> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Active Ads on No-Buy-Box ASINs, Amazon Ads > Ad clicks land on a Buy-Box you don't own, competitor wins the sale, you paid for the click. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it. **Metrics type:** [Key Metrics](/nerve-centre/overview#metrics-types-explained) • **Category:** [Ad Platform](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type) > Ad clicks land on a Buy-Box you don't own, competitor wins the sale, you paid for the click. ## At a glance > Count of ASINs that have **active ad spend AND less than 50% Buy Box ownership** today. The shopper clicks your ad, lands on the product page, and a competitor wins the Buy Box click, **you paid for the impression and they got the sale**. The single most expensive structural waste pattern on Amazon and one of the few hero-tier cards that demands same-day action. | | | | -------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **The formula** | `COUNT(ASINs)` where `(active_ad_spend > 0 in last 24h) AND (buy_box_percentage < 50%)`. The 50% threshold is intentionally generous, anything below 50% Buy Box means the merchant loses the click >half the time. | | **Reports API endpoint** | Two: ad spend from Amazon Advertising `POST /reporting/reports` (per-ASIN spend); Buy Box percentage from Amazon Selling Partner `GET_SALES_AND_TRAFFIC_REPORT` or the Pricing API (`getItemOffersBatch`). **Both connectors must be present** for this card to render. | | **What "Buy Box" means** | Amazon's auto-selected default offer. Whoever wins the Buy Box gets the "Add to Cart" click; everyone else has to manually click "Other Sellers". For most categories, >85% of shoppers click Buy Box. So \<50% Buy Box ownership = >50% of your ad clicks are sending traffic to a competitor's offer. | | **ACOS vs ROAS framing** | A no-Buy-Box ASIN with active spend will register as **inflated ACOS / depressed ROAS** because the spend is recorded but the conversion goes to the competitor (who Amazon doesn't credit back to your ad). | | **Attribution model** | Ad attribution still requires the click to lead to a sale on **your** offer. If a competitor wins the Buy Box, the sale doesn't attribute to your ad even though you paid for the click. | | **Brand vs non-brand keyword scope** | Both. Branded campaigns are especially painful here, you pay to defend your brand name, then a counterfeiter or unauthorised reseller wins the Buy Box. | | **Sponsored Products vs Brands vs Display vs DSP** | All four can advertise no-Buy-Box ASINs. SP is the highest-frequency offender (most spend, most ASINs). | | **Currency** | Account currency only (the lost-spend figure shown alongside the count). | | **Amazon-only attribution gap** | Not relevant; this card is about lost Amazon clicks specifically. | | **Time window** | `T` (today). The Buy Box state is checked daily; an ASIN that lost the Buy Box this morning shows up tonight. | | **Alert trigger** | `>0 ASINs (<50% Buy Box)`. Drives `sentiment_key: zero_conversion_spend`. Any non-zero count fires the alert. | | **Roles** | owner, marketing | ## Calculation Calculated automatically from your Amazon Ads data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading. ## Worked example A US home-goods seller, daily check on 12 Apr 26. Three ASINs are flagged. | ASIN | Buy Box % (today) | Ad spend (last 24h) | Likely cause | Action | | --------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | **B0CXX1234** ("Cooling Pillow, King") | 32% | \$84 | Unauthorised reseller listed at -\$2 below your price | Pause ASIN-level ads or reprice to recapture Buy Box | | **B0DXY5678** ("Memory Foam Mattress Topper") | 18% | \$156 | Out-of-stock at primary FBA warehouse; secondary seller has Buy Box | Pause ads until restock, or reprice if margin allows | | **B0EZZ9012** ("Bamboo Sheet Set, Queen") | 47% | \$42 | Brand-gated by registry but a reseller is competing | Submit Brand Registry takedown request + pause ads | | **Total wasted spend (24h)** | - | **\$282** | - | - | What's interesting: 1. \*\*$282 of wasted spend in a single day** = ~$8,460/month if not fixed. **This is by far the highest-leverage fix on the dashboard**, pausing the three ASINs takes 30 seconds; the recovery is immediate. 2. **B0DXY5678 at 18% Buy Box is bleeding \$156/day**. Almost certainly OOS at the primary FBA warehouse. Cross-check with [Active Ads on Out-of-Stock SKUs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/active-ads-on-out-of-stock-skus), these two cards often light up together. 3. **B0CXX1234 is the unauthorised-reseller pattern**, a competitor matched your price at -\$2 and stole the Buy Box. Decide between pricing down (margin hit) or pursuing a takedown (slower but cleaner). **Either way, pause ads until resolved**, otherwise you're funding the competitor's sales. 4. **B0EZZ9012 at 47% just barely fails the threshold**. If Buy Box ownership rebounds to >50% within 24-48h, the ASIN auto-clears from this card. Don't over-react to a single-day blip; investigate if it persists 3+ days. 5. **Branded campaigns advertising no-Buy-Box ASINs is the worst pattern**. People searched your exact brand name expecting to buy your product, and you sent them to a competitor's offer. Pause branded ads on these ASINs **first**. Quick sanity tests: * Count = 0: clean. Common state for accounts with consistent inventory and Brand Registry. * Count 1-3 isolated ASINs: spot-fix each one. * Count >5 ASINs: structural problem, usually a major OOS event or a brand-gating breakdown. Cross with [Active Ads on Out-of-Stock SKUs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/active-ads-on-out-of-stock-skus). * Same ASINs reappearing weekly: chronic competitor pricing pressure or unauthorised-reseller infestation; consider lowering the ASIN's bid floor or repricing strategy. ## Sibling cards merchants should reference together | Card | Why pair it with No-Buy-Box Advertised | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Active Ads on Out-of-Stock SKUs](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/active-ads-on-out-of-stock-skus) | OOS is a leading cause of Buy Box loss. The two cards often light up together. | | [Amazon Ads Zero-Conversion Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/zero-conversion-spend) | A campaign with ASINs in this card will appear here as zero-converting. | | [Amazon Ads Wasted Spend](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/wasted-spend) | The keyword-level twin of structural waste. | | [Amazon Ads ROAS by Campaign](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/roas-by-campaign) | Campaigns containing no-Buy-Box ASINs show as ROAS-anomalous; this is the explanation. | | [Amazon Selling Partner Buy Box Percentage](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amzn_sp_buy_box_pct) | The underlying Buy Box metric across all ASINs (not just advertised ones). | | [Amazon Selling Partner Inventory Health](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amzn_sp_inventory_health) | OOS is the main supply-side cause of Buy Box loss. | | [Amazon Ads Conversion Drop](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/conversion-drop-alert) | Sudden ROAS drops often correlate with this card going non-zero. | ## Reconciling against the vendor's own dashboard **Where to look in Amazon Ads Console + Seller Central:** [Amazon Ads Console > Campaign Manager](https://advertising.amazon.com/cm) does NOT natively surface Buy Box state. Amazon Ads and Buy Box data live in different consoles. [Seller Central > Inventory > Manage Pricing](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/inventory) shows current Buy Box ownership per ASIN. Filter to the ASINs you advertise; any below 50% Buy Box that have active ads should match this card. [Seller Central > Reports > Business Reports > Detail Page Sales and Traffic by Child Item](https://sellercentral.amazon.com/reports/business-reports), the "Featured Offer Percentage" column is the canonical Buy Box ownership figure. [Amazon Ads Console > Recommendations](https://advertising.amazon.com/recommendations), sometimes flags "low Buy Box, paused ads" suggestions. **Why our number may legitimately differ from a manual cross-check:** | Reason | Direction of divergence | Why it happens | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Timezone**. Both Amazon Advertising and Seller Central use **PT (Pacific)**. | None. | Amazon's reporting backend is in Seattle. | | **Buy Box volatility**. Buy Box ownership can change hour-by-hour as competitors reprice. | Card is end-of-day snapshot; Console shows live. | Pricing API returns a rolling-24h average to smooth volatility. | | **Report-generation latency** (1-3 hours per side). | Today's count is provisional for \~24h. | Both reports batch-build hourly. | | **API rate limits**. Selling Partner Pricing API is heavily rate-limited; large catalogues may have stale partial data. | Stale by up to 1 refresh cycle (\~4h) in extreme cases. | Pricing API is the bottleneck. | | **Brand Registry effects**. ASINs gated to a single seller via Brand Registry shouldn't trigger this card; if they do, the gating may have lapsed. | None, gated ASINs at \<50% Buy Box are a real alarm. | Brand Registry can lapse. | **Cross-connector reconciliation:** | Card | Expected relationship | What causes legitimate divergence | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [`amazon_sp.amzn_sp_buy_box_pct`](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amzn_sp_buy_box_pct) | Per-ASIN Buy Box %. The intersection of this card's ASIN list with the SP card's \<50% list is the same set. | None, these reconcile by definition. | | [`amazon_sp.amzn_sp_inventory_health`](/nerve-centre/amazon_sp/amzn_sp_inventory_health) | OOS ASINs typically lose the Buy Box. The intersection should be high (most ASINs in this card are also OOS). | An OOS ASIN with no other sellers stays at 100% Buy Box (no one else can take it); the card excludes 100%. | | [`google_ads.gads_zero_conversion_spend`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/google-ads/zero-conversion-spend) | No relationship; different ecosystem. | N/A. | | [`shopify.total_revenue`](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/shopify/total-revenue) | No relationship; Buy Box is Amazon-specific. | N/A. |
Edge cases and rare reconciliation issues * **Featured Offer vs Buy Box**: Amazon recently renamed Buy Box to "Featured Offer" in some surfaces. Same concept; this card uses Buy Box terminology for clarity. * **Variation vs Parent ASIN**: Buy Box is per-child-ASIN. A parent listing may show "100% Buy Box" because one variant has it; individual children can be at 0%. The card uses child-level Buy Box. * **Zero-offers-from-others state**: An ASIN with no competing offers shows 100% Buy Box and never appears here. The card requires at least one competing offer. * **Brand-registered gated ASINs**: should always be at 100% Buy Box. If they appear here, the gating has lapsed, investigate Brand Registry status. * **Wholesale / Vendor Central accounts**: Vendor accounts have a different Buy Box model (Amazon is the sole seller). This card is structured for Seller Central use; Vendor accounts will rarely see entries.
## Known limitations / merchant FAQs **Why does this card require both Amazon Ads and Selling Partner connectors?** The two data sources are independent: ad spend lives in Amazon Advertising; Buy Box state lives in Seller Central. Joining them is the whole point of the card. If only one is connected, this card shows "data incomplete". **My ASIN shows 100% Buy Box but used to be 32%, does it stay flagged?** No, the card is a current-state snapshot. Once Buy Box recovers above 50%, the ASIN auto-clears within 24h. Historical events are visible in [Amazon Ads Conversion Drop](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/amazon-ads/conversion-drop-alert) for retrospective diagnosis. **Why 50% as the threshold?** Industry rule of thumb. Below 50% Buy Box, you're losing the click more often than winning it. The threshold is configurable in connector settings; some accounts tighten to 70% (sensitive to even partial loss), others loosen to 30% (only flag severe loss). **My ASIN is at 47% Buy Box but I have a unique listing, why is anyone else competing?** Three causes: (a) **Unauthorised reseller**, someone bought your inventory wholesale and is reselling at a lower price. Pursue Brand Registry takedown. (b) **Counterfeit listing**, a fake matched the listing details. Report to Amazon. (c) **Used/Refurbished offers**, third parties may sell used versions at lower prices, splitting the Buy Box. **The fix is to pause ads, but I lose impressions and rank, is there a better option?** Two alternatives: (1) **Reprice** to recapture Buy Box (margin hit, but maintains rank). (2) **Switch ad targeting to ASINs you own outright** (preserves spend without sending traffic to a competitor). Pausing is the fastest fix; the others take longer but preserve more of the funnel. **Why doesn't Amazon Ads do this automatically?** Amazon doesn't penalise you for advertising no-Buy-Box ASINs, they still take your money on the click. There's no incentive for them to stop you. **This card is designed to surface the structural waste Amazon won't tell you about.** **Multi-marketplace, can I see all marketplaces in one card?** No, one card per Amazon Advertising account. Buy Box state is per-marketplace. **Why does this only check today, not 7D / 30D?** Buy Box state is highly volatile (hour-by-hour). A 7-day rolling average would smear the signal. Today is the actionable view; persistent issues are visible across multiple daily snapshots. **My count is zero every day, is that healthy?** Yes, ideal state. Common for Vendor Central accounts (Amazon is the sole seller) or for accounts with strong Brand Registry enforcement. *** ### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre *Active Ads on No-Buy-Box ASINs* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Amazon Ads and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. [Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.