What to Expect When Selling on Amazon – Putting it All Together

In these posts we've discussed the basics of Selling on Amazon, including how Amazon.com works, listing options, product data, images, shipping settings, accessory relationships and how to navigate the classification guidelines. The question many ask is "How do I put this all together for top performance and how do my options impact Buy Box eligibility?"

The decisions you make for each step of Selling on Amazon impact your performance standing, and your performance standing impacts your Buy Box eligibility. Yes, there are complex and proprietary algorithm systems that constantly monitor that performance for all sellers, and adjust for real-time results. No, there aren’t any formulas we can give you about earning the Buy Box, and there are no options for buying your way to the top (an often asked question).

However, you can take steps to increase the chances of winning the Buy Box. It’s all about performance.

Understand the playing field: Signing up for Selling on Amazon means signing up to present your products and offers to the Amazon.com buying population. Learn about Amazon.com, what makes it a unique and special retail experience, and how to present information in the best format to meet Amazon.com guidelines. Also learn what not to do by reading your agreement and referencing Selling on Amazon Policies. No shortcuts, tricks or gimmicks will work; the time tested best practices of great products at the best prices with excellent customer service are the keys to success.

Start right: Establish your account properly with complete information and settings, learn how to manage your product input and order output, classify your products correctly, and always think about what the buyer needs to know to make an informed and safe buying decision. Make sure you put your products in the right category and that you are listing your offer against the right product so the buyer is getting what they expect – and avoid refunds, claims and negative feedback. In many categories, how long you have been selling at high performance is a qualifying factor for the Buy Box – so you want to start right.

Evaluate your business practices: Price smartly, be wise in setting your shipping fees, make sure you have product readily available to meet shipping promises, and ship the right product on time. Avoid practices that cause negative feedback, claims and chargebacks, but when they happen, realize they are part of doing business and handle each in a professional manner. Need to get a sales track history? Consider offering a sale price or promotion on a product. The Internet is just another selling channel and, like all others, you need to grab the buyers’ attention.

Provide excellent customer service: If you are shipping the right product on time, you’ll reduce your chance of having to make refunds. That means having the products you’ve listed in stock, checking for orders at least daily, and shipping within the established timelines outlined in Seller Central. Having a track record of selling and shipping to the buyers’ expectations is a step toward winning the Buy Box. Another step is avoiding customer service problems. The online world is 24x7x365 and Amazon.com buyers are worldwide. Handle all issues and inquiries as if each buyer is your most important customer, and remember that they are buying in the Amazon.com environment where the customer always comes first. Review the Selling on Amazon Customer Communication Guidelines and always be courteous in your communications with buyers.

Deal with issues proactively: Refunds happen, but when they happen because you cannot ship the product that’s a problem. Things go wrong with orders, but when you do not handle the problem quickly and professionally, the chance for getting negative feedback arises. Getting A-to-z Claims means the buyers’ expectations have not been met, so avoid that by being in control of your listings at all times. All of the negatives are avoidable by ensuring proper listings, quantity of inventory to fulfill orders, and great customer service.

Putting it all together: Selling on Amazon is a low-cost, low investment, incremental sales channel that provides the opportunity to sell to millions of customers. Anyone can do it, but to be successful requires the effort to learn the processes and manage the activities.

The chart below outlines the factors taken into account when selecting the winner of the Buy Box.

• No single factor influences the outcome, so the best practice is to aim for peak peformance in each area.
• Being eligible to win the Buy Box does not guarantee you will win the Buy Box as various factors determine who wins.
• Being eligible and/or winning the buy box in one category does not apply across categories. Each has a different set of criteria.
• These factors and measures may be revised or updated at any time and Amazon.com does not guarantee that any seller will win the Buy Box

Note: the information here applies to sellers in the Selling on Amazon.com program and for more information about your performance metrics go to your Customer Metrics report in Seller Central.

Factor	What we evaluate	What we are looking for
Price	What do you charge for the product?	Low total price, including product price and shipping cost.
	How much do you charge for shipping?
Availability	How many do you have in stock?	Quick and consistent fulfillment.
	How quickly will you ship the product?
Volume	Do you sell many of these products?	Have a compelling offer and sell consistently.
Refunds	How often must you issue a refund due to merchant error?	Low refund rate due to merchant error.
Customer Feedback	How do your customers rate your service?	Low negative feedback ratings.
A-to-z Guarantee Claims	How often do you get returns on your orders?	Low number of A-to-z Guarantee claims.

Now that we've put the basics in perspective, we'll move on to the refinements. Coming soon: matching to existing products, promotions, gift services and everything you need to know about managing orders.

Cathi C.

CLARIFICATION: In context of this post, the reference to avoiding all of the negatives is related to those issues discussed that are within the selling company's control -- listing the right products in the right place, having the inventory available to fulfill, and the level of customer service provided to the buyer.

Comments

[Pedro]

I agree with MB 100%.

The adage that "the customer is always right" does not hold true all the time. Delays in shipping by UPS/FedEx/USPS/FBA, damage to goods by the same, weather...all of these items are out of our control. Furthermore, in this day an age, the EASE of complaining allows easily disgruntled customers to “vent” without recourse, what risk do THEY have...? The customer can recoup all dollars spent on the purchase AND complain for any reason. The point is, the playing field is not level.

That said, I have received only ONE neutral/negative (score of 3) during my 2 year history with Amazon. The complaint...that the MANUFACTURER of the product did not respond to queries about the product in a timely fashion...so I, the retailer on Amazon, received the poor review...

So tell me, how are we the retailers to handle that type of event? Should I offer the customer free goods as a form of payment to compensate them and ask for a retraction? I have no recourse from an event like this. So what I did (which is all that I could do) was to respond to the comment asking that the customer (and all future customers) contact me, the Amazon seller, for all future issues if they are unable to contact the manufacturer through regular channels. Certainly an honest, pro-active, and customer centric response by me...certainly an unfair and unwarranted negative mark on my seller rating....

[Customer Care Training]

Great information. You mention the importance of customer feedback and providing excellent customer service. What have you found to be the most efficient way of obtaining this feedback and do you feel that it is an accurate representation of the opinions of your customers?

[MB]

"All of the negatives are avoidable by ensuring proper listings, quantity of inventory to fulfill orders, and great customer service."

Sorry but this is completely untrue. The great majority of my negatives are from buyers who never contacted me and/or are for reasons outside of my control. I completely agree that great customer service and inventory management are essential to a successful amazon account, but your use of the superlative is honestly insulting.