FBA Mastery

How to sell books & more with Fullfillment by Amazon (FBA)

How to lose 70% of your Amazon sales in 1 minute

By 5 Comments

The disaster that can result from ONE customer leaving ONE negative feedback.

There are the obvious effects of negative feedback (having your Amazon account suspended), and there is one VERY big less-than-obvious one. I’m going to cover the less obvious one. And it’s happened to me.

It is estimated that 70% of sales on Amazon occur through the “Buy Box” – that box in the upper-right corner of the page that displays the price of a new copy of a book, and a used copy. 70 percent. That means you need to have your listing in the Buy Box, or for all practical purposes, it’s not even for sale.

The good news and the bad news

Here’s the good news: With books, Amazon only gives the Buy Box to FBA offers. So if you use Fulfillment by Amazon, you’re 90% of the way there.

Bad news: Amazon only let’s you have the Buy Box if you maintain rigorous performance standards. They will also give the Buy Box to a book selling for more than your copy, if the seller has a better history of satisfying customers.

The metrics Amazon uses to calculate who gets the Buy Box are both complex and not made public. But price is only one factor. Your seller performance is another.

If your “Order Defect Rate” (a way Amazon measures seller performance) reaches 1%, you lose the eligibility to win the Buy Box. After losing it, it will take 30 days with an ODR below 1% to be eligible again. That’s 70% of your sales – gone.

But there are other ways to lose the Buy Box too…

Don’t get comfortable – there’s more.

You don’t have to hit a 1% Order Defect Rate to lose the Buy Box. Amazon will give it to your competitor merely if their price is close to yours AND they have better seller performance. Basically, if they have better feedback and their price is the same or close to your offer, the Buy Box is theirs, not yours.

Last month I found out the hard way how true this is

Recently I got two negative feedbacks in quick succession. They were left in error, and it took me a couple days to have them removed. In those two days, I watched closely to my Buy Box placement, and it plummeted. In fact, I may have lost it for ALL my listings – I couldn’t find a single offer that Amazon would give the Buy Box to. It was brutal, and my sales went through the floor.

This is why every single negative (or neutral) feedback must be addressed vigorously. Its not just about that feedback score next to your store name. A single negative feedback can mean disasterous consequences for your short-term sales.

Endnote: The blueprint for repairing feedback is coming

Some years ago I almost lost my Amazon account due to a small wave of bad feedback, inspiring me to learn everything I could about two things:

  • Having feedback removed
  • Buffering myself against its impact by artificially increasing positive feedback.

What I learned inspired an upcoming 50-page ebook I’m about to release: Feedback Mastery: The Amazon Annihilation Feedback Repair System. You have so many more options for removing bad feedback than you realize.

I know feedback is a huge pain point for Amazon sellers, and I’m aiming to publish the bible on all things related to feedback, covering all angles. I may have missed something in this one, but I doubt it.

Update, January 2014: The ebook is out. Feedback Mastery: The Amazon Annihilation Feedback Repair System can be read here.

 

 

 

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Comments

  1. Steven says

    Hi I was under the impression that there is not a buy box for used books. Did I miss something? Thanks for all the great information. Always a pleasure to see an email from FBA Mastery.

    Reply

    • Peter Valley says

      There hasn’t always been, but there is now.

      Reply

  2. Bonnie says

    Hi Peter,

    I purchased Feedback Mastery previously (I think Jan 2015) – will you send an updated version to folks or should we purchase new?

    Thanks!

    Bonnie Sue

    Reply

  3. whitney says

    Great info! Thank you for this! Quick question…due to the fact that we don’t have surveillance on any book in our inventory that sits at the Amazon warehouses until sold, and due to the fact that we can’t supervise the process of being shipped, & received by the customer, where would you even begin with figuring out what went wrong if you got a feedback that said this… “This book was categorized as used very good. The binding is torn & breaking on the back. Very dishonest & greedy. I highly recommend looking for books elsewhere.” We all know, as sellers, having a long history of selling on Amazon & maintaining very good feedback, we wouldn’t risk any of that for a $20 book. So how do you even go about solving this without having proof that it was in very good condition when it left your hands & without knowing whether it was damaged by a warehouse worker or UPS or what? My 99% positive feedback for years has now gone in the hole for that one & one right after that which was for highlighting for a “used good” condition book, obviously due to the customer not reading the condition notes.

    Reply

  4. Mike says

    Thanks for the great article, Peter!
    Recently, my Order Defect Rate went above 1% due to buyers returning books. On Amazon sales page,I had already described in my detailed description “although book is Like New, access codes are not guaranteed with used items.”, yet many students still bought the books and returned them saying no Access Code.
    My feedback is still 100% positive. How do I bring my order defect rate to below 1% again quickly?

    Thanks so much in advance for your answer, Peter!

    Reply

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