OTDR Penalties: A Metric Beyond Sellers’ Control
I want to express how disheartening OTDR penalties have become for sellers who are genuinely dedicated to doing a great job. As sellers, we strive to meet customer expectations and work tirelessly to produce, package, and ship orders on time. There isn’t a seller out there who doesn’t care about doing their best.
But OTDR feels like a metric designed to punish us for circumstances beyond our control. This holiday season, I oversaw every single order, ensuring production happened as quickly as possible. All orders were shipped on time, less 1.59% which I actually did ship on time but didn’t confirm shipment on time due to a short weather related network error. To be cautious, I increased my handling time—which already had buffer time built in—even further to add more buffer time, accounting for potential delays and protecting my OTDR. I even upgraded shipping options at my own expense, often exceeding the carrier delivery expectations set by Amazon's automated templates.
Despite all my efforts, some orders were delayed by carriers—a factor completely out of my control. I reviewed my shipping spreadsheet, and it’s absurd that plenty of items shipped with USPS Priority Mail—which is supposed to take 1–3 business days—took as long as three weeks to be delivered. This is completely beyond my control, and obviously, I want customers to receive their items on time even more than they do.
Unfortunately, automated handling time doesn’t work for me. During the holiday season, I deal with a much higher order volume, and practically, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fulfill certain SKUs with the same speed as during slower times of the year. I needed this extra 2–3 days as a buffer, even though during the off-season, I typically ship faster than the stated handling time.
When I increased my handling time for added protection, my order volume dropped significantly because customers understandably didn’t want to wait. I sacrificed sales to safeguard my account health, only to find that it still wasn’t enough. This morning, I woke up to an alert that my account is at risk of deactivation due to OTDR.
This is not sustainable. Why are sellers held responsible for carrier delays—especially during the holiday season when everyone knows unforeseen issues are inevitable? I even use Amazon Buy Shipping whenever it’s a viable option, but it isn’t always practical or cost-effective for custom products.
Additionally, if Amazon is showing delivery date extensions to customers, which influence their buying decisions, why are sellers held accountable for OTDR on those orders if they arrive before the promised extension date? On my spreadsheet, the field for delivery extensions is blank. Does this mean there was no extension, or does it mean the item arrived before the extension date? If there’s a way to confirm delivery extensions, it would help sellers like me better understand and manage this metric.
Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control.
OTDR Penalties: A Metric Beyond Sellers’ Control
I want to express how disheartening OTDR penalties have become for sellers who are genuinely dedicated to doing a great job. As sellers, we strive to meet customer expectations and work tirelessly to produce, package, and ship orders on time. There isn’t a seller out there who doesn’t care about doing their best.
But OTDR feels like a metric designed to punish us for circumstances beyond our control. This holiday season, I oversaw every single order, ensuring production happened as quickly as possible. All orders were shipped on time, less 1.59% which I actually did ship on time but didn’t confirm shipment on time due to a short weather related network error. To be cautious, I increased my handling time—which already had buffer time built in—even further to add more buffer time, accounting for potential delays and protecting my OTDR. I even upgraded shipping options at my own expense, often exceeding the carrier delivery expectations set by Amazon's automated templates.
Despite all my efforts, some orders were delayed by carriers—a factor completely out of my control. I reviewed my shipping spreadsheet, and it’s absurd that plenty of items shipped with USPS Priority Mail—which is supposed to take 1–3 business days—took as long as three weeks to be delivered. This is completely beyond my control, and obviously, I want customers to receive their items on time even more than they do.
Unfortunately, automated handling time doesn’t work for me. During the holiday season, I deal with a much higher order volume, and practically, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fulfill certain SKUs with the same speed as during slower times of the year. I needed this extra 2–3 days as a buffer, even though during the off-season, I typically ship faster than the stated handling time.
When I increased my handling time for added protection, my order volume dropped significantly because customers understandably didn’t want to wait. I sacrificed sales to safeguard my account health, only to find that it still wasn’t enough. This morning, I woke up to an alert that my account is at risk of deactivation due to OTDR.
This is not sustainable. Why are sellers held responsible for carrier delays—especially during the holiday season when everyone knows unforeseen issues are inevitable? I even use Amazon Buy Shipping whenever it’s a viable option, but it isn’t always practical or cost-effective for custom products.
Additionally, if Amazon is showing delivery date extensions to customers, which influence their buying decisions, why are sellers held accountable for OTDR on those orders if they arrive before the promised extension date? On my spreadsheet, the field for delivery extensions is blank. Does this mean there was no extension, or does it mean the item arrived before the extension date? If there’s a way to confirm delivery extensions, it would help sellers like me better understand and manage this metric.
Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control.
35 replies
April_Amazon
Hello @Seller_NUnk4pe61Rhi8,
Thank you sincerely for reaching out to us through the Forums. We genuinely appreciate you taking the initiative to share your concerns with us.
I want to acknowledge that I understand your concern and frustration regarding the On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) metric. It's completely natural to feel a sense of helplessness when factors affecting this metric seem to be outside of your direct control.
To help address your specific concerns more effectively, could you please provide an ASIN, Case ID or Performance Notification.? With that information and the help from an internal team, I am able to research in greater detail.
This is what I understand: Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR) in part this states:
Does Amazon offer tools that can help me improve my OTDR and meet the Amazon’s OTDR requirements?
Yes. You can manage your delivery dates using the tools we’ve provided, or you can manually adjust your Transit time and Handling time settings. We designed these tools to set accurate delivery dates, reduce late deliveries, and to meet or exceed the minimum OTDR requirement. And because Amazon is making calculations on your behalf that affect OTDR, you'll get OTDR protection from late deliveries on units shipped through standard shipping if you use all three tools as follows:
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA), for Professional selling plans, sets accurate delivery dates through automated transit time calculations of your preferred shipping services. You must choose one of the preferred ship methods in the SSA templates, which will mark the transit time on the shipping template as "Managed by Amazon".
- Automated handling time, for Professional selling plans, sets accurate handling times per SKU based on how long it usually takes you to pass each SKU to carriers. You must ensure that automated handling time is enabled in your shipping settings.
- Amazon Buy Shipping, for both Professional and Individual selling plans, sells shipping labels that use highly-reliable ship methods. You can use Amazon Buy Shipping through Manage Orders, Shipping API, Veeqo, or select multi-channel integrators with access to Amazon Buy Shipping. You must choose shipping labels marked as “OTDR Protected” when using Amazon Buy Shipping or Veeqo.
This is important to understand:
Note: OTDR Protection is only available for units shipped through Standard Shipping, units shipped through other shipping options such as Free Economy, Standard Prime, or Premium Shipping, are not eligible for OTDR protection.
You know your business better than anyone. I would like to understand a bit more, so I will wait for the Case ID or ASIN, then take a deeper look into this for you.
Again, I hear your concerns and thank you for voicing them.
I look forward to your response. Thank you for reaching out on the Forums.
April
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_Jt17S7kA1DiGY
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_qMgi7qxvEo7f1
I get a new order, 5 mins I'm buying shipping stamp, but... No ODR protection for $5 Ground shipping. Amazon is telling me that I should buy expedited shipping for 8+fees+whatever . 10 bucks or so? Even though the order is an $10.50 order. So I'm supposed to ship the few dollars product on a 4 dollar LOSS. Because that's somehow makes sense to Amazon. OR, there is no ODR protection. And if there is none, then my metrics get a hit an my business gets suppressed. No sales. No food on the family's table.
What kind of evil nonsense is this?
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
I think you will find that there is a moderator here that is censoring comments discussing the OTDR policies...so yeah we will get no help. But I will try AGAIN -- look at these defects from our OTDR defect report. Delivery before promise date and ta da - defect
Seller_ZF5WtHGT6kdED
This metric is absolutely within your control. Amazon offered you shipping options which would not count towards your OTDR, even if delivered late, and you chose to ignore their data and ship with methods that are known to have late delivery. If that's not cost-effective, then you need to raise your costs, or better yet, negotiate with your carrier reps better. FedEx 2Day is almost always cheaper than Priority Mail for us and often delivers items early (e.g., packages picked up on Saturday are typically delivered on Monday).
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
Seller_Hvi3HBW45jas9
For the past 2-3 weeks Amazon has been trying to force us to upgrade shipping beyond the profit of the item in order to meet their fictitious OTDR garbage that punishes sellers instead of the party who couldn't deliver. My guess is because the Amazon system is not taking holidays like Christmas and New Year's Day or the "National Day of Grieving" in to account as the customer places the order. But they do want to punish the seller to try to force us to ship alternative methods because their system failed to take these holidays in to account BEFORE the customer placed the order.
The other thing the Amazon system has tried to do is force us to ship more products via UPS Smart Post which is not only a huge hassle (because we have to take them in town), but more of those packages were lost than just those shipped via USPS. Not to mention, we fear the chargeback scams that UPS has pulled on so many sellers.
In regard to this comment: "Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control."
Sadly, as usual, Amazon does not get it. They make rules for sellers and then break the rules themselves. Over the past few weeks, we have had several Amazon orders coming to us that were fulfilled by Amazon (Prime) that did NOT get delivered as promised. Delays happen.
Seller_FwpA1naSVnywt
Amazon is surprised that shipping in Q4 does not compare to shipping in the Mid Summer of July and August. They are not aware the carriers are busier because of Xmas shopping. They are not aware that snow storms delay shipments. Amazon is not aware that employees have Holidays during the Year End Holidays.
Amazon are ignorant idiots that set off bots, to see how much carnage the bots could possibly cause.
OTDR Penalties: A Metric Beyond Sellers’ Control
I want to express how disheartening OTDR penalties have become for sellers who are genuinely dedicated to doing a great job. As sellers, we strive to meet customer expectations and work tirelessly to produce, package, and ship orders on time. There isn’t a seller out there who doesn’t care about doing their best.
But OTDR feels like a metric designed to punish us for circumstances beyond our control. This holiday season, I oversaw every single order, ensuring production happened as quickly as possible. All orders were shipped on time, less 1.59% which I actually did ship on time but didn’t confirm shipment on time due to a short weather related network error. To be cautious, I increased my handling time—which already had buffer time built in—even further to add more buffer time, accounting for potential delays and protecting my OTDR. I even upgraded shipping options at my own expense, often exceeding the carrier delivery expectations set by Amazon's automated templates.
Despite all my efforts, some orders were delayed by carriers—a factor completely out of my control. I reviewed my shipping spreadsheet, and it’s absurd that plenty of items shipped with USPS Priority Mail—which is supposed to take 1–3 business days—took as long as three weeks to be delivered. This is completely beyond my control, and obviously, I want customers to receive their items on time even more than they do.
Unfortunately, automated handling time doesn’t work for me. During the holiday season, I deal with a much higher order volume, and practically, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fulfill certain SKUs with the same speed as during slower times of the year. I needed this extra 2–3 days as a buffer, even though during the off-season, I typically ship faster than the stated handling time.
When I increased my handling time for added protection, my order volume dropped significantly because customers understandably didn’t want to wait. I sacrificed sales to safeguard my account health, only to find that it still wasn’t enough. This morning, I woke up to an alert that my account is at risk of deactivation due to OTDR.
This is not sustainable. Why are sellers held responsible for carrier delays—especially during the holiday season when everyone knows unforeseen issues are inevitable? I even use Amazon Buy Shipping whenever it’s a viable option, but it isn’t always practical or cost-effective for custom products.
Additionally, if Amazon is showing delivery date extensions to customers, which influence their buying decisions, why are sellers held accountable for OTDR on those orders if they arrive before the promised extension date? On my spreadsheet, the field for delivery extensions is blank. Does this mean there was no extension, or does it mean the item arrived before the extension date? If there’s a way to confirm delivery extensions, it would help sellers like me better understand and manage this metric.
Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control.
OTDR Penalties: A Metric Beyond Sellers’ Control
I want to express how disheartening OTDR penalties have become for sellers who are genuinely dedicated to doing a great job. As sellers, we strive to meet customer expectations and work tirelessly to produce, package, and ship orders on time. There isn’t a seller out there who doesn’t care about doing their best.
But OTDR feels like a metric designed to punish us for circumstances beyond our control. This holiday season, I oversaw every single order, ensuring production happened as quickly as possible. All orders were shipped on time, less 1.59% which I actually did ship on time but didn’t confirm shipment on time due to a short weather related network error. To be cautious, I increased my handling time—which already had buffer time built in—even further to add more buffer time, accounting for potential delays and protecting my OTDR. I even upgraded shipping options at my own expense, often exceeding the carrier delivery expectations set by Amazon's automated templates.
Despite all my efforts, some orders were delayed by carriers—a factor completely out of my control. I reviewed my shipping spreadsheet, and it’s absurd that plenty of items shipped with USPS Priority Mail—which is supposed to take 1–3 business days—took as long as three weeks to be delivered. This is completely beyond my control, and obviously, I want customers to receive their items on time even more than they do.
Unfortunately, automated handling time doesn’t work for me. During the holiday season, I deal with a much higher order volume, and practically, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fulfill certain SKUs with the same speed as during slower times of the year. I needed this extra 2–3 days as a buffer, even though during the off-season, I typically ship faster than the stated handling time.
When I increased my handling time for added protection, my order volume dropped significantly because customers understandably didn’t want to wait. I sacrificed sales to safeguard my account health, only to find that it still wasn’t enough. This morning, I woke up to an alert that my account is at risk of deactivation due to OTDR.
This is not sustainable. Why are sellers held responsible for carrier delays—especially during the holiday season when everyone knows unforeseen issues are inevitable? I even use Amazon Buy Shipping whenever it’s a viable option, but it isn’t always practical or cost-effective for custom products.
Additionally, if Amazon is showing delivery date extensions to customers, which influence their buying decisions, why are sellers held accountable for OTDR on those orders if they arrive before the promised extension date? On my spreadsheet, the field for delivery extensions is blank. Does this mean there was no extension, or does it mean the item arrived before the extension date? If there’s a way to confirm delivery extensions, it would help sellers like me better understand and manage this metric.
Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control.
OTDR Penalties: A Metric Beyond Sellers’ Control
I want to express how disheartening OTDR penalties have become for sellers who are genuinely dedicated to doing a great job. As sellers, we strive to meet customer expectations and work tirelessly to produce, package, and ship orders on time. There isn’t a seller out there who doesn’t care about doing their best.
But OTDR feels like a metric designed to punish us for circumstances beyond our control. This holiday season, I oversaw every single order, ensuring production happened as quickly as possible. All orders were shipped on time, less 1.59% which I actually did ship on time but didn’t confirm shipment on time due to a short weather related network error. To be cautious, I increased my handling time—which already had buffer time built in—even further to add more buffer time, accounting for potential delays and protecting my OTDR. I even upgraded shipping options at my own expense, often exceeding the carrier delivery expectations set by Amazon's automated templates.
Despite all my efforts, some orders were delayed by carriers—a factor completely out of my control. I reviewed my shipping spreadsheet, and it’s absurd that plenty of items shipped with USPS Priority Mail—which is supposed to take 1–3 business days—took as long as three weeks to be delivered. This is completely beyond my control, and obviously, I want customers to receive their items on time even more than they do.
Unfortunately, automated handling time doesn’t work for me. During the holiday season, I deal with a much higher order volume, and practically, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fulfill certain SKUs with the same speed as during slower times of the year. I needed this extra 2–3 days as a buffer, even though during the off-season, I typically ship faster than the stated handling time.
When I increased my handling time for added protection, my order volume dropped significantly because customers understandably didn’t want to wait. I sacrificed sales to safeguard my account health, only to find that it still wasn’t enough. This morning, I woke up to an alert that my account is at risk of deactivation due to OTDR.
This is not sustainable. Why are sellers held responsible for carrier delays—especially during the holiday season when everyone knows unforeseen issues are inevitable? I even use Amazon Buy Shipping whenever it’s a viable option, but it isn’t always practical or cost-effective for custom products.
Additionally, if Amazon is showing delivery date extensions to customers, which influence their buying decisions, why are sellers held accountable for OTDR on those orders if they arrive before the promised extension date? On my spreadsheet, the field for delivery extensions is blank. Does this mean there was no extension, or does it mean the item arrived before the extension date? If there’s a way to confirm delivery extensions, it would help sellers like me better understand and manage this metric.
Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control.
35 replies
35 replies
April_Amazon
Hello @Seller_NUnk4pe61Rhi8,
Thank you sincerely for reaching out to us through the Forums. We genuinely appreciate you taking the initiative to share your concerns with us.
I want to acknowledge that I understand your concern and frustration regarding the On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) metric. It's completely natural to feel a sense of helplessness when factors affecting this metric seem to be outside of your direct control.
To help address your specific concerns more effectively, could you please provide an ASIN, Case ID or Performance Notification.? With that information and the help from an internal team, I am able to research in greater detail.
This is what I understand: Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR) in part this states:
Does Amazon offer tools that can help me improve my OTDR and meet the Amazon’s OTDR requirements?
Yes. You can manage your delivery dates using the tools we’ve provided, or you can manually adjust your Transit time and Handling time settings. We designed these tools to set accurate delivery dates, reduce late deliveries, and to meet or exceed the minimum OTDR requirement. And because Amazon is making calculations on your behalf that affect OTDR, you'll get OTDR protection from late deliveries on units shipped through standard shipping if you use all three tools as follows:
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA), for Professional selling plans, sets accurate delivery dates through automated transit time calculations of your preferred shipping services. You must choose one of the preferred ship methods in the SSA templates, which will mark the transit time on the shipping template as "Managed by Amazon".
- Automated handling time, for Professional selling plans, sets accurate handling times per SKU based on how long it usually takes you to pass each SKU to carriers. You must ensure that automated handling time is enabled in your shipping settings.
- Amazon Buy Shipping, for both Professional and Individual selling plans, sells shipping labels that use highly-reliable ship methods. You can use Amazon Buy Shipping through Manage Orders, Shipping API, Veeqo, or select multi-channel integrators with access to Amazon Buy Shipping. You must choose shipping labels marked as “OTDR Protected” when using Amazon Buy Shipping or Veeqo.
This is important to understand:
Note: OTDR Protection is only available for units shipped through Standard Shipping, units shipped through other shipping options such as Free Economy, Standard Prime, or Premium Shipping, are not eligible for OTDR protection.
You know your business better than anyone. I would like to understand a bit more, so I will wait for the Case ID or ASIN, then take a deeper look into this for you.
Again, I hear your concerns and thank you for voicing them.
I look forward to your response. Thank you for reaching out on the Forums.
April
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_Jt17S7kA1DiGY
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_qMgi7qxvEo7f1
I get a new order, 5 mins I'm buying shipping stamp, but... No ODR protection for $5 Ground shipping. Amazon is telling me that I should buy expedited shipping for 8+fees+whatever . 10 bucks or so? Even though the order is an $10.50 order. So I'm supposed to ship the few dollars product on a 4 dollar LOSS. Because that's somehow makes sense to Amazon. OR, there is no ODR protection. And if there is none, then my metrics get a hit an my business gets suppressed. No sales. No food on the family's table.
What kind of evil nonsense is this?
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
I think you will find that there is a moderator here that is censoring comments discussing the OTDR policies...so yeah we will get no help. But I will try AGAIN -- look at these defects from our OTDR defect report. Delivery before promise date and ta da - defect
Seller_ZF5WtHGT6kdED
This metric is absolutely within your control. Amazon offered you shipping options which would not count towards your OTDR, even if delivered late, and you chose to ignore their data and ship with methods that are known to have late delivery. If that's not cost-effective, then you need to raise your costs, or better yet, negotiate with your carrier reps better. FedEx 2Day is almost always cheaper than Priority Mail for us and often delivers items early (e.g., packages picked up on Saturday are typically delivered on Monday).
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
Seller_Hvi3HBW45jas9
For the past 2-3 weeks Amazon has been trying to force us to upgrade shipping beyond the profit of the item in order to meet their fictitious OTDR garbage that punishes sellers instead of the party who couldn't deliver. My guess is because the Amazon system is not taking holidays like Christmas and New Year's Day or the "National Day of Grieving" in to account as the customer places the order. But they do want to punish the seller to try to force us to ship alternative methods because their system failed to take these holidays in to account BEFORE the customer placed the order.
The other thing the Amazon system has tried to do is force us to ship more products via UPS Smart Post which is not only a huge hassle (because we have to take them in town), but more of those packages were lost than just those shipped via USPS. Not to mention, we fear the chargeback scams that UPS has pulled on so many sellers.
In regard to this comment: "Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control."
Sadly, as usual, Amazon does not get it. They make rules for sellers and then break the rules themselves. Over the past few weeks, we have had several Amazon orders coming to us that were fulfilled by Amazon (Prime) that did NOT get delivered as promised. Delays happen.
Seller_FwpA1naSVnywt
Amazon is surprised that shipping in Q4 does not compare to shipping in the Mid Summer of July and August. They are not aware the carriers are busier because of Xmas shopping. They are not aware that snow storms delay shipments. Amazon is not aware that employees have Holidays during the Year End Holidays.
Amazon are ignorant idiots that set off bots, to see how much carnage the bots could possibly cause.
April_Amazon
Hello @Seller_NUnk4pe61Rhi8,
Thank you sincerely for reaching out to us through the Forums. We genuinely appreciate you taking the initiative to share your concerns with us.
I want to acknowledge that I understand your concern and frustration regarding the On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) metric. It's completely natural to feel a sense of helplessness when factors affecting this metric seem to be outside of your direct control.
To help address your specific concerns more effectively, could you please provide an ASIN, Case ID or Performance Notification.? With that information and the help from an internal team, I am able to research in greater detail.
This is what I understand: Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR) in part this states:
Does Amazon offer tools that can help me improve my OTDR and meet the Amazon’s OTDR requirements?
Yes. You can manage your delivery dates using the tools we’ve provided, or you can manually adjust your Transit time and Handling time settings. We designed these tools to set accurate delivery dates, reduce late deliveries, and to meet or exceed the minimum OTDR requirement. And because Amazon is making calculations on your behalf that affect OTDR, you'll get OTDR protection from late deliveries on units shipped through standard shipping if you use all three tools as follows:
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA), for Professional selling plans, sets accurate delivery dates through automated transit time calculations of your preferred shipping services. You must choose one of the preferred ship methods in the SSA templates, which will mark the transit time on the shipping template as "Managed by Amazon".
- Automated handling time, for Professional selling plans, sets accurate handling times per SKU based on how long it usually takes you to pass each SKU to carriers. You must ensure that automated handling time is enabled in your shipping settings.
- Amazon Buy Shipping, for both Professional and Individual selling plans, sells shipping labels that use highly-reliable ship methods. You can use Amazon Buy Shipping through Manage Orders, Shipping API, Veeqo, or select multi-channel integrators with access to Amazon Buy Shipping. You must choose shipping labels marked as “OTDR Protected” when using Amazon Buy Shipping or Veeqo.
This is important to understand:
Note: OTDR Protection is only available for units shipped through Standard Shipping, units shipped through other shipping options such as Free Economy, Standard Prime, or Premium Shipping, are not eligible for OTDR protection.
You know your business better than anyone. I would like to understand a bit more, so I will wait for the Case ID or ASIN, then take a deeper look into this for you.
Again, I hear your concerns and thank you for voicing them.
I look forward to your response. Thank you for reaching out on the Forums.
April
April_Amazon
Hello @Seller_NUnk4pe61Rhi8,
Thank you sincerely for reaching out to us through the Forums. We genuinely appreciate you taking the initiative to share your concerns with us.
I want to acknowledge that I understand your concern and frustration regarding the On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) metric. It's completely natural to feel a sense of helplessness when factors affecting this metric seem to be outside of your direct control.
To help address your specific concerns more effectively, could you please provide an ASIN, Case ID or Performance Notification.? With that information and the help from an internal team, I am able to research in greater detail.
This is what I understand: Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR) in part this states:
Does Amazon offer tools that can help me improve my OTDR and meet the Amazon’s OTDR requirements?
Yes. You can manage your delivery dates using the tools we’ve provided, or you can manually adjust your Transit time and Handling time settings. We designed these tools to set accurate delivery dates, reduce late deliveries, and to meet or exceed the minimum OTDR requirement. And because Amazon is making calculations on your behalf that affect OTDR, you'll get OTDR protection from late deliveries on units shipped through standard shipping if you use all three tools as follows:
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA), for Professional selling plans, sets accurate delivery dates through automated transit time calculations of your preferred shipping services. You must choose one of the preferred ship methods in the SSA templates, which will mark the transit time on the shipping template as "Managed by Amazon".
- Automated handling time, for Professional selling plans, sets accurate handling times per SKU based on how long it usually takes you to pass each SKU to carriers. You must ensure that automated handling time is enabled in your shipping settings.
- Amazon Buy Shipping, for both Professional and Individual selling plans, sells shipping labels that use highly-reliable ship methods. You can use Amazon Buy Shipping through Manage Orders, Shipping API, Veeqo, or select multi-channel integrators with access to Amazon Buy Shipping. You must choose shipping labels marked as “OTDR Protected” when using Amazon Buy Shipping or Veeqo.
This is important to understand:
Note: OTDR Protection is only available for units shipped through Standard Shipping, units shipped through other shipping options such as Free Economy, Standard Prime, or Premium Shipping, are not eligible for OTDR protection.
You know your business better than anyone. I would like to understand a bit more, so I will wait for the Case ID or ASIN, then take a deeper look into this for you.
Again, I hear your concerns and thank you for voicing them.
I look forward to your response. Thank you for reaching out on the Forums.
April
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_Jt17S7kA1DiGY
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_Jt17S7kA1DiGY
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
[Moderator Edit: removed off-topic commentary]
Seller_qMgi7qxvEo7f1
I get a new order, 5 mins I'm buying shipping stamp, but... No ODR protection for $5 Ground shipping. Amazon is telling me that I should buy expedited shipping for 8+fees+whatever . 10 bucks or so? Even though the order is an $10.50 order. So I'm supposed to ship the few dollars product on a 4 dollar LOSS. Because that's somehow makes sense to Amazon. OR, there is no ODR protection. And if there is none, then my metrics get a hit an my business gets suppressed. No sales. No food on the family's table.
What kind of evil nonsense is this?
Seller_qMgi7qxvEo7f1
I get a new order, 5 mins I'm buying shipping stamp, but... No ODR protection for $5 Ground shipping. Amazon is telling me that I should buy expedited shipping for 8+fees+whatever . 10 bucks or so? Even though the order is an $10.50 order. So I'm supposed to ship the few dollars product on a 4 dollar LOSS. Because that's somehow makes sense to Amazon. OR, there is no ODR protection. And if there is none, then my metrics get a hit an my business gets suppressed. No sales. No food on the family's table.
What kind of evil nonsense is this?
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
I think you will find that there is a moderator here that is censoring comments discussing the OTDR policies...so yeah we will get no help. But I will try AGAIN -- look at these defects from our OTDR defect report. Delivery before promise date and ta da - defect
Seller_2UkjhY9D9b6bj
I think you will find that there is a moderator here that is censoring comments discussing the OTDR policies...so yeah we will get no help. But I will try AGAIN -- look at these defects from our OTDR defect report. Delivery before promise date and ta da - defect
Seller_ZF5WtHGT6kdED
This metric is absolutely within your control. Amazon offered you shipping options which would not count towards your OTDR, even if delivered late, and you chose to ignore their data and ship with methods that are known to have late delivery. If that's not cost-effective, then you need to raise your costs, or better yet, negotiate with your carrier reps better. FedEx 2Day is almost always cheaper than Priority Mail for us and often delivers items early (e.g., packages picked up on Saturday are typically delivered on Monday).
Seller_ZF5WtHGT6kdED
This metric is absolutely within your control. Amazon offered you shipping options which would not count towards your OTDR, even if delivered late, and you chose to ignore their data and ship with methods that are known to have late delivery. If that's not cost-effective, then you need to raise your costs, or better yet, negotiate with your carrier reps better. FedEx 2Day is almost always cheaper than Priority Mail for us and often delivers items early (e.g., packages picked up on Saturday are typically delivered on Monday).
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
Seller_Ha6JyVvDK6Ybs
[Moderator Edit: removed inappropriate commentary]
Seller_Hvi3HBW45jas9
For the past 2-3 weeks Amazon has been trying to force us to upgrade shipping beyond the profit of the item in order to meet their fictitious OTDR garbage that punishes sellers instead of the party who couldn't deliver. My guess is because the Amazon system is not taking holidays like Christmas and New Year's Day or the "National Day of Grieving" in to account as the customer places the order. But they do want to punish the seller to try to force us to ship alternative methods because their system failed to take these holidays in to account BEFORE the customer placed the order.
The other thing the Amazon system has tried to do is force us to ship more products via UPS Smart Post which is not only a huge hassle (because we have to take them in town), but more of those packages were lost than just those shipped via USPS. Not to mention, we fear the chargeback scams that UPS has pulled on so many sellers.
In regard to this comment: "Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control."
Sadly, as usual, Amazon does not get it. They make rules for sellers and then break the rules themselves. Over the past few weeks, we have had several Amazon orders coming to us that were fulfilled by Amazon (Prime) that did NOT get delivered as promised. Delays happen.
Seller_Hvi3HBW45jas9
For the past 2-3 weeks Amazon has been trying to force us to upgrade shipping beyond the profit of the item in order to meet their fictitious OTDR garbage that punishes sellers instead of the party who couldn't deliver. My guess is because the Amazon system is not taking holidays like Christmas and New Year's Day or the "National Day of Grieving" in to account as the customer places the order. But they do want to punish the seller to try to force us to ship alternative methods because their system failed to take these holidays in to account BEFORE the customer placed the order.
The other thing the Amazon system has tried to do is force us to ship more products via UPS Smart Post which is not only a huge hassle (because we have to take them in town), but more of those packages were lost than just those shipped via USPS. Not to mention, we fear the chargeback scams that UPS has pulled on so many sellers.
In regard to this comment: "Amazon, please consider revising this policy. We’re already doing everything we can to satisfy customers, but we need fairness and recognition that some issues are beyond our control."
Sadly, as usual, Amazon does not get it. They make rules for sellers and then break the rules themselves. Over the past few weeks, we have had several Amazon orders coming to us that were fulfilled by Amazon (Prime) that did NOT get delivered as promised. Delays happen.
Seller_FwpA1naSVnywt
Amazon is surprised that shipping in Q4 does not compare to shipping in the Mid Summer of July and August. They are not aware the carriers are busier because of Xmas shopping. They are not aware that snow storms delay shipments. Amazon is not aware that employees have Holidays during the Year End Holidays.
Amazon are ignorant idiots that set off bots, to see how much carnage the bots could possibly cause.
Seller_FwpA1naSVnywt
Amazon is surprised that shipping in Q4 does not compare to shipping in the Mid Summer of July and August. They are not aware the carriers are busier because of Xmas shopping. They are not aware that snow storms delay shipments. Amazon is not aware that employees have Holidays during the Year End Holidays.
Amazon are ignorant idiots that set off bots, to see how much carnage the bots could possibly cause.
