<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nOne of the issues that can occur when you DON’T close a listing when out of stock is that intermittent availability of stock happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means when Amazon finds a product they’d lost, or they process a return back into a fulfillable state your listing sporadically jumps back into the running in the Amazon A9 Algorithm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then when the “1 unit” that became available is sold, it’s gone again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then maybe this happens again in 24 or 48 hours and then again, and maybe again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately the Amazon listing is now “limping along”, getting sales for very few keywords and probably creating a weird and whacky data profile for the Amazon algorithm to weigh up against a million other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sporadic or weird data profiles are difficult for any Algorithm to handle predictably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes these types of impacts on algorithms can fall in our favour. Other times they can have weird affects that make trying to understand what’s going on impossible and any efforts to correct the ‘issue’ just lead to unpredictable results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The A9 Algorithm is a computer, not a human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you try and empathise with it for a second (because you’re a human with empathy) you’ll understand that you’re probably making life difficult for the algorithm when you feed it this kind of data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clean, consistent, predictable data is easier to read, understand and process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Messy data with interruptions will lead to unpredictable results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Should I Close My Amazon Listing When Out Of Stock on Amazon FBA?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIs there a negative impact to closing your listing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amazon says it retains your sales history – so that doesn’t appear to be a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The A9 Algorithm gets a clear “no availability” flat-line signal to process – it’s clean data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s difficult to see a negative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is there a positive impact to closing your listing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re going to be intermittently in and out of stock due to the availability of a few units here and there, it’s likely you’re going to be throwing off some sporadic data signals to the A9 Algorithm (we suggest, we don’t know!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So with very little potential for negative impact and a potential positive impact, it seems the logical approach is to close your Amazon listing when you run out of stock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a low effort action that ultimately could help you gain sales rank and keyword rank more quickly when your product returns into stock at Amazon FBA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n