Should you sell on a listing where Amazon is a seller?

Amazon is not only the marketplace; on many listings it is also a seller, buying from the brand and selling the stock itself. For a wholesale seller that is the toughest competitor there is. Here is how Amazon on a listing affects your sales, how to measure it, and the cases where joining the listing can still work.

Why Amazon is hard to compete with

• Price: Amazon often matches the lowest price it finds and can accept a thinner margin than you.
• Stock: when Amazon buys well, it is rarely out of stock, so there are few gaps for other sellers.
• The Buy Box: on many listings where Amazon sells at a competitive price, it holds the Buy Box most of the time.

The result: you may share the listing with Amazon on paper, but receive few of the sales.

“Amazon sells” is not one thing

Look at the Amazon price line on a Keepa chart for the last 90 days and you will see one of three patterns:

• Not selling: no Amazon offer. The listing is shared among third-party sellers only.
• Occasionally selling: Amazon appears and disappears, often because it runs out of stock. Other sellers make most of their sales in the gaps.
• Selling steadily: Amazon is in stock most of the time. This is the risky case.

Measure Amazon's share of the Buy Box

The most useful number is how often Amazon holds the Buy Box. If it wins it most of the time, the rest of the listing's sales are split among everyone else, and your share is small however many sellers there are. If Amazon wins it only some of the time, there may still be enough left for you.

When joining can still work

• Amazon is often out of stock, and the listing sells well in the gaps.
• Amazon prices above the other sellers and does not follow them down.
• The listing is very high volume, so even the share Amazon leaves is worth having.
• Your profit holds at Amazon's price: if you cannot make money at the price Amazon sells for, you will never win the Buy Box when it is in stock.

Even then, buy a small first order and watch how many units you actually sell before you commit. See how many units to order first.

When to walk away

Skip the product when Amazon sells steadily, holds the Buy Box most of the time, and sells at or below the price you need. Your stock will sit, pay storage and quite possibly become dead stock. There are plenty of listings where Amazon is not a seller.

Amazon's presence in every scan

Wholesale Analyzer reads each product's history and marks whether Amazon is not selling, selling occasionally or selling. When Amazon is selling and holds the Buy Box about half the time or more, the product is an AVOID. When Amazon is selling but holds it less often, it is flagged as a reason to review. Amazon's presence also counts in the score and the dead stock risk, and listings where Amazon is not selling show it as a strength.