Why is Amazon Hiding Prices for Some Listings? MAP Explained

Amazon is one of the most successful marketplaces and provides sellers a chance to expand their business online. When you browse Amazon, you may have noticed that some listings, either yours or your competitors’, lacked prices. This can occur for many reasons, such as the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) or the suppressed Buy Box button. Amazon can be very strict and may choose to hide the prices of listings for a variety of reasons.  

Here, we have listed the different reasons why you can’t see the price on some listings as well as potential solutions: 

 

What is the MAP? (Minimum Advertising Price) 

 

As you know, the pricing, especially on Amazon, is one of the major criteria that makes you stand out from your competitors. So, if the pricing is not shown on your listings that could be a huge problem. However, Amazon is not intentionally hiding the prices to sabotage sellers in favor of their competitors, it is probably because something has gone wrong.  

The first reason could be related to the MAP or Minimum Advertising Price. 

Basically, MAP is an agreement between Amazon and manufacturers that requires them to keep the prices of certain products consistent. This means that the price of a product must be the same across all retailers, including Amazon. This agreement is designed to ensure that shoppers have access to the same prices, no matter where they buy them. Because of this special agreement, Amazon is required to keep the prices of products from certain manufacturers hidden. 

To see the price, you need to click on the “Add to Cart” button and head to the checkout page. The reason for this is to prevent retailers from offering discounted prices on products from MAP-protected manufacturers.  

 

 

 

 

Why the MAP Matters to You?  

 

As a brand owner, the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) is essential when selling on Amazon. With the intense competition, resellers may be tempted to slash their prices in order to gain the Buy Box button. This can be damaging to your brand image and stop your business growth. By setting a MAP, you can prevent sellers to resell your product at too low of a price.  

We recommend you remain informed about this regulation and do not neglect it to avoid damaging your business or label. 

 

 

💡 Third-party Company Assistance 

 

 If you do not want to deal with the MAP and Amazon policy, because that is a lot of work to do, you can still decide to use a third-party company to take care of the maintenance of your online shop by updating your listings, protecting the prices of your brand and building your brand. 

 

The Suppressed Buy Box

 

When multiple offers exist on the same popular item, the Buy Box may alternate between different sellers, including Amazon depending on how competitive the offer is on that listing. However, the buy box may disappear on that listing when all the offers have higher prices than other eCommerce platform like Walmart. This is called Suppressed Buy Box and this is a way for Amazon to guarantee shoppers they only get the best avaliable price on its platform due to the Amazon Fair Pricing Policy. Although shoppers still have the option to purchase from third party sellers on a listing that is buy box suppressed. 

How to Get the Buy Box Button?  

Using a repricer can help you to deal with the suppressed Buy Box button. When the Buy Box is suppressed, you can choose how to adjust your price in the repricer. 

  • Do Not Reprice: leave Your Price unchanged 
  • Min Price + value: set Your Price according to your Min Price. 
  • Max Price – value: set Your Price according to your Max Price. 
  • Your Price +/- value: set Your New Price according to your current price 
  • Fixed Price: adjust Your Price to a fixed number 

 

Conditional Repricer to Target the Buy Box 

 

If you want to have a better chance to target and get the buy box with conditional repricer, we suggest you can reprice based on buy box wins percentage.  

What you need to do is to set up the condition “Buy Box Wins in the Conditional Repricer advanced parameters 

Then you can customize how you want the repricer to work. You can adjust the different criteria based on obtaining the most accurate repricing strategy related to the Buy Box. 

 

When you use Conditional Repricer, you can decide which BQool repricing rule suits you? You can create more specific conditions to refine your repricing strategy and adjust your prices at the buy box win percentage 

Finally, your rules must follow a logical, cohesive plan in order to be successful. Too many conditions that do not share the same logic will make it difficult for the Repricer to be activated. 

 

So now we know the multiple reasons for prices not displaying for some listings on Amazon. To avoid any negative consequences for your business, it is important to stay informed of any new regulations, changes and updates made by Amazon. Using tools and services to manage and optimize your online store can help you to achieve better results. This is why we recommend you use a Repricer software. Repricing Central offers a variety of rule combinations that can help boost your chances of obtaining the coveted buy box button. BQool Amazon repricer helps you take back control of your Amazon business. With BQool, you can automate price changes and ensure that your prices remain competitive 24/7. Plus, you’ll never have to worry about cursing out your competitors again! So, what are you waiting for? Try BQool today and kiss those competitive pricing headaches goodbye! 

 

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Pauline Thoméré

March 31, 2023
Pauline's passions lie in eCommerce and supporting individuals in their online selling endeavors. Currently, as a frequent contributor to the BQool Blog, she channels her passions into creating informative contents that break down the complex challenges Amazon sellers face on a daily basis.

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