After two weeks of trying to understand why my buy box win rate dropped from 85% to just 45% against a particular seller, I attempted to replicate their shipping settings to investigate further. I was finally able to duplicate his offer, and it surely seems like a manipulation. Maybe a mod can chime in or someone with a deeper knowledge than myself.

Sellers now have the ability to add multiple warehouse addresses across the United States through the new SSA shipping settings. As a result, customers are seeing shorter estimated delivery times. This flexibility benefits sellers who have legitimate multiple warehouse locations for faster shipping but raises concerns about those who might add "warehouse" locations that don't actually exist.

Currently, Amazon is not verifying these "other locations." This creates a potential loophole where a seller could, for example, use a relative’s address in Southern Florida as a shipping location while their actual warehouse is in Irvine, California. This "gray area" tactic is now being exploited by certain sellers to gain a competitive edge and secure the buy box. In my examples, it appears the other seller has added a "Shipping Location" in many major cities across the country. Customers in Los Angeles are given the same delivery date range as customers in Detroit, New York, Florida and Texas.

While a quicker delivery estimate could theoretically lead to an ODTR hit, sellers with a handling time of two or more days can avoid this risk. By setting a delivery date range, sellers can ship from their real location (provided they expedite shipping and ignore the handling time). This allows them to avoid late deliveries, while potentially securing a competitive advantage in the buy box.

In the long term, this approach will change your handling time "gap" but is that enough to stop bad actors from gaming the system?

Is this a violation of seller conduct?