Amazon added a price-comparison feature that it told sellers would help increase their chances of winning the Buy Box. The announcement came on Friday.
“With the newly launched Pricing Status feature, you can view how your price compares to other prices on Amazon or outside of Amazon in the Price + Shipping column on the Manage Inventory page,” it stated. “The Pricing Status will show how your price compares to the Featured Offer, Competitive Price, and the Lowest Price. You can choose to match any of these prices by clicking on the ‘Match’ button next to the respective price.”
Sellers noticed the new feature in early January and discussed it in this thread on the seller discussion boards. One seller shared a screenshot that showed how Amazon described the three pricing status definitions as follows:
Featured Offer
The Featured Offer (Buy Box) is the offer at the top of a product detail page, which customers can buy now or add to their shopping carts. Sellers must meet performance-based requirements, including pricing competitively, to be eligible for Featured Offer placement.
Competitive price
The competitive price is the lowest price for this item from other major retailers outside Amazon. It does not include the prices from other sellers in the Amazon store. To be considered competitively priced, your Price + Shipping must be less than or equal to the competitive price.
Lowest price
The lowest price is based on your Manage Inventory preferences, which allows you to compare offers using the following variables: listing condition and fulfillment method. To filter the listings, go to “Low price comparison” section in Preferences.
Amazon said in Friday’s announcement, “To increase your chances of becoming the Featured Offer (Buy Box), consider pricing competitively by setting your Price + Shipping to be less than or equal to the Competitive Price.” You can view the full announcement on Amazon Seller Central – let us know what you think.
