1. In your listing information page, did you change the pricing in one or two boxes. Your Asking Price and Retail Selling Price.

If you only change your asking price, and the retail selling price stays the same, the Autobot thinks you are selling for more that the retail price of the product.

2. The Buy Box is not a right or a given. It is run by an Algorithm Bot that giveth and taketh away. Sellers seem to enjoy it when they have it, and then complain when they do not. But when a seller is disappointed with the loss of the Box, they seem to forget, another seller is happy with that loss, because it is their gain. It is like the old Clairol TV add used to say, "Only your hairdresser knows for sure". Now just replace the hairdresser with Amazon.

3. THOUGHTS ON ADVERTISING

The answer can be found by going back one step. Why do you have to use advertising? The bottom line in advertising that no vendor will tell you is this. Advertising will not help to sell a dead product that no one wants, and if you have a good selling product it is not necessary. The reason this is not stated is because the vendor can’t make a profit unless sellers buy into the plan. Now, think about where your product in question fits in.

Did you test sell the product for a month using FBM to find out if it was going to be a good seller. After all, you would not want to buy advertising without having a base like to assess the effectiveness.

When you bought the product, you knew the profit that had to be made on each unit. You knew all the selling and shipping fees that had to be paid on each unit. You set your selling price based on this information. Then you start selling. Anything else you spend is directly subtracted from your profit. So now, with open ended PPC, how much profit are you losing by giving it a way to an advertising scheme?

Amazon selling is simple. Sell only products that buyers want and need. The lowest price offering will sell before the higher price offering. Are you the lowest price offering, or do you have to ask a higher price to pay for the advertising.

Do you have surplus income from sales to actually create an advertising budget? Amazon is very good as selling advertising products to sellers who want to succeed. But Amazon’s efforts are designed to keep your mind off ot your real bottom line, YOUR PORFIT.

Amazon does not make its profit from the buyers; they make their profit from the sellers. The more Amazon can sell you the more Amazon makes. Amazon wants you to sell with competitive pricing often quite higher than the lowest price offering. That way, Amazon can sell you the advertising so you can keep your price higher. All the while knows the lowest price offering will always sell before the higher price.

You are a business. Business’s that purchase advertising have advertising budgets; a portion of the already earned profitable income is set aside for advertising after business expenses are paid. If you do not have the surplus income, the money you pay the advertising vendor will come from subtracting from your future profits. If you do not keep this fact in the forefront of your mind, an online business can go downhill fast.

Remember, it costs no more to succeed in online retail sales as it does to fail in online retail sales. The difference is the amount of knowledge you possess to put forth in your endeavors. Always think about what you are attempting to do.