I’m the manufacturer and seller. This is a unique product that has no direct competitors or copycats. One other site has this product at the exact same price (i.e., they’re honoring my MAP). Despite this, Amazon is convinced that the “price is higher than typical.” Because of this, there is no Buy Box on the listing but instead it has the dreaded “See All Buying Options” button.
Has anyone had any luck challenging this “high-price” determination with Amazon?
Are there any other sellers in the “See All Buying Options”?
Do you know if there is anyone doing a drop ship style listing on another Amazon marketplace that could be messing with pricing?
Does the list price match the regular sale price? (Do you have the list price completed on the listing?)
If not, then probably another Amazon glitch. We have seen others complain on this over on NSFE with no resolution ever given other than to open a case.
Are there any other sellers in the “See All Buying Options”? A: No, just me.
Do you know if there is anyone doing a drop ship style listing on another Amazon marketplace that could be messing with pricing? A: Possibly. I have a distributor selling a smaller, less expensive version (though different SKU, UPC, etc.). However, the version I’m lacking the Buy Box for is the mid-range; the largest, priciest version has the Buy Box.
Does the list price match the regular sale price? (Do you have the list price completed on the listing?) A: You may have directed me to the problem. The “Minimum Advertised Price” I had on the listing is lower than the “Your Price” (likely due to me raising the “Your Price” in the past without adjusting the “Minimum Advertised Price” accordingly). I’ll make the change and see what happens.
Thanks!
Amazon bot may not make the distinction between the two and could be the problem.
Hopefully, changing the “Minimum Advertised Price” will do the trick.
Please update with the results when you know them.
In this case, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. If the customer looks for it elsewhere for cheaper, they won’t find it.
Depending on the type of product, the typical customer may not know anything other than clicking the BB.
A tech item? Not a problem. Something aimed at senior citizens? Could be an issue; especially the ones that rely on Alexa or similar systems.
I sell DIY products and my customers are from roughly 18 to 65, some preferring to communicate by phone (ugh) to those wanting to communicate via text, preferences which typically differ by age. Oh, and they also vary from those who are sure they can do the installation to those who actually can. 
Amabots are not smart and compare items with other similar looking items (similar part numbers, for example) as though they were the same things.
I started noticing this in 2021, after Amazon ramped up their use of price bots to combat Covid gouging.
Sure, but when they believe the bot and go looking elsewhere, they won’t find it, unless what you’re selling is exactly what everyone else is selling. If this is a unique product (as OP says it is), they will have to buy from OP. Good luck finding it anywhere else.
I just saw this happen to a competitor of ours. They were down (no buybox) for about a week post BF/CM. Helium 10 showed their buybox at $209.50 for a $14.99 item. There were no offers at $209,50. Assuming it was some sort of glitch that eventually worked itself out because their listing did come back. Hopefully the same happens to you soon…. Good Luck
I had this exact thing happen to one of my listings and I’m the manufacturer/seller as well. Input costs went up so I raised my price accordingly. Amazon didn’t like it and did exactly that. I didn’t let them push me to lower my price and left it alone. It took a couple weeks but it went away, then they gave me “Amazons choice” back again. I definitely lost sales but I won’t let Amazon dictate pricing on my own products.
The issue is the listing doesn’t look appealing anymore. Amazon basically makes it look like you are trying to rip off customers. If I was a potential customer, I would move on to something else (and they did).
Strongly disagree. Items without buy box do not get surfaced in search. I also believe that having a low BB% affects all your listings’ visibility. And the error message that Amazon sometimes throws up (something like “this seller blows, so don’t buy this”) would scare off customers from alternatives with the buy box.
I found an item earlier today that someone had listed years ago for too cheap. We are the only seller on the ASIN. I updated the price to about what a normal min price should be, then updated the info in my repricer. By the time I finished doing that, Amazon had updated the price on the listing, pulled the BB and posted this “Price is too high! Do not buy, these sellers are greedy!” message.
Removing the BB was (relatively) innocuous from the perspective of biasing customers against purchasing the item. Sure it made it harder for customers to buy the item, harder to find the item, etc. but it didn’t prejudice customers against buying it. This message absolutely does.
I’ve been buying on Amazon recently. I have to disagree with you, Items without a Buy Box appear when I search. And I never go beyond the first 2 pages of search results.
Must be the number of results that factor in, and your distance to the servers which are returning results to the search.
Back when Amazon provided some technical details on their search, like in 2008, they shared that the number of results found were limited by a timer and only the responses from the servers which arrived within a fixed time period would be included in the results.
Just another reason why the search results are not predictable and reproducible some or all of the time.
I agree that a listing without a Buy Box turns off some buyers.
