Extended Delivery Window Being Shown to Buyers
I just got off the phone with Seller Support who informed me that effective October 1 Amazon extended delivery windows being shown to buyers for non-Prime merchant fulfilled orders. We noticed a massive drop in sales (even worse than they have already been). I was reviewing listings to try and get to the bottom of this latest issue and noticed 2 week delivery dates being shown to customers. The 2 weeks is if I were shipping to my own state.
We have AHT set at 2 days and delivery to our own state set to 2-3 day delivery. We had SSA in place, even after I disable SSA to play around with shipping times and templates Amazon then started displaying a 1 week minimum up to 2 weeks for delivery, again to our own state.
This is clearly deterring buyers from making FBM purchases thus negatively impacting business. I was told by the Seller Support agent that I could explain to potential buyers on the listing that we actually deliver faster than Amazon is advertising (this is against Amazon policy). I was also told that I could reach out to buyers who have completed purchases to explain to them that they will be receiving their packages much faster than the estimated delivery window Amazon provided them.
It is clear to me that Amazon wants to do away with 3rd party merchants who do not use their FBA services or force us into using FBA especially considering the high costs associated with improperly handled inventory counts, long receiving times, having to battle with Amazon every step of the way to correct an Amazon caused mistake, the list goes on.
87 replies
Seller_8cIsVssvO29X6
Thank you, I remember doing that when I had a case awhile ago but I never was able to talk live with a person. I remember that sometimes that is an option and sometimes it isn't. I will keep that in mind and should open a case because Amazon keeps changing handling times on my - making them shorter than the Shipping Settings I have had for 15 years - not longer in advance of Christmas mailing as some sellers have said. Wish Amazon would do that to me! Thank you again for reminding me of that. Best of luck with your case.
Seller_u9sWbO6CHxYFV
Exact same issue here! My sales are half of what they were before I set SSA and AHT. Delivery times shown to customers on my items are now 2 plus WEEKS OUT! That's RIDICULOUS!
Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
A bit of an update from today's call with Seller Support. I was told that my case from 10/4 was finally transferred to the technical team. They identified nothing wrong with my account or my settings that would cause these long delivery dates to be displayed to potential buyers.
The member from the internal team who I spoke with today was very patient and eager to find a resolution. While on the phone with her she checked the status of the case which had been updated toward the end of our call.
She stated that the other internal team indicated that somehow Amazon incorrectly added what looked like a full week to the correct delivery dates . I am waiting for an update on when I can expect a fix/to be notified that the issue is resolved.
I was adamant about not only fighting for our account to be corrected but for the thousands of other sellers experiencing this same nightmare. I made it clear in all interactions with Amazon that this is a significant and widespread issue.
Feel free to share your experiences and any updates you have come across in getting a resolution.
Seller_b3m5hTin8xQg6
Does anyone have any updates? Our sales have been cut by over half because of this bug. We reached out to seller support on Friday but still haven't heard anything back.
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ and all sellers asking about delivery promises.
As many sellers know, additional time (known as a “promise extension”) may be added to the estimated delivery date that customers see to account for logistical factors that might slow delivery. When a promise extension is added, the customer sees a later date than the “Deliver by” date that you see.
I understand that sellers have strong feelings about promise extensions, and I have shared this feedback with our partner teams.
KJ_Amazon
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
Please review the date range in the Fulfillment Insights Dashboard to see which orders may be included in the "Promise Extensions" section showing delivery promise extensions.
Since the date range is based on promised delivery dates, there will be a gap from when an order is placed and when it is eligible to be included in that dashboard.
I am continuing to share seller feedback about this topic with our partner teams.
KJ_Amazon
Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
Hi @KJ_Amazon
I have already reviewed that data and have done so again. My point still stands.
Had there been a 4-5 day adjustment the rolling average would have skyrocketed. The math doesn't add up.
KJ_Amazon
Can you please provide more details about the October 1 date you report in this thread?
Is that when you first noticed the promise extensions, or did you notice them in mid September for orders with an October 1 delivery promise?
If you have specific orders that you believe should be included in the Promise Extensions report but aren't, submitting those would be helpful.
Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
I first noticed the incorrectly long delivery dates on October 1 when sales plummeted. I checked PDPs to see if my offers we active there as I didn't see an issue in Seller Central. Sales stayed way down with the exception of Prime Days (the delivery promise lengths had not changed, there was just increased buyer activity on those 2 days). After Prime Days sales plummeted back down to the October 1 level as all of our offers were showing 13 day delivery to our own state of New Jersey (just imagine what the west coast was seeing?).
I'm not seeing any orders being excluded from the report that should be there. That means something has been terribly wrong.
An Amazon associate looked up the total hours to get an order to my own zip code and then looked up what Amazon was showing buyers and it was way off. That's the same associate who told me that the technical team would be fixing the issue. She saw no reason for Amazon to be tacking on so many extra days. That was from case ID 16342169241 which I opened on October 4th and am still waiting on a resolution for.
KJ_Amazon
Thank you for those details @Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
Orders/offers from October 1 and afterwards are likely not yet appearing in your Fulfillment Insights Dashboard, as those orders/offers may have promised delivery dates beyond the 9/9/2024 - 10/9/2024 range.
If an offer/order has a promised delivery date of October 10 and afterwards, it is not yet accounted for in that dashboard.
KJ_Amazon
Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
Promise extensions are a result of a lagging indicator, I know that, that has never been at issue. The offers being shown on October 1 are impacted by the performance on 9/9 and sooner, yes?
Something changed on October 1 and we are not the only sellers to mention that date. If it were directly related to metrics it would be an easy answer. You would say seller xyz, these were your metrics, this was your promise extension at this date range which is what caused 4-5 days to be added. That is not the case here.
Amazon is clearly telling me in their own Fulfillment Insights Dashboard that for "Time window: 30 days | Promised delivery date: 9/10/2024 - 10/10/2024"
The promise extension is now 0.5 days. On October 1 it was 0.6 days, it was as low as 0.4 days since October 1 and it had zero impact on the delivery promise being shown to buyers. Amazon was tacking on an extra 4-5 days for no reason.
Are you saying that Amazon is showing sellers one set of metrics, telling us that our delivery promise extension is based off of those metrics, and then is applying some other set of delivery date metrics to the actual delivery promise to buyers?
KJ_Amazon
"Your delivery promises were extended by 0.5 days on average."
That means that for all orders placed with you with promised delivery dates between 9/10/2024 and 10/10/2024, there was an average delivery promise extension of 0.5 days.
It is not related to any promise extensions which may be applied to your current offers.
Count all of your orders that had promised delivery dates between 9/10/2024 and 10/10/2024, then try to estimate the total number of promise extension days for those specific orders. Days/Orders is that figure.
Seller_8HBeojhszSviQ
Where do we see what the promise extension is for current offers? How is that calculated? How do those numbers translate into promise extension days?
Please make this make sense for the thousands and thousands of sellers who sell on here and are just as confused as I am.
Ultimately we're talking about:
"Promised Delivery Date:
The date that customers see when they place an order and this date includes your managed delivery time. It is often the same as the "Deliver by" date you see in the order details page in Seller Central unless Promise extensions are added."
Surely we should be seeing at least a full week+ from the October 1 orders already being accounted for in the promise extension number. If that doesn't start to skyrocket by the end of this week will you please do a deeper dive into what is going on here?
I will take screenshots every day and post them here. If my promise extension goes from 0.5 to 4.5ish then we have identified the issue. If it does not, the problem is something else.
KJ_Amazon
I am not able to provide any seller/location/offer-specific details about why promise extensions are being added to any seller's offers. I understand that you and many sellers have strong opinions about how and when these extensions are applied, and I have shared those with our partner teams.
The dashboard metric we have been discussing is based solely on orders that have been placed that meet the delivery promise timeframe. The metric does not account for a seller's other available offers, whether or not those offers are also displaying extended delivery promises.
Seller_b3m5hTin8xQg6
We are having the exact same issue as TCS952 is having. Has anyone received an update on this? The Hurricane promise extension dates are over so it can't be related to that.
Seller_8M8iuPlv9MCNY
Same here...sales dropped like crazy! Extended delivery dates are shown to the customer, but from my selling point of view I see the actual estimated delivery dates when I'm viewing orders. I think it is a push for FBA honestly
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