Every product shows its price history in three boxes, one above the other, on the same dates: Buy Box (the price), Sales rank and Offers. Read them together: a price only means something next to how fast the listing sells and how many sellers share it. The buttons above switch between 90 days, 1 year and All time.
The price box
- The Buy Box line is the price most sales happen at. Its header reads today's price and how far it sits from its 90-day average, such as "$16.33 today · 3% above its 90-day average". A price well above its average tends to come back down.
- Amazon and New are drawn as their own lines: Amazon's own offer, and the lowest new offer from any seller. A gap in the Amazon line is time Amazon was out of stock.
- A line that steps down week after week is a falling price; a line that holds flat for months is a steady one. Compare today's price with where the line spent most of the year before trusting today's profit.
The sales rank box
Sales rank is where the listing stands in its category: #1 is the best seller. Lower is better, and each sharp drop in the line is usually a sale. The header gives the rank and how many sell a month, such as "#5,600 · about 95 sold a month". See From sales rank to sales a month.
The offers box
The number of sellers on the listing over time. The header says today's count, how many can win the Buy Box ("3 can win the Buy Box") and whether Amazon is selling. A rising line means more sellers to share the sales with. See The Buy Box and your share.
What the PO Assistant marks
Run the PO Assistant on a product and it draws marks on these boxes for the moments that matter, on the side rail's chart and in Price history:
- Break even, a dashed line: the price where your profit is zero after fees. Below it you lose money.
- Usual range: the narrowest price range that held 70% of the in-stock days over the last year, carried forward from Today to the day your order arrives.
- Today and Arrives: now, and today plus the supplier's lead time (14 days when none is set).
- Out of stock and Amazon selling: shaded spans.
- Sellers piling in: a pin on the offers box, such as "+5 sellers".
- Price war: the Buy Box down 10% or more within 30 days while sellers rise.
- Spike: 15% or more above the usual range for under 3 weeks.
A read's Things to know are numbered to match these marks. See the marks on the chart.
A worked example
A 2 lb bag of candy. The price box shows the Buy Box between $14.69 and $15.29 for the whole year, a narrow usual range, with break even at $9.80 far below. The rank box sits near #5,600, with a sharp drop most days: about 95 sold a month. The offers box shows 2 sellers until August 3, then 1. Read together: a steady price, steady sales, and now one other seller to share with. That's a market worth buying.
Split evenly with that one seller, about 47 a month is yours. For 45 days that's about 71 units, so with cases of 12 a PO Assistant read would suggest 6 cases for 45 days.
The opposite reading: the Buy Box fell from $22 to $16 over six weeks while the offers line climbed from 3 to 9. That's a price war; see Price wars and falling prices.