Short answer. bol does not show an offer that it considers not publishable. The reason that occurs most often and is easiest to fix is "price too high" (code 4000 in the Retailer API): your price is above the band bol considers reasonable for that item. Such an offer is not in the buy box and not under "other sellers" either. So it sells nothing, while your stock and costs keep running. Check weekly which offers are hidden, bring the price back within the band, and let your floor price decide how far you go.

What "not publishable" means

An offer on bol has two states that are often confused. Not in the buy box means a competitor has the box with the "Add to basket" button; your offer still sits behind the link to other sellers. Not publishable means bol does not show your offer at all. Per offer bol gives one or more reasons. In the seller account you see it as a notice on the item; via the Retailer API it sits in the offer's notPublishableReasons field, with a code and a description per reason.

The reasons fall into two groups. Price reasons you solve with a price. All other reasons (missing or rejected content, a blocked EAN, an item bol no longer sells, stock at zero, a condition that is not allowed) you do not solve with a price, however low.

"Price too high": what bol does

bol compares your price with what the item costs elsewhere: at other sellers on bol and, as far as bol knows it, outside. If your price is far above that reference, bol hides the offer with the reason "price too high". That is not a penalty and not a score; it is a threshold that moves with the market per item. If competition drops, a price that was visible yesterday can be hidden today without you changing anything.

Three things are good to know:

  • The threshold is above the buy box price. A hidden offer is therefore not "just beside" the buy box but clearly above it.
  • Recovery is immediate. As soon as your price is back within the band and bol has processed the change (write actions via the API are asynchronous and usually take seconds to minutes), bol shows the offer again.
  • The band is per EAN. A range of a thousand items has a thousand different thresholds; tracking by hand only works for small catalogues.

Why this happens more often than you think

The classic cause is a price increase that went too far: a new purchase price, a VAT correction, a shipping surcharge, or a rule that applied "up when I have the buy box" without a ceiling. The second cause is the market itself: a competitor with a clearance sale pulls the reference down and a whole series of your items falls outside the band at once. The third is promotions that expired unnoticed: the promotional price ended, the normal price came back, and that one was now too high.

Because a hidden offer no longer appears anywhere, you do not see it in your revenue and not in your buy box percentage. You only see that an item "is not moving for a while". That is why a fixed check pays off more than staying alert.

How to check it

  1. Seller account. Filter your offers on publishability notices. Note the reason per item; only the price reasons belong in the next step.
  2. Price against the buy box. Put your price next to the current buy box price. The difference tells how far above the band you are and whether recovery fits within your floor price.
  3. Floor price first. Calculate your floor: purchase, shipping, packaging, return risk, bol's commission and the minimum margin you want. If the floor is above the band, making the item visible means making a loss; then the question is whether you still want to carry this item, not which price you pick.
  4. Fix it in one go. Adjust the price to the top of the band, not far below it. You want to be visible, not buy the buy box at any price. After processing, check that the notice is gone.
  5. Record it. Note what the band was and when. If the same item comes back, you know whether the market dropped or your own rule went too far.

Automating: what a tool can and cannot do

A repricer that reads the publishability of your offers can fix "price too high" automatically: it brings the price back to the band, never below your floor, and logs the reason. That is exactly the kind of work automation is good at: many items, a clear rule, a measurable result. Look for three things when choosing. The tool must know the reason per offer (otherwise it mistakes a hidden offer for a lost buy box and reacts wrongly). It must respect your floor price, even when the band is below it. And it must make the change in steps when the difference is large, so that an error in the market data does not halve your price in one go.

What no tool solves: the non-price reasons. Missing content you complete, a blocked EAN you discuss with bol, an item without stock you buy in or remove. A good tool shows those reasons separately, so you do not mistake them for a price problem.

In short

A hidden offer is worse than a lost buy box: it sells nothing at all and does not stand out. Check publishability weekly, fix price reasons to the top of the band, let your floor price set the limit, and treat the other reasons as what they are: content or assortment work.