An Amazon repricer is a third party software that can be connected to an Amazon store to constantly monitor prices—including your competitors’ prices, while considering the minimum and maximum prices to work with. A repricer can automatically change the cost of your listings to ensure that it’s always competitive, but how does it really work?
Inventory
When connected to an Amazon store, a repricer starts communicating with Amazon through an MWS subscription. This is an API that communicates in two ways as the repricer receives two types of reports. The first type is the one that is relative to your inventory so that it will include the status, the quantity, and the fulfilment type of each listing. This report is just about your site; the software uses it to keep up with your inventory information, always keeping them updated.
Competition
When the repricing is active on a listing, and one of the top 20 sellers changes their price, Amazon will send the second report type to the repricer. This report shows the competitive scenario of each listing, including the price, shipping price, fulfilment, rating and handling time of each seller’s offer and who is winning the Buy Box. Thus, it is about everyone else on the listing.
Price calculation
When the Amazon storefront repricer receives the second report, it will analyze all the pricing information and calculate a new price on your item based on the repricing rule that you set. The price is calculated based on min and max prices that you choose, ensuring that you will never sell for a loss. After calculating the new price, the software will send this new price to Amazon with another communication.
Repricing speed
There are two sides to consider in terms of repricing speed. One is the pricing speed of the software or the time it takes for it to make the calculation. The other one is when Amazon needs to process the new price. Some repricers can do it faster and call it instant repricing as they can send the new price immediately. But then, Amazon still needs some time to process the new price, which usually takes about two to five minutes. In addition, Amazon might consider a price as too high or too low, thus temporarily deactivating your listing and putting it under potential pricing error because Amazon uses the min and max pricing that you have set on your seller central that is different from the one in the repricer. It also uses its own algorithm that checks other prices on Amazon and even prices on other ecommerce platforms.
Conclusion
Using a repricer is a great way to increase the chances of staying competitive, keep the Buy Box for longer, and make a profit. It’s crucial to choose a repricing tool that works for your needs, as automated repricing decisions take different factors into account rapidly and accurately. A repricer can help you focus on your core business rather than spend the day studying listings and manually updating your prices.
