillment by Amazon. Nevertheless, FBA is not suitable for all product groups. Therefore, weigh all the pros and cons of the shipping methods on Amazon and decide for yourself which shipping is best suited for which items. A competitive analysis can also help in making a decision. If you need more information about the individual shipping methods at Amazon, you can read about it here.

2. Final price

Sellers often confuse the final price with the product price when pricing. The final price consists of the product price plus shipping costs. Amazon calculates the final price and displays the offers in the Buy Box in the corresponding order. Often, the lowest price has the highest share of the Buy Box. However, this is not only due to the price, but also to the summary of additional metrics that show which seller can provide the best buying experience.

Tip: The lowest price does not win

If you observe the offer prices on Amazon’s marketplace, you will notice that they change constantly. This is dynamic or rule-optimized price adjustment – the selling price is automatically adjusted to the market situation or competition, possibly in connection with a specific pricing strategy. A comprehensive article on why dynamic repricing is crucial in the price battle for winning the Buy Box and how you can advance the optimization of your price, read here.

To put it briefly: With a rule adjustment in pricing – such as “My price must always be 5 cents below the lowest price” – the rule-optimized Repricer considers the competition fighting for the small yellow button and pushes your prices down. In fact, rule-based Repricer can also win the Buy Box (unless dynamic Repricer are in play), but this comes at the expense of profitability. Dynamic repricing is about first entering the Buy Box and then playing between the minimum and maximum offer price per item or product group. Here, the price is automatically adjusted to the market situation and competition. This pricing strategy leads to the optimization of your margin.

3. Shipping duration

The faster the shipping, the better the ratings, and thus the chances of success for the placement of your offers in the shopping cart field. The requirement for winning the Buy Box is therefore: The shipping duration must not exceed two days. For qualification in the Buy Box, a shipping duration of up to 14 days is sufficient, but these offers will hardly have a chance for the shopping cart field in any case.

Tip: Monitor competition and choose the right shipping method

Delivery times often depend on the product category. Batteries or cosmetics are quickly packaged and shipped. In contrast, furniture or large appliances take several days to reach the customer. Monitor your competition to get an idea regarding the delivery times of certain product categories: If another seller promises delivery within two days for a similar product, that is considered a minimum requirement for you as well. However, do not stretch the delivery guarantee too far – late deliveries worsen the seller rating on Amazon, which has consequences for your scoring value and the placement of your offers in the Buy Box.

The benchmark in customer service: Seller performance

Seller performance consists of various metrics of customer service. How crucial this composite value is becomes clear from the English name: Account Health.

If the minimum requirements are not met, the seller account “suffers,” and Amazon feels compelled to restrict or even revoke the selling privileges. Thus, it is evident from the seller performance metric alone how important customer satisfaction is to Amazon. The customer service metrics included in seller performance are also the most important for determining the Buy Box.

Seller performance includes:

In the following, we will take a closer look at the individual metrics of seller performance.

4. Rate of order defects

The rate of order defects is influenced by negative reviews, A-to-Z Guarantee claims, and service-related credit card chargebacks. An order with a negative review OR an A-to-Z Guarantee claim OR a service-related credit card chargeback is considered a defect. This means, conversely, that an order with a negative review AND an A-to-Z Guarantee claim counts as only ONE defect.

The rate of order defects is expressed as a percentage that relates to all orders in the last 60 days.

Tip: How to prevent order deficiencies

For every merchant in eCommerce, optimizing shipping processes is extremely important. Therefore, you should invest enough resources in this business area.

Of course, you know that every order should leave your house in perfect condition. However, it is also clear that mistakes can happen from time to time, which you should address immediately.

To prevent both a negative review and an A-to-Z guarantee claim, direct customer communication is the only solution. In most cases, customers will seek contact with you before leaving a bad review or opening a guarantee case. This is your chance to turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied one by quickly and efficiently finding a solution to their problem.

A friendly and accommodating communication gives your customers the feeling of being taken seriously and well cared for. And if you end up having to refund a few euros, it is still better than unnecessarily receiving a deficiency on an order.

However, be cautious of customers who try to deceive you. If the guarantee claim is unjustified and you can prove it to Amazon, the guarantee case will be rejected by Amazon and will no longer be considered a deficiency.

Your greatest challenge, therefore, is to distinguish between the disgruntled and disappointed customer and the fraudster.

5. Cancellation rate before order processing

The second value that significantly influences the performance of sellers is the cancellation rate before order processing. This refers only to cancellations made by the seller.

This Amazon value is important as it is an indicator of the merchant’s inventory management. Amazon itself states:

“When a seller cancels a customer’s order before shipping, it is mainly due to the fact that the item is not in stock, according to our findings.”

Source: Amazon

In general, the cancellation rate is a percentage indicating how many orders were canceled by the seller within a specified period of seven days. By the way, it only applies to orders that the seller ships themselves.

Tip: How to prevent cancellations?

Inventory management is of great importance. Manage this work process with automated tools. Ensure an automatic connection to Amazon to prevent overselling. Also, pay attention to purchasing trends and regularly check the stock levels of the most popular items in your product range. Alternatively, you can save resources and rely on Amazon’s FBA service.

6. Rate of late deliveries

With Prime, Amazon has set standards for shipping in eCommerce in many ways. Customers want to receive their goods quickly and, above all, on time. Many customers rely on the estimated delivery dates. If these are not met, customers are disappointed and have a bad experience with Amazon. This can lead to guarantee claims and negative reviews, which should be avoided.

A delivery is considered late by Amazon if the shipping confirmation is sent AFTER the estimated shipping date has passed.

The rate of late deliveries is a percentage that reflects the portion of orders with late delivery out of the total number of orders in the last 30 days. Like the cancellation rate, it only applies to sellers who ship themselves.

Tip: How to prevent late deliveries

The biggest lever in shipping from your own warehouse is the processes. Every additional action costs time. Manage all steps where possible with automated tools: from order processing in the back office to printing pick and pack lists as well as shipping labels, to updating the system once the goods have been shipped.

High employee turnover in the warehouse also causes problems. Therefore, you should focus on optimizing processes and employee satisfaction here as well. A well-coordinated team that takes care of process optimization independently is worth its weight in gold.

If all of this seems too complicated or you want to save resources, simply use Amazon’s FBA service.

7. Rate of valid tracking numbers

Tracking numbers are important for the customer. Once shipped, the customer wants to be able to track where the package is. Especially when the expected delivery date has passed, the customer wants to know why the package has not arrived yet. It is not uncommon for it to have been delivered to a neighbor without leaving a message. By managing your shipping with tracking numbers, you can save yourself trouble and a lot of unnecessary communication.

The rate of valid tracking numbers is a percentage that shows the ratio of deliveries with valid tracking numbers to the total number of all shipments in the last 30 days. This is also only relevant for sellers who ship themselves.

Tip: How to achieve 100%

All major carriers, including USPS, FedEx, UPS, and DHL, offer free tracking. This should be automated into your system and then automatically transmitted to Amazon. This ensures that no information is lost.

8. Rate of on-time deliveries

That the transmission of valid tracking numbers to Amazon is important is also shown by this metric. It indicates how many of the deliveries shipped by the seller have arrived on time with the customer. In order for Amazon to measure punctuality, it uses information from the tracking.

Amazon itself writes:

“Buyers repeatedly tell us that on-time delivery and the ability to track shipments significantly contribute to their satisfaction with an order.”

Source: Amazon

The rate of on-time deliveries shows the percentage of on-time deliveries over a period of 30 days. Since the tracking number is important for determining punctuality, Amazon only considers shipments that have this option for the calculation.

Tip: How can delayed deliveries be prevented?

Once the package has been handed over to the carrier, it is outside of your control. Therefore, it is extremely important to choose your carrier wisely. Even if one or the other may be a few cents cheaper, consider carefully whether you want to take the risk of delayed deliveries and the increased effort from customer inquiries. Our recommendation: Pay a little more for premium service. You may even save more resources this way than if you choose the cheapest provider.

9. Dissatisfaction with returns in percent

Of course, returns are not looked upon favorably at Amazon, but here too, the internet giant wants to make the customer experience as pleasant as possible. That is why Amazon measures dissatisfaction with returns.

The experience with a return is considered negative if a return request has a negative customer rating, inquiries about the return are not addressed within 48 hours, or are even wrongly denied.

Dissatisfaction with returns in percent describes the percentage of all negative return requests relative to the total number of all return requests.

Tip: How do you keep the numbers in check?

In the returns process, Amazon is often very accommodating to its customers. Amazon customer service offers immediate contact, and often the amount is simply refunded. This is not least because they want to provide a perfect customer journey and make returns as stress-free as possible. Additionally, the extremely high return costs are reduced with this return policy.

In the FBA program, Amazon customer service is already included. If you manage customer communication yourself, you should be aware that the Amazon customer is spoiled by the fast service and leniency of the marketplace and expects the same from you. Therefore, your primary goal in the returns process should be to respond to customer inquiries as quickly as possible. Here, we recommend significantly reducing the window set by Amazon of 48 hours. If a return request arises, it is in your interest to find a solution to the problem as quickly as possible and thus receive a good rating.

If something went wrong with the order, an apology for the inconvenience is not only appropriate, it costs nothing and has a positive effect on your rating. According to a study by the University of Nottingham, customers prefer to accept an apology rather than compensation.

Customers often unjustly leave negative ratings. You can contest these directly with Amazon by clarifying that you handled the customer concern as quickly and accurately as possible. If you can prove this, the negative rating will not be considered in the dissatisfaction rate.

In this blog post, you will receive even more tips on how to sustainably reduce your return rate – guaranteed Amazon-compatible.

Additional metrics for determining the Buy Box winner on Amazon

With the shipping method, total price, shipping duration, and seller performance, we have covered the most important criteria for winning the Amazon BuyBox. You should also take the following criteria to heart, even though they do not have as significant an impact.

10. Average seller rating and number of seller ratings

First of all, we should clarify that seller rating and product rating are two different things. Product ratings reflect buyers’ experiences with a product. However, seller feedback consists of statements about the seller’s performance. This involves customer contact, shipping speed, item description, etc. – all points that the seller can influence. The seller rating is given by the customer after the purchase. On the “Leave Seller Feedback” page, the customer can express their satisfaction with the seller’s performance through a simple star rating. Additionally, the punctuality of delivery, the accuracy of the product description, and the performance in customer contact (if applicable) are also assessed. Finally, the customer can leave a comment if desired, which will be displayed on the seller’s page.

The average seller rating is calculated as the average of ALL seller ratings, with newer ratings carrying more weight than older ones. So, if you have received more negative ratings recently, these will not be easily offset by older positive ratings.

Tip: 3 Ways for More Positive Reviews

#1 Honesty and High Quality Set Standards
If you are honest with your customers, your product descriptions match the facts, and your product is of high quality, you are more likely to receive positive reviews.

#2 Go the Extra Mile
Bad experiences often leave a very strong impression – or very good experiences. Therefore, you should do everything to make the experience for your customers as pleasant as possible. Take advantage of reciprocity. With small gifts and a personalized message wishing them much joy with the product, you can create the feeling in the customer that they “owe” you. You have given them more than they “paid” for. They now want to give back, hopefully in the form of a good review.

#3 Learn from Your Bad Reviews
Regularly review your ratings and proactively engage in dialogue with your customers who have rated you poorly. Even if some criticism may seem unjustified, critics still provide the best opportunities for self-improvement. Utilize the potential, and your next customer will thank you for it.

11. Response time

According to the Amazon Service Level Agreement (SLA), customer inquiries must be answered within 24 hours. If the response to inquiries takes longer or is completely missed, the online retailer will be penalized by Amazon. The SLA stipulates that 90% of all inquiries must be answered on time. This applies on weekends and holidays as well. Inquiries that do not require a response can be marked as such in your seller account. These will then not be included in the statistics.

Update: In 2018, Amazon announced that the response time would be removed as a metric. However, this metric remains important as it affects the customer experience and thus also the feedback.

Excursus: What Does the Future Hold?

The customer is becoming increasingly demanding when it comes to customer service. Customer support is moving more towards real-time support, and social networks have been setting trends for this for years. Thus, Amazon could also reduce the 24-hour window, and retailers should be prepared for that.

Tip: How Can You Shorten the Response Time?

The simplest method to speed up customer service is pre-written responses. Once written, they serve as templates for your customer support. Online retailers receive thousands of inquiries daily that can be answered quickly using templates.

12. Inventory

If your inventory is low or the purchase cannot be completed in a timely manner due to delivery difficulties, Amazon’s requirements are not met. The consequences are quite simple – purchases go to your competitor, and you lose the BuyBox. If sales are even canceled due to low inventory, your cancellation rate before order fulfillment increases, and the buyer is likely to give you negative feedback. Both of these lower the seller rating and thus also the chances of placement in the BuyBox.

Tip: Inventory Management is Key!

How can you counteract this? Very important: automatic inventory reconciliation. With your own warehouse and multiple sales channels, it is essential that the inventory is managed centrally in one place and automatically updated across all channels. This prevents overselling. Also, pay attention to purchasing trends and regularly check the inventory of the most popular items in your product range.

13. Dissatisfaction with Customer Service in Percent

“Dissatisfaction with Customer Service” corresponds to the percentage of customers who were dissatisfied with a response in the buyer-seller inbox. If you were unable to resolve the customer issue, your response receives a negative rating with a “No” from the customer.

Tip: 3 Ways to Avoid Dissatisfaction

#1 Refine the Perfect Response
The written word has its pros and cons. The advantages are obvious – you have enough time to think about your customer’s concern and write a message that answers all questions. Additionally, you can use this as a template for similar inquiries. The downside: The reader has a lot of room for interpretation. It is therefore your task to keep the messages to your customers simple while equipping them with all necessary information. Read your own responses carefully. Are you using clear words? Are you describing all necessary steps to resolve the issue? When the customer knows what to expect next, they feel more secure and wait before impatiently sending the next message or leaving negative feedback.

#2 Personalize Your Response
Every customer is unique, and they should feel that way. Address them by name and sign off with yours as well. Engage with the customer history so they know their concern is important and taken seriously. If you are also operating internationally with your products, add the finishing touch by informing them about customs and return policies, exchange rates, and delivery times.

#3 Act Proactively
You know the recurring issues with an order or when using your items. Act proactively and answer all questions about your products right on the detail page – this minimizes your support volume. Give the buyer confidence in selecting your items by providing all necessary information about the product.

14. Rate of Invoice Deficiencies

In 2020, Amazon introduced the rate of invoice deficiencies as a new metric. This refers exclusively to orders from business customers and describes the percentage of orders for which no invoice was provided in a timely manner. Invoices are considered to be provided in a timely manner if they arrive by midnight of the first business day after the day the shipment was confirmed.

Conclusion: High Requirements for Winning Buy Box

Placement in the BuyBox on the Amazon product page has a significant advantage – your items are prominently positioned, which greatly boosts sales on the marketplace. To win the BuyBox, the lowest selling price is not enough, as various factors come into play. Many of these factors have a common denominator – providing the customer with a perfect shopping experience.

Amazon prides itself on the perfect customer journey – high demands in terms of customer service are therefore completely understandable and, ultimately, also contemporary. The more professionalism you display, the higher the likelihood that you will either be the sole Buy Box winner with your items or compete for a larger share of the coveted placement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Image credits in the order of the images: © Lukasz – stock.adobe.com

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