Lost Buy Box eligibility and No sales
We lost Buy Box eligibility a few weeks ago. Even though our metrics are perfect and no other issues have occurred. Since we sell books and many, Not all, are Used, we would normally still see sales w/o BB. This time, sales have dropped to 0 to 2 per day. I called for help yesterday creating Case#15147754621. The Associate gave the usual reply "we can't tell you anything". He did basically admit we had to switch to FBA. Afterwards he tried to walk back the statement, but the message was clear. We can not go FBA, we are too small. There are other reasons also. I am seeing other FBM sellers getting Featured Offer so I'm here to beg for help. Please? Thank you, V. from Senior Dog Rescue
Lost Buy Box eligibility and No sales
We lost Buy Box eligibility a few weeks ago. Even though our metrics are perfect and no other issues have occurred. Since we sell books and many, Not all, are Used, we would normally still see sales w/o BB. This time, sales have dropped to 0 to 2 per day. I called for help yesterday creating Case#15147754621. The Associate gave the usual reply "we can't tell you anything". He did basically admit we had to switch to FBA. Afterwards he tried to walk back the statement, but the message was clear. We can not go FBA, we are too small. There are other reasons also. I am seeing other FBM sellers getting Featured Offer so I'm here to beg for help. Please? Thank you, V. from Senior Dog Rescue
0 respuestas
Seller_kNAboD6kRgVt7
There are many factors in play to get the Buy Box, and no one can tell you the secret recipe. Since you are a "small" seller, you may be getting pushed out by the giant thrift ones. I have been selling here for 25 years and never had the Box. Not even if mine is the only copy. Other factors can be shipping speed, etc etc.
Amazon has been hinting that we should all go FBA, so make sure you have another basket or two for those eggs.
Seller_nRFmxiQg4EGrw
Have you completed the INFORM act renewal for this year?
We lost FOE last year when the INFORM stuff started; not sure if it was connected or not (timing was slightly off). But about a week after completing everything, FOE came back.
There have been other reports of people losing FOE for about 3-6 weeks, for no apparent reason. Hopefully yours comes back soon.
And yeah, it hurts quite a bit.
Seller_roNdLQpqbVoOH
That's no longer a guarantee either.
Automatic Buy Box eligibility was originally an FBA "selling point," but I've seen enough sellers come here to say that their FBA offerings fluctuate between eligible and not eligible, to know that that's no longer true.
As for me personally, my eligibility staggers like a drunken squirrel between "no" and "yes" with a somewhat regular irregularity (for no discernible reason).
Which is fine with me because, as a rule, I don't want to be in the Buy Box. I do believe that's where a lot of returns originate from.
I want a buyer to seek out my offer, easily read my description, see my book image, and choose my copy. Not possible when in the Buy Box. I'd just rather not sell to someone who depends on Amazon for "recommendations."
Seller_B5uhO3kHCMDFy
I am having the same issue. Can a moderator escalate our case as well. All buy box eligibility lost after having done the reverify Inform act. The exact same thing happened last year when I verified. I lose buy box "eligibility" across our entire account and thousands of ASIN. Nothing changed with listings and it was corrected fairly quickly last year after reaching out. The problem is I am contacting seller support and they seem to think I mean winning buy box. I am not asking about winning buy box. I am asking that all listings are restored to "eligible" for buy box. These are all the same listing that were eligible one day then all not the next day and back and forth. It makes no sense.
Case ID is 15150914911 and I thank you in advance.
Seller_UHVnOVHF8YpEx
It's insane how Amazon allows other sellers to push us out, but there are ways to win the buy box back, such as adjusting your handling time, or quantities of books. You can even try adding something free onto the listing, such as a bookmark or whatever. This helps keep some other sellers from latching onto your listings like the leeches they are.
Stevie_Amazon
Hi there @Seller_oF5HB95OyJK1x,
Thank you so much for reaching out in the Forums. I am engaging a Community Manager to review this situation further.
All the best,
Stevie
Seller_5tHvyB7e5ELWT
I sell mostly used books, and my sales over the last few months have gone down to almost nothing. I need this to supplement my Social Security so this is a real concern for me. I don't know about the "buy box" so don't know if I ever participated in it. Any suggestions?
Seller_Lxv57WhcjmRJQ
Hey, sorry to see this :( We've been selling books here for many years, and the same happened to us a few months ago, we lost BB eligibility due to a couple of A-Z guarantees. We were still well under the 1%, but lost eligibility for a few weeks. It's a rolling 60 day period, so negative marks should drop off after 60 days and your metrics should be strong again. At that point they hopefully will reinstate your Buy Box Eligibility. So look at your health/metrics and see what may be going on there? As for FBA, we tried it; we sent 500 boxes of books to Amazon for FBA. They sold about 50% of them for us, then returned the rest to us after 6 months, and we paid exorbitant shipping fees, but we wanted our books back. Most are new academic books, etc. So a costly lesson for us. Not saying that would be the same scenario for you necessarily? Just do your homework, understanding that FBA is not a warehouse, they are about fulfilling orders. They do not want our books taking up space for more than 6 months, so if you have books that you know will be a quick turn, then FBA may be an excellent source for you. Hope this helps, and good luck to you!
Seller_C2NiEkAU4xTGT
Many FBM sellers, particularly book sellers are having this same issue. Lost Buy Box/Featured Offer Eligibility for no apparent reason.
I really think Amazon is trying to force us to do FBA or to leave. It is getting very difficult to sell books here for small/medium sellers.
Seller_YBfUTeoG971hG
One of the things that is happening is that listings for print-on-demand copies of otherwise out-of-print books are flooding the market and it takes Sherlock Holmes to find the "real" copies among all the dross. Even the Advanced Search (which most ordinary buyers don't know about or use) is coming up empty when we all know the listing is there because we have a copy on offer.
Did anyone else in bookworld get the Amazon survey for booksellers a few days ago? It asked about what was making bookselling on Amazon more difficult than it was in the past. I told them, pretty forcefully, that one of our major problems was that older edition of books were increasingly difficult to find. But as with most Amazon seller surveys, I don't expect that anyone is listening.
