After Amazon's new 3.5% surcharge announcement starting April 17, they should NEVER harrass sellers about matching "competitive pricing" on listings again!
After constantly increasing FBA fees and finding way to limit sellers profits, Amazon should never bug any seller with that annoying card about 'matching external competitive price' to in store retailers who do not have to pay the crazy amount of FBA fees us sellers have to pay. I will never participate in "match competitive price" just to get a buy box offer with basically $0 profit and all fees.
Amazon will implement strategies to protect themselves, but will not implement additional strategies to protect sellers. Do better. Period.
After Amazon's new 3.5% surcharge announcement starting April 17, they should NEVER harrass sellers about matching "competitive pricing" on listings again!
After constantly increasing FBA fees and finding way to limit sellers profits, Amazon should never bug any seller with that annoying card about 'matching external competitive price' to in store retailers who do not have to pay the crazy amount of FBA fees us sellers have to pay. I will never participate in "match competitive price" just to get a buy box offer with basically $0 profit and all fees.
Amazon will implement strategies to protect themselves, but will not implement additional strategies to protect sellers. Do better. Period.
14 replies
Seller_gBqzeZtQeTxtt
As I understand it, the Buy Box isn’t awarded based solely on having the lowest price. Amazon evaluates multiple performance factors, including fulfillment method (FBA or FBM), delivery speed (and whether your inventory is stored closer to the customer), order defect rate, cancellation rate, inventory availability, and overall customer service metrics. This means a seller with a slightly higher price can still win the Buy Box if their performance and delivery reliability are stronger.
Seller_jgC8GbcyEipBZ
Yes, you are right, but matching the competitive price doesn't mean you'll be 0 profit, in my case matching it means -4 CAD. I don't find words how to describe this approach from Amazon, their FBA fees are 150% of the product cost, yet they want to match external price which accounts only for the price of the product without shipping and moreover without FBA fees!!! Imagine that! The sellers price on Amazon consists of the product cost with shipping + FBA fee + sellers margin, yet Amazon references external price of only the cost of the product without the shipping, without the FBA fee and without the margin!!! What a clever business model!!! I wish I earned like this!!!!
Seller_rTAxflJvPFLKc
There is an ongoing investigation by the Canadian Competition Bureau into Amazon’s use of the “external competitive price” mechanism on the Canadian marketplace. This policy can affect how sellers price their products across different platforms, and the Bureau is examining whether it harms competition.
The Bureau is currently accepting input from all market participants, including sellers and consumers.
Public notice:
canada.ca/en/competition-bureau/news/2020/08/competition-bureau-seeks-input-from-market-participants-to-inform-an-ongoing-investigation-of-amazon.html (canada.ca in Bing)
Amazon previously faced similar scrutiny in the European Union, where regulators ruled against these practices. As a result, Amazon was fined and required to discontinue or significantly modify this type of “external competitive price” mechanism in the EU.
Seller_Q4hRTppHn7AVp
I have similar problem with one of my listings. The competitive price Amazon wants sellers to price the item is $4.99. And Amazon is taking $7.47 in FBA fees in return. How is that?
Seller_OrToVlWUM7tZr
Don't also forget Stealing the Buy Box repeatedly even at a higher price, automatically lowering your IPI by 20 to 30 points just like that even though they know people aren't and won't be buying like they used to with all the BS going on in the Economy and now they have the magical overnight 4am to 8 am delivery for Prime members what were they thinking ??? As if That's even remotely safe lol. If Amazon loves enforcing and eliminating pretty much everyone on here why aren't they also held accountable as we have to be ?? I agree with you 1000 % They DO need to do way better.
Seller_1idNlTUpfKbZW
That literally half killed our business. We cannot compete with Amazon on their sale price, they run out of stock, so they don't give the buy box unless we meet their current sale price that they had.
This is price manipulation by Amazon, and should not be allowed. It's ok to use it as a information tool to say hey, some websites sell for this much... But not to take away the buy box and pretty much all sales by not being the cheapest around.
For a while already Amazon has not been the cheapest place, it's about convenience, policies and trust. If they want to sell cheaper, they should do it themselves, if they can't, don't force us to!
