How does automatic repricing work on marketplaces?
Automatic repricing on marketplaces is the process by which a tool adjusts your product prices on its own in response to competitor prices, pursuing a defined objective: winning the Buy Box (where the marketplace uses one), maintaining a price position or protecting margin. In 4pricing a recommendation is applied after your approval; the automatic level, inside limits you set, is optional, off by default and depends on your plan.
Short answer
- A repricer periodically reads competitor prices for the same offer.
- It applies the chosen rule (undercut, match the median or margin over cost) and calculates the new price.
- A cost floor or minimum price stops the price from going below your margin, whatever competitors do.
- Automatic repricing tools write the new price straight to the marketplace; 4pricing does not write to marketplaces: an approved price reaches your system through a signed webhook or, on 4buildsite and 4shopy shops, is applied directly.
Repricing strategies used on marketplaces
- Undercut: your price is a configurable percentage below the cheapest competitor — aggressive, aimed at winning the Buy Box.
- Match median: you align with the median of the competitors' prices — neutral, no price war.
- Margin over cost: your price = cost × (1 + desired margin), independent of competition — defensive.
- Different strategies per product group: undercut for fast-moving products, margin over cost for exclusives.
The three repricing strategies, by how they compute the price and their profile
| Strategy | How the price is computed | Profile |
|---|---|---|
| Undercut | A configurable percentage below the cheapest competitor. | Aggressive, aimed at winning the Buy Box. |
| Match median | Aligned to the median of the competitors' prices. | Neutral, no price war. |
| Margin over cost | Cost × (1 + desired margin), independent of competitors. | Defensive. |
How the cost floor works
The cost floor is the minimum price below which the rule is not allowed to go, regardless of strategy. Example: if the undercut-calculated price would be 299 lei but your floor is 320 lei, 320 lei is used, not the reduction. This protects your margin when a competitor cuts its price aggressively. The chosen rounding, for example an .99 or .90 ending, is applied last.
Common mistakes
- Using repricing (automatic or via a recommended price) without a cost floor — you risk selling below cost.
- Applying the same strategy across the entire catalogue regardless of category or margin.
- Not updating the cost when your purchase price changes.
How 4pricing helps
4pricing.net calculates the recommended price per product group, based on your chosen strategy (undercut by a percentage, match the competitors' median or margin over cost), the minimum margin and the rounding you configure, and shows a verdict per group. The competitors are the ones you add yourself, by link, and out-of-stock ones are excluded from the calculation. The recommended price does not apply itself: you approve it in the panel, and the price goes to your system through a signed webhook — you apply it on the marketplace or in the shop and confirm through the API — or is written directly to shops built on 4buildsite and 4shopy. If you have linked no system, the price stays inside 4pricing. There is also an automatic level (autopilot), off by default, which applies prices on its own only inside the limits you set: maximum change, actions per day and minimum margin. If the price moved in the meantime the action is refused and nothing is written.