Amazon making large discounts on our products without seller knowledge!
So how is this possible, 65% off, down to $3.99 and Amazon fees $4.15, so Amazon takes more money than cost of item!
13 replies
Seller_4zBzdtgCyS9EI
I don't know if this applies here, but from the buyer side I have recently seen offers that state "Amazon discount" as in AMAZON provides the discount of the product not the seller. So check payments for one of those products to see how much you actually got paid for it.
Seller_UP7RPk4lTouWA
You have set the selling price at $3.99, its not from Amazon side, you simply change the price from $3.99 to the price that you want to set and then save and finish. Or in the second case you have set the minimum price of your product at $3.99 and your buybox price was the $3.99 thats why Amazon set the lowest price, so you can get the buybox.
Seller_GPyQzL3sXyw6L
If you didn't put $3.99 in the selling price box, click on "view more" at the bottom and see if you have any automated pricing rule set up that may have lowered the price automatically.
I can't imagine that there is a rule set up that would drop it that low, but it's worth checking.
If there is a rule, check to see if you have a base price set up that you don't want to go below. Most likely, it's $3.99 and you may not have realized it.
Seller_LaXfWb19u77C5
Let me ask you this... if you lower the price of an item you pack and ship yourself, does the labor and cost of shipping somehow become cheaper? No. Cheap products does not cause USPS or UPS to reduce their rates to pennies. The postage and labor costs remain the same.
Applying that to your post - Just because you sell an item for cheap, does not mean the overall cost of Amazon's storage, labor and shipping fees, are going to fall in line and be dirt cheap. Shipping and the handling of your products, no matter how cheap an item is, isn't free; thus, Amazon is going to charge something for the cost to ship your products. Yes, it will be reduced if your prices are lower, but there is a minimum threshold to cover labor and shipping. You can see the breakdown of fees by clicking "Estimated fee per unit sold"
This is like a buyer complaining that shipping is more expensive than a cheap item they purchased. Yes, of course, because the cost of shipping doesn't change because an item goes on clearance/sale/ or is just inexpensive overall.
Seller_TBMkRc7vowG3N
From what you are showing, there is a functionality that is on your end causing your price to drop to 3.99. If you have any 3P Software I would confirm your minimum and maximum price in the software. Additionally, if you are using repricing tools ensure that you have Minimums in place as any competitive offer that you are programmed to go lower than will absolutely drive you down without a minimum in place.
Check auto pricing on Amazon as well and set your Min and Max in Amazon. If your price goes below the minimum it will kick out your listing. Obviously you dont want to remove the listing for long but if it helps you catch it before it sells at a loss thats the best move. When you change the price remember it can take 15 minutes to an hour for it to reflect.
Lastly, a few others mentioned as well but Amazon does actually have the ability to discount your product. When they do this it is typically to drive traffic from other sites to Amazon for items with growth potential trending up in the rankings. When they discount an item this way it would be clearly marked as discounted by Amazon and they actually compensate you for the discount meaning you still collect what you were listing for and they cover the difference from the your list price, less the consumer purchase price.
Danny_Amazon
Hello @Seller_micqs6u8ObDaR- and thanks for surfacing this inquiry here on the seller forums! I appreciate all the sellers chiming in with their experiences as well!
I hope their guidance was able to help you update this price through the system. If not, you may be interested in these instructions for setting minimum and maximum prices, setting your shipping rates, or reading about Amazon funded discounts.
Thanks again for turning to the forums for guidance, and I do hope this information helps!
Best,
Danny
