"The buy box says this." Which buy box? Back in 2023, on the main stage in Columbus, Brian told a room full of sellers the buy box is multidimensional, and got a lot of confused looks. Amazon serves shoppers from regional fulfillment centers, so a shopper in Seattle, one in Miami, and one in Denver can each see a different price and a different seller. Keepa watches Amazon from one location, mostly New York, so the buy box line on your chart is one shopper's view.

This week Brian and Robin Joy introduce Sales DNA, a new feature in Profit Zones, approved in the Chrome Web Store and rolling out now. It is not a premium feature. Keepa still collects the inventory history of sellers who are no longer on a listing; it just doesn't chart it. Sales DNA puts it on a chart, and the result looks like a DNA test.

Then the careful part. A drop is not a sale, and Sales DNA doesn't call one a sale either. It counts steady stairstep inventory movement as inferred sales, at the price the seller had at that moment, and leaves out fulfillment center transfers, recalls, pricing errors and regating. Counts carry a plus sign because they run low: checked against our own sales, Keepa missed the first two days of one of our products. Evidence, not proof, and you still test.

Plus why the "bought in past month" badge leaves you guessing below 50, why Amazon shoppers aren't shopping on price, why you shouldn't drop Keepa, and a quote of the week from Sherlock Holmes.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Intro
• (00:24) Welcome back to the Modern Builders Network
• (00:39) Robin Joy's new Mac
• (03:14) OneDrive to Google Drive, with a plan
• (03:54) What's new: Sales DNA
• (04:36) Approved in the Chrome Web Store, free in Profit Zones
• (05:08) Writing the book is the easy part
• (05:35) Summer 2023: Mount Rushmore to Columbus
• (07:23) The multidimensional buy box
• (09:15) Build through testing, at low risk
• (10:09) Where the idea came from
• (10:36) Coaching calls were the real unlock
• (11:17) Almost 200 fulfillment centers
• (12:46) Keepa watches Amazon from one location
• (13:41) Buy box spread: 18 metros, about 40% of ASINs
• (14:03) Q4: expect more regional pricing
• (15:10) "Which buy box?"
• (16:27) A drop is not a sale
• (18:25) May 2025: the sales rank change
• (18:44) The "bought in past month" badge
• (19:29) Where are those sales going?
• (19:56) See more ways to buy
• (20:44) Amazon shoppers aren't shopping on price
• (22:01) The three-step check: in and out in 30 to 45 days
• (23:28) 1.5 billion ASINs, about 3 million with the badge
• (23:56) Product Finder and a trailing metric
• (25:05) How bigger sellers read velocity: inventory stairsteps
• (26:17) Historical offers with no data on the chart
• (27:14) The sellers who left the listing
• (27:52) Why it looks like a DNA test
• (28:22) Inferred sales: evidence, not proof
• (28:41) Keepa crossed this bridge long ago
• (29:13) What we don't count: fulfillment center transfers
• (29:52) Counting in ranges: the plus sign
• (30:09) Recalls, pricing errors and regating
• (30:52) Off script: deciding to cross the bridge
• (32:41) Robin Joy's question: In-Stock Head Start
• (33:16) Don't time the market, and panic pricing
• (33:51) Is Keepa becoming less relevant?
• (34:37) Keepa as a source of truth
• (35:27) Twenty dollars a month
• (35:34) Checked against our own sales
• (37:30) Receipts: the Keepa buy box
• (38:45) Live now: update Profit Zones
• (39:10) The jigsaw puzzle
• (39:53) Quote of the week: Sherlock Holmes
• (40:30) Theory first, then test
• (41:29) Don't rig your own results
• (41:54) Homework
• (42:10) Sign-off

Free tool mentioned: Sales DNA comes free with Profit Zones. Run the update, then go back through some of your own listings and look for the data that isn't on the chart.

Decide the price after you look at what moved, not before.

Run your own numbers. The Profit Tune-Up is free. Upload your Amazon or Seller Board data, or even a Seller Board screenshot, and get the same review Brian runs in a live coaching session. officialolsons.com

Everything else lives in one place. The newsletter, the coaching, the community, and the rest of the tools are all at officialolsons.com (all O's, no E's).

New episodes weekly. If this one helped, leave a rating. It is the single easiest thing you can do for us.

The New Era Reseller is part of the Modern Builders Network, hosted by Brian and Robin Joy Olson.

Become undeniable.

There's a lot of fear going around about using AI agents on Amazon. "Amazon says you can't." Brian went and read the actual rule instead. On March 4th, Amazon added Section 19, "Use of agents," to the Business Solutions Agreement, the one every seller virtually signed. It's not unclear at all. An agent is any software that takes autonomous or semi-autonomous action for you, which means a plain old Chrome extension counts. You can use them. They just have to identify themselves as agents, answer honestly if Amazon asks, and never try to get around Amazon's limits.

From there, the three doors into your seller account. Door one is the SP-API, built for exactly this. Door two is an extension riding on your Seller Central login, which should be tagging itself as an agent (ask your vendors). Door three is AI driving your browser, where nothing announces itself and you're in the passenger seat. Whichever door you use, the AI company didn't sign your agreement. You did.

Then the homework: go to Manage Your Apps and see who still has access. Brian found Helium 10, three old repricers, a lending vendor and an inventory recovery service, some untouched for years. Plus what Amazon opened on September 23rd (the Selling Partner plugin and Amazon Quick), why Brian's custom repricer can't change a price without his click, and whether an agent should write its own documentation.

On the shopper side, one data-driven creator asked AI chatbots for holiday gift ideas 4,500 times. Target got 37% of the store recommendations, Amazon 7.5%, Walmart under 1%, and LEGO showed up in 70% of the kids' answers. Based on what? We talk about verifying your sources, and what it means for resellers.

The quote of the week is from Bill Gates: automation applied to an efficient operation magnifies the efficiency, and automation applied to an inefficient one magnifies the inefficiency. Clean up the mess, write your SOPs, then go agentic. Give your AI the valet key.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Cold open
• (01:30) Welcome back to the Modern Builders Network
• (01:42) A weekend with Matt
• (03:27) Robin Joy's knitted gnome, and ChatGPT writing the pattern
• (06:04) Ask the agent "Can you do that?"
• (08:09) The fear around using agents
• (08:58) Section 19: Use of agents
• (09:43) A Chrome extension counts as an agent
• (10:36) Identify yourself: the agent tag
• (11:45) The school pickup analogy
• (12:59) Door one: the SP-API
• (13:56) Door two: extensions on your Seller Central login
• (15:13) Door three: AI driving your browser
• (16:27) A listing that wouldn't take, and why
• (18:02) They didn't sign your agreement. You did.
• (18:30) Like a prep center: it's still you
• (19:02) Has anybody been shut down?
• (19:42) Reading a report vs. changing your account
• (20:55) CAPTCHAs: no gray area
• (21:14) Audit Manage Your Apps
• (24:26) September 23rd: the Selling Partner plugin
• (25:26) Amazon Quick
• (26:49) What Amazon's plugin page says in writing
• (28:00) Why we build on the SP-API
• (29:20) Seller Assistant
• (31:04) Amazon's rules, then your rules
• (31:33) "Don't change my price" without a click
• (32:55) Train agents like employees
• (34:06) Should an agent write its own documentation?
• (36:06) The shopper side: AI gift recommendations
• (37:00) Target 37%, Amazon 7.5%, Walmart under 1%
• (38:14) Based on what? Verify your sources
• (40:22) LEGO in 70% of the answers
• (42:34) Straight to the brand's own site, and AEO
• (44:00) The lesson for resellers: test and diversify
• (44:46) The valet key
• (46:34) Quote of the week: Bill Gates
• (47:27) SOPs before agents
• (48:38) Become undeniable

Run your own numbers. The Profit Tune-Up is free. Upload your Amazon or Seller Board data, or even a Seller Board screenshot, and get the same review Brian runs in a live coaching session. officialolsons.com

Everything else lives in one place. The newsletter, the coaching, the community, and the rest of the tools are all at officialolsons.com (all O's, no E's).

New episodes weekly. If this one helped, leave a rating. It is the single easiest thing you can do for us.

The New Era Reseller is part of the Modern Builders Network, hosted by Brian and Robin Joy Olson.

Become undeniable.

Robin Joy has two predictions for Q4 2026. First, Amazon is going to have a harder time than ever keeping up with everything going in and going out: backorders, delivery dates that slip, Prime orders that suddenly take four more days. Second, regating, the same problem we've watched for the past two or three years, starting right about now in October. Both sound like bad news. Turned upside down, both are opportunity, if you know how to handle them.

Then Brian has you write one number down. Storage on a standard size item runs 78 cents a cubic foot January through September. From October 1st through December it's $2.40. Same shelf, same box, a little more than three times the rent. We do the math on camera (carefully) for leftover summer inventory that's still sitting there into December.

From there it's the plan. Why holding your price until your inventory is in the Prime window wins the order when other sellers' deliveries slip. What happens when the great Black Friday deal you found turns out to be on sale for everybody. The 10% rule for any one ASIN, and the multimillion-dollar seller who went five figures deep on one Q4 toy. Then your exits: multi-channel fulfillment, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, and FBM, which may be the most valuable on-platform outlet this Q4 and the one nobody picks in our webinar polls. Plus high pricing errors, and what to do when Amazon won't let you have the price you need.

The quote of the week is John F. Kennedy's, from the 1962 State of the Union: "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." And stay to the end for a birthday, a bonus quote, and the news that this is probably our last straight-up Amazon episode.

In this episode:

• (00:00) Cold open
• (01:12) Welcome back to the Modern Builders Network
• (01:47) Robin Joy's first Q4 prediction: backorders and late deliveries
• (04:05) Hold your price until your inventory is in the Prime window
• (04:53) Panic pricing and canceled orders
• (06:41) Prediction two: regating
• (08:33) Why a removal order won't rescue you in Q4
• (10:07) You need more outlets than Amazon
• (11:37) What do we do to keep our risk low?
• (12:22) No more than 10% in any one ASIN
• (13:06) One cubic foot, at Q4 rates
• (14:30) Write this one down: 78 cents to $2.40
• (14:53) Who it actually hurts: leftover summer inventory
• (16:07) Building months of storage into your cost
• (18:44) Going 100 units deep on one great deal
• (20:13) On sale for you means on sale for everybody
• (22:16) The Squishmallows story
• (24:32) Pick your percentage before you pick the product
• (25:46) Build your exits before you need them
• (26:24) Multi-channel fulfillment
• (28:33) FBM, the easiest on-platform exit
• (32:12) Have a plan
• (33:00) High pricing errors
• (35:10) Front doors, back doors, and fire drills
• (37:41) Quote of the week: John F. Kennedy
• (38:54) What does fixing the roof look like this week?
• (40:08) Off script: Brian's birthday, and a bonus quote
• (41:20) The last straight-up Amazon episode
• (42:06) Become undeniable

Tool mentioned: Profit Zones in PATH, where you can factor months of storage into your break-even cost (16:07).

Decide this week what you'll do when an ASIN gets regated, stranded, or stuck outside the Prime window, so that when it happens you just turn to the page.

Run your own numbers. The Profit Tune-Up is free. Upload your Amazon or Seller Board data, or even a Seller Board screenshot, and get the same review Brian runs in a live coaching session. officialolsons.com

Everything else lives in one place. The newsletter, the coaching, the community, and the rest of the tools are all at officialolsons.com (all O's, no E's).

New episodes weekly. If this one helped, leave a rating. It is the single easiest thing you can do for us.

The New Era Reseller is part of the Modern Builders Network, hosted by Brian and Robin Joy Olson.

Become undeniable.