Selling on Amazon isn't as simple as many believe it to be.
For once, when you're just starting off, your FBM listings won't ward you the buy box... even if you're the only merchant selling it!!
Crazy, right?
Don't worry - I got you!
Check out this video where I share tips & tricks that worked for me & helped me get the buy box on my print on demand listings that I was using Printful & Gearbubble to fulfill.
Before you know it, you'll own the buy box on your FBM POD Amazon listings :)
How To Win The Buy Box
The "buy box" is a weird concept when you're just learning how to sell on Amazon.
I remember how confused I was back in the beginning of my journey as an Amazon seller.
Let me clear it up for you - Amazon's catalog was designed with the intention that there could be multiple sellers selling the same product, but from the customer perspective, they'd only be buying from 1 of those sellers when they check out.
This will create competition amongst sellers to get the sale, and Amazon algorithmically determines who should win the sale by awarding them the "buy box", meaning should the customer make a purchase, that seller gets the money & fulfill the order.
Their algorithm factors in a bunch of things such as seller history & account standing, selling FBA, as well as price. Amazon LOVES its customers (way more than it loves its sellers), so if creating a pricing war will benefit the customers, rest assured Amazon will probably do it.
But what if you're the ONLY seller on the listing?
Believe it or not, you're still NOT guaranteed to own the buy box, even if you created the product listing.
Getting The Buy Box As A New Seller
When you don't have the buy box, this is what you see:
This is often the case for new print on demand sellers using a GTIN exemption to sell fulfilled-by-merchant (FBM) products on Amazon.
When they view their product listings, they don't see the "Add to cart" button! How annoying is that?
There's no way to guarantee that you will win the buy box by doing the following, but over time, it tends to work out for everyone that actually sees this list through:
- Get as many sales as possible to build positive seller feedback from customers
- Getting sales also shows Amazon that you're "trustworthy", assuming your order defect rate & return rate remains LOW
- * Try selling sFBA products in the category that you're selling FBM products in *
Item #3 is "the big one": I was trying to sell coffee mugs initially on Amazon, using my Amazon Merch designs, to maximize return on the time spent making them.
Coffee mugs were listed in the home & kitchen category, and many sellers attempting to do the same as me were finding success by buying & re-selling cheap paper popcorn bags as FBA (to get quick sales at a minor loss) in Home & Kitchen.
So I purchased popcorn bags in bulk, re-labeled them & sent them back to Amazon for FBA (so silly...).
* click to expand
Sure enough, between doing that + building up my Seller Central account through the various FBA products I was also selling, I was awarded the buy box within about a month of making my first popcorn bag sale.
* Note: When you're awarded the buy box, it will instantaneously be applied to all of your FBM POD listings where you're the only seller competing for the buy box (as is often the case when you're creating your own listings through integrations such as Printful.
Join Printful today to start selling print on demand products on Amazon »
When you finally DO have the buy box, this is what you see:
Owning the buy box on your listings should absolutely increase your conversion rate, as it removes unnecessary additional steps for your customers to buy from you.
Thus, you should make winning the buy box a high priority!
