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.
1 reply
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
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.
1 reply
1 reply
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
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
