SFP Second Day?
Since last week all our SFP orders are showing as Second Day rather than Next Day.
Have we been downgraded slightly or is this something other SFP sellers are also experiencing?
This started around wednesday/thursday last week. I’ve been doing SFP since May 2016, using Amazon Shipping and RM, but I can’t remember not having any orders with next day like this for this long, despite the fact that they are ALL going either Amazon Next Day Delivery or Tracked 24 depending on size etc.
Whats this about?
109 replies
Seller_aOogeQQcgrYam
Thanks for raising this!
I’m seeing the same thing, suddenly this week our SFP listings are showing as 2-day delivery (screenshot taken at 9am on Tuesday):
and all the SFP orders that have come through since last Thursday are showing as either Standard (i.e. the customer does not have Prime), or Second Day. The last One-Day order was mid-last week. These are definitely Prime listings too (~£80-100 items) and not Prime Small and Light.
I’m going to raise it with Seller Support to see what they say…
Seller_aOogeQQcgrYam
Just to update you, we’re still fighting through this issue with Seller Support.
Firstly they said it was down to us not meeting our Buy Shipping criteria for SFP (we shipped one order as Special Delivery as a customer was travelling the next afternoon and needed it before 1pm). However, this exception was now more than 7days ago, so we’re back to 100% and we still have the problem with only 2-day delivery being shown on our Prime listings.
Now the agent is saying there is no glitch and that it’s down to customers only buying after a 2pm cut-off! Well, our cut-off is at 4pm anyway, and I’m still seeing the issue every morning!
So in short, Seller Support are offering the offering the usual incisive assistance! Hopefully we’ll get this sorted soon…
Crusader, how’s yours? I hope you’ve resolved it at your end?
Seller_aOogeQQcgrYam
OK, no sooner had I published my last update than Seller Support (to be precise, Amazon Selling Partner Support) got back to me with some very worrying news… (emphasis mine)
As stated earlier, please note all the orders will reflect as Second Day but you need to fulfill them in One Day.
This will improve the customer experience with your product as well because the Orders will be fulfilled before the Estimated Delivery Time.
Sometimes the customer experience is hampered due to variety of reason like carrier delay, customer location, seller location etc.
This leads to unavoidable claims from which sellers had to be protected.
Please note this change is being implemented across all the Seller Fulfilled Prime Sellers.
With regard to buying shipping services for Prime orders, please follow the below to buy labels.
Prime Order - Second day delivery - Use next day shipping service (Second day shipping can be used based on if the promised delivery date is extended).
Prime Order - Standard delivery - Use available options/ external labels directly from allowed carriers.
So it appears that all SFP listings will now be shown to potential customers as two-day delivery (vs one-day for FBA, therefore putting us at a considerable disadvantage), and yet we will still need to deliver in one-day and thus pay the higher delivery costs. All to supposedly improve customer experience!
This has not been communicated as far as I am aware, and there have been no policy/documentation changes. I am furious if this is the case, and will be escalating it up the tree. Please do the same if you feel similarly!
Seller_K8edOfPu9HEmN
Simply the old expidited service changed it’s name to second day. I don’t think it’e got anything to do with SFP
We do second day, thats if people choose that extra payment for a faster or next day delivery as expidited was, and we are not signed up and have chosen to have nothing to do with SFP
Seller_7I19cO8IipzQL
Yes, we are getting this with our SFP also. No ‘Next Day Orders’ since 01-08-19. All SFP offerings showing an expected delivery time within 2 days. I’m not convinced about the reasoning they’re giving about under promising and over delivering. Our stats shows an on-time delivery rate of 97.7% over the past six months, within the required 97%. So it was working fine for us. No need to change it as far as I can see.
Now we are at a disadvantage against FBA sellers selling the same product, even though we are offering an exact same (if not better) service.
Time will tell if this will have a significant effect on sales. August is traditionally a quieter month for us anyway so it’s hard to judge right now.
Seller_aOogeQQcgrYam
So here’s the latest. Apparently this was ‘communicated’ in an email that came out to SFP sellers on 4th June, but was cunningly hidden in the text that we read to mean that Tracked 48 was being dropped as a valid delivery option:
Dear Seller,
What is happening?
On 1st May, we sent you an email communication on the ship option updates to the Buy Shipping tool for SFP. As we roll out these changes to improve our customer promise you may notice that the ship method you previously selected is no longer available.What do I need to do?
For Standard orders, you may notice on some occasions that only a Next Day ship method is available and you do not have the option to buy a slower one. In these instances you are temporarily permitted to buy shipping outside of the Buy Shipping tool, and may purchase tracked shipping labels directly from 3rd party carriers Royal Mail, DPD, Hermes, UK Mail, Parcel force or Yodel provided that you confirm dispatch and provide order tracking ID in Seller Central.For Next Day and Second Day orders on your core Prime templates, you must continue to use a Next Day ship method and this should always be available in Buy Shipping.
What were the changes made?
In order to maintain high standards so that you can keep the Prime promise and continue to delight Amazon’s most loyal customers we have updated on the list of carrier ship methods that are displayed in the Buy Shipping tool. The carrier ship methods that you will see in the Buy Shipping tool are those that can reliably satisfy the customer promise for that specific customer location and ship option that they have selected. This update means customers now see a delivery promise that is calculated based on the carrier that you have selected for that product. Thus, this change will help provide customers with the most accurate delivery promise possible.Kind Regards,
The Seller Fulfilled Prime team
You that one sentence that I’ve highlighted in bold seems to give them license to change the delivery guidance for customers based on our courier options.
However, even if Amazon think that Tracked 24 no longer meets their Prime commitments, that shouldn’t mean that Amazon Logistics or DPD won’t, nor that Special Delivery might be an option they could add to the program.
I currently have Amazon Logistics and Royal Mail listed in my SFP as options, do I’ve gone back to Seller Support to enquire as to whether disabling Royal Mail or switching to DPD would enable me to get my one-day customer promise back on my listings… I’ll let you know!
Seller_aOogeQQcgrYam
And with much to-ing and fro-ing and an hour spent on the phone with them, we’re back where we began…
I understand you need clarity on what basis my account has had this change applied?
I apologize for the inconvenience and confusion this process has caused you.
I have checked with my technical department on this issue of Next Day Delivery not available.
There was a policy change which was implemented from last few days due to which only Second Day was available.
Since there were a lot of complains received from the Seller’s end, hence our Internal Team performed a deep dive on the situation.
Post this from the last few hours, the One Day Delivery has been implemented back.
You can verify the same by checking the offer listing page on the Amazon catalogue.
And indeed, suddenly all my Prime listings are showing as available for delivery tomorrow… Thank goodness for that!
Seller_77NfiFK1Rvc2U
I have read this thread but still very unclear on what is happening…
Most of my orders all week have been coming through as second day, I still ship them by tracked 24, as that looks to be what is required.
PRIME OFFER - Prime Customer, only one delivery option Order Friday Deliver Tuesday
PRIME OFFER - NON Prime Customer, can choose between free standard delivery delivered Tuesday- Thursday OR The can pay my £3 premium delivery fee and get it next day!
So now, non prime customers are the only ones with the option for next day delivery, Ironically I am having to send all three by exactly the same tracked 24 as there is no longer tracked 48 allowed!
There are also every so often one in 20 or so orders that is Prime - Prime customer - Free Next Day delivery… so what did those customers do to get this?
Seller_7I19cO8IipzQL
Looks like Next Day shipping has disappeared for us from SFP again. Our account health and eligibilities for premium and SFP are fine.
All SFP listings showing as Thu 12th Sept as the earliest delivery. Prime trial tick box has gone missing again as well.
Anyone else getting this??
Seller_DTah45UVwLD9g
We noticed this today too, it started on Monday. We also have an issue where we are losing the Buy Box on all our SFP listings when viewed by a non prime customer. We don’t even feature in the seller box, you need to click through to view all sellers to see our offering. Emulate a prime customer for exactly the same ASIN and we have the Buy Box. I’m thinking it might all be linked.
