Lost the Buy Box? How to Get It Back, and Keep It.

You’ve done all the hard work. Your customer chose your product from Amazon Search, or clicked on your advertisement. Your descriptions passed their test, your images look good. So they scroll down to click that orange “Buy Now” button.

Except that, right below the Buy Box button, under Sold By, is someone else—a reseller or distributor you haven’t given your blessing to. So that customer finishes checking out, and your product ships. You don’t control the packaging, product quality, or how they manage their channel. The entire customer experience from that moment onward is out of your hands. 

What your customer thinks of the packaging, the quality, and the rest of their experience with your product is in the hands of a seller who doesn’t care as much as you do, and doesn’t have as much to lose. What if they send a fragile item without enough packaging? What if it’s not the color your customer ordered? What if they are selling counterfeit, expired or earlier versions of your product? 

All of those things can affect your customer rating, reputation, and sales—on and off Amazon. But without the Buy Box, you control none of it. Are you comfortable with that? 

If not, this article is important, so pay attention. We’ll provide three steps to help you get the Buy Box back on Amazon, and one surefire way to make sure you keep it (you, or the authorized resellers you’ve given the green light to sell your products).

STEP 1: Use Brand Registry to Monitor and Protect Your Listings

When you’re on Amazon, you want to always know when you have the Buy Box, and when you don’t. Amazon’s Brand Registry can help you keep an eye on this. Bonus: It can also help you set up a list of who can and cannot sell your products. 

Here’s how to set it up: 

1. Are You Eligible? To qualify for Brand Registry, your brand must have an active registered trademark in each country you want to enroll in. This should be a text- or image-based mark using words, letters, or numbers.

2. The Sign Up Process: 

3. Go to Amazon’s Brand Registry website and sign in with your Amazon seller or vendor account. 

4. Once you’re logged in, select the option to enroll a new brand.

5. Fill in your brand's details, including the name of your brand, the registered trademark number, and the categories (product categories) in which your brand should be listed.

6. Provide the list of product ASINs (Amazon Standard Identification Numbers) that fall under your brand.

7. Wait for Verification: Once you enroll, Amazon will verify your brand details, typically by contacting the trademark holder or attorney listed on your trademark application. You may need to provide additional information or documentation as requested by Amazon.

8. Use Brand Registry’s Tools: Once you’re enrolled, you can set up a list of authorized sellers that Amazon must adhere to, and report anyone not playing by your rules. You can also monitor how your brand performs day to day. 

Want to go a step further than Brand Registry to secure your Buy Box and make sure no one else can sell your product without your permission? You need Transparency. To set it up, follow the steps in this article >>

STEP 2: Authorized Resellers Agreement

To make sure you have just one authorized seller who agrees to stick to your Best Practices, we suggest drafting an Authorized Reseller Agreement and having them sign it. 

Here’s how to do that: 

1. Draft Your Agreement: This agreement is something you'll need to create outside of Amazon, typically with the help of a legal professional. It should outline the conditions under which they are allowed to sell your products, such as: 

2. How to price your products. 

3. The packaging and shipping you expect. 

4. Your quality expectations. 

5. Any enforcement mechanisms you will use if they don’t comply with these guidelines, including the removal of their status as an authorized seller. 

1. Share It with Your Authorized Reseller: Once you’ve drafted your Authorized Seller Agreement, email it to the sellers you’ve given permission to sell on your behalf, and have them sign it. Make clear the consequences of violating these agreements, including how many strikes will lead to them losing their authorized status. 

1. Monitor Your Listings: Now that your authorized sellers have signed your Authorized Seller Agreement, make sure they stick to it! Monitor your listings, and follow up if you see any violations. 

STEP 3: Improve Your Performance Metrics

Amazon chooses Buy Box winners that give your customer the fastest shipping, at the lowest price. If you’re losing the Buy Box and haven’t set up Brand Registry, here’s how to make sure you are chosen over other sellers. 

1. Make sure your pricing is competitive. Being competitively priced is crucial on Amazon; it attracts more buyers and significantly influences your chances of winning the Buy Box.

2. Keep your products in stock. Maintaining enough inventory ensures that your listings remain active and signals to Amazon that you can meet customer demand without interruption.

3. How fast is your shipping speed? Quick shipping is a critical factor that keeps your customers happy and affects your overall performance metrics, which are important if you want to keep the Buy Box.

4. What’s your customer rating? A high customer rating reflects good service and product quality, contributing positively to your brand's reputation and Buy Box eligibility.

Need help in these areas? Our team are experts at keeping your products in stock and flying off the shelves on Amazon. See how we can help. 

STEP 4: Work With Amazon Fulfillment

A big reason Amazon favors certain brands over others in the Buy Box is shown in that first line below the Buy Now button: Ships from. If that line doesn’t say Amazon, your customer isn’t getting the fastest, most optimal shipping, and Amazon is less likely to prioritize it. 

To get around this, we suggest using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). In our experience, this is the fastest shipping method possible, and it tends to lead to the best customer outcomes. 

Here’s how to set it up: 

1. In Seller Central, select "Fulfillment by Amazon" under the "Inventory" menu and follow the prompts to activate FBA for your account.

2. Ship Your Products to Amazon: Prepare and send your products to an Amazon fulfillment center, following their guidelines for packaging and labeling.

3. Amazon Handles the Rest: Once your products are received, Amazon takes care of storage, shipping, customer service, and returns for those items.

Your Buy Box is your last line of defense when it comes to protecting your brand reputation and customer experience with your products. If you lose it, the consequences can reverberate across all of your channels. 

When a customer opens that brown, cardboard Amazon box, they want to see the product that they expect. Nothing damaged, out of date, or poorly packaged. Regardless of who sells it, the brand they’ll think of when they see it is yours. 

That’s why it’s critical you keep the Buy Box, or at least have a say on who gets it. 

Remember the best way to own the buy box is to restrict who can sell on this channel. The only way to win long-term is to have a single-seller strategy.

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Need help getting and keeping your Buy Box? Our team are experts at protecting your brand against authorized resellers, safeguarding your pricing, and keeping your products in stock. See how we can help. 

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