Incorrect On-Time Delivery Rate – Shipping Carriers Not in Seller's Control
I would like to raise a concern regarding the On-Time Delivery Rate metric, which appears to be inaccurately reflecting our performance.
We consistently dispatch all orders on the same day or next working day, and fulfill our responsibilities as a seller. However, delays caused by the shipping carriers — many of which are the same ones Amazon recommends or integrates into Seller Central — are being counted against us.
As sellers, we do not have control over carrier delays once the parcel has been handed over. It seems unfair for our account metrics to be negatively impacted due to external factors beyond our control.
I kindly request sellers to report that this issue be reviewed and that metrics reflect seller handling time rather than carrier delivery time, especially when sellers are using Amazon-preferred carriers.
Thank you for your attention and support.
Best regards,
Incorrect On-Time Delivery Rate – Shipping Carriers Not in Seller's Control
I would like to raise a concern regarding the On-Time Delivery Rate metric, which appears to be inaccurately reflecting our performance.
We consistently dispatch all orders on the same day or next working day, and fulfill our responsibilities as a seller. However, delays caused by the shipping carriers — many of which are the same ones Amazon recommends or integrates into Seller Central — are being counted against us.
As sellers, we do not have control over carrier delays once the parcel has been handed over. It seems unfair for our account metrics to be negatively impacted due to external factors beyond our control.
I kindly request sellers to report that this issue be reviewed and that metrics reflect seller handling time rather than carrier delivery time, especially when sellers are using Amazon-preferred carriers.
Thank you for your attention and support.
Best regards,
24 replies
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
As a seller, when you receive an order from a buyer, it is your responsibility to see that it reaches them within your delivery promise.
I don't like the OTDR as a metric, but it is absolutely our faults when a courier we chose to use causes us to fail to meet our promises.
If your OTDR is low, then you need to change your shipping times to compensate for that.
Seller_hOZNPw7G8FIjl
I agree. I sent an order Tracked 48 (via Click & Drop site as Amazon won't let me buy Tracked 48 through them) on 29th September. RM website says "your item is due to be delivered 1st October between 11:25am and 3:25pm"
I can only assume they have not updated the website or they have lost it. Buyer has not contacted me to say DNR though.
I rarely send tracked so my metrics will be screwed shortly
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
Like @Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZvery few of us like this new metric. I do agree with you that the OTDR does not truly reflect our performance, as like you I ALWAYS despatch the same day, or next. There was recently a forum discussion about this new metric (you must have missed it ?) and many of us said that the actual delivery is outwith our control and we should not be penalised for delays by the carrier, especilally if weather,flooding, or blocked road network etc.
But, as Postees said, the only way to avoid poor metric is to increase your shipping time to give time for parcel to arrive.
Seller_Fg2fqaWOnEtha
As both a seller and a customer, I fully appreciate that it is ultimately the seller’s responsibility to ensure timely delivery. However, it’s important to consider the following points:
a) Royal Mail does not scan all untracked items upon delivery, which makes it difficult to prove that a parcel has been successfully received on time.
b) Performance metrics might be useful, but they should not unfairly penalise sellers who dispatch items on time; particularly during challenging periods such as the busy Christmas season or severe weather conditions.
c) Accountability should be shared. While sellers are held responsible for timely delivery, couriers are not always equally accountable. It is often difficult to claim compensation for lost parcels, and virtually impossible for delayed ones. For example, if I purchase a Tracked 24 label and the parcel takes five days to arrive, I am not reimbursed while Amazon will expect me to refund the customer.
In practice, there are limited alternatives — especially for Large Letters, where Royal Mail remains the main viable option. While we can choose between couriers like EVRI or Yodel for parcels, the lack of competition in the large letter category makes it difficult for sellers to "vote with their feet."
Seller_MVutjzUZxCw7W
hi I’m getting the same as you. All my packages go off on 24 hour tracked. And they have said I post out late. If they pay same day. I can post the same day. Or if it’s late which is sometimes after 6pm it goes the next day. I just can’t understand why they’ve suggested all my items are very late and have said my account is about to be deactivated
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
And? A promise doesn't become a promise once you start advertising it as such. Amazon tells people when it will be received, then people make the purchase based on that information. No matter how you cut it, that's IS a promise.
Yes there are. Royal Mail literally has a service called 'special delivery GUARANTEED'. It even includes specific time frames. DPD also have guaranteed delivery services, as do UPS just to name a few.
That said, it's wholly irrelevant, because it's YOUR responsibility not to advertise delivery times that YOU as the SELLER can't meet. The courier isn't the one setting your Amazon shipping speeds.
They're supposed to add on the appropriate amount of time so that missing the delivery promise is a rarity, rather than a common occurrence. Which on Amazon, Amazon has decided means delivering on time 90%+ of your units.
Except neither of those are forcing you to set faster delivery speeds than you're actually able to delivery with. All of your points are made irrelevant by the fact that YOU are the one telling Amazon how fast you can delver. They're not measuring against their expectations that they unilaterally set, they're measuring against the expectations YOU set for yourself.
I don't like the OTDR metric. Anything extra put in place that can go wrong through Amazon's ineptitude is a bad idea, but a lot of the objections being raised are not valid. Valid objections are Amazon's system not recording tracking correctly, or the seller's without a pro account who can't set their own shipping times, or the mess they make on making the policy clear causing people not to know what they can and can't do, etc.
Seller_2EjL88l0NNfWJ
@Seller_RIgr8qWbT3vod We are being repeatedly penalised by Amazon for failures that are entirely outside our control, specifically due to EVRI’s poor delivery performance. Our on-time shipment rate is consistently perfect, yet we continue to face suspensions and penalties because of on-time delivery metrics driven by courier delays.
It is completely unacceptable that we are held as sellers accountable for delivery failures caused by EVRI a courier Amazon itself has on-boarded and approved as a registered Seller Fulfilled Prime carrier.
These penalties should be directed toward the couriers who fail to meet delivery commitments, not the sellers who have fulfilled their obligations in full. The on-time delivery rate metric should be urgently reviewed ensuring its registered carriers meet the service levels promised under the SFP programme.
Seller_fMsCVAHNu4txH
As several have said on here OTDR is becoming just yet another pointless and un-thought-out metric to impede sellers.
Also, as usual, Amazon have turned what's actually a very 'shades-of-grey' situation in to the 'black-and-white' that a bot can be used to enforce.
As @Seller_tFx5glRVZd6uzhas said... Amazon aren't legally committing (themselves / or us) to any delivery timescales as part of the contract with the consumer. But they are now making that a part of the contract with the seller.
As @Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ has said... The delivery timescales are actually still within our control, and have always been our responsibility,
As @Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid has said... Increase the delivery times, avoid the metrics, lose the sales.
Everyone is right. Everyone is in the same boat. And the boat is sinking.
As is always the problem with Amazons decisions and endless hoops to jump through, no one appears to have actually considered how it will work in practice.
If every seller on Amazon now extended their delivery time by 48 hours to ensure the metric was met, then overall sales on Amazon would probably nose-dive overnight. The marketplace would likely collapse, and we'd all be waiting for the next market-leader to appear.
But... some sellers will always continue to offer a service they can't actually "Guarantee", and the metric may / may not bite them, and I have a strong feeling that those who'll be least affected will be those who consider seller accounts to be disposable. Meaning all the serious sellers, who have put in the customer service time, and actually created the marketplace, are the ones who'll be lost.
Retail sales are already declining across most areas due to the worlds current economic crunch. Tell customers their delivery might take several days and the high-street might suddenly get a bit of a boost.
...2026 may finally be the year of 'Ami-Baba'
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
As @Seller_tFx5glRVZd6uzhas said... Amazon aren't legally committing (themselves / or us) to any delivery timescales as part of the contract with the consumer. But they are now making that a part of the contract with the seller.
Just in case anyone thought I meant different, I wasn't suggesting that it was a legal commitment. Something doesn't have to be a legal commitment/contract to be a promise. Something doesn't have to be a legal requirement to be our responsibility.
I am not asserting that we are legally required to meet the advertised delivery times.
I AM asserting that when you outsource your deliveries to a courier, you are still legally and ethically responsible for those deliveries, but that isn't an argument in favour of the OTDR metric.
Seller_fMsCVAHNu4txH
I totally agree with your point on the ethical responsibility for delivery, and that's what (I think) OTDR seems to be trying to enforce, but that's not how it's being implemented.
But, in reverse, a 'Promise' will legally form part of a contract automatically, unless it's explicitly excluded.
There's a big difference between "We aim to deliver within 48 hours" and "We guarantee delivery within 48 hours". (Implicit vs Explicit)
What Amazon are doing is suggesting an implicit contract term to the consumers, but (via OTDR) enforcing that as an explicit contract term on the sellers. Almost by definition it's an unfair contract term, as there is no 'reasonable' way to ensure it, and the penalty for not meeting it is very severe.
Even the Royal Mail 'Guaranteed' deliveries have 'reasonable' clauses and exceptions.
If they fail to meet the delivery promise, the penalty isn't that they're automatically restricted from operating.
They just give you £5 compensation (£10 if it's very late).
__________
You could send everything by the most reliable, and highly approved service in the world... but a tyre will burst, a van will break down, a strike will interfere, the weather will turn, a natural disaster will strike... With OTDR there is no 'reasonable' allowance for things that 'will' happen, no matter what your handling times are set at.
A slightly stretched, but plausible, example:
- You send everything 'Guaranteed' and you've had a collection that day, all of your items are in the depot waiting for processing.
- The depot that has a fire / flood.
Everything is out of your control, and those parcels aren't getting delivered for at least a week (if at all).
You respond quickly to the event:
- Use a different carrier / depot for any future deliveries
- Apologise to customers, inform them of the delay
- Offer compensation, Dispatch replacements
- Do everything legally (and ethically) required.
OTDR impacted... Account at risk.
__________
On a side note, only yesterday I received an email from TikTok:
UK shoppers have always expected fast, reliable delivery, so from Thursday 30th October ... OTDR for all sellers ... to deliver all orders within 4 working days of order creation... Sellers who repeatedly fail ... may see reduced traffic on their products and may be subject to Order Volume Limit (OVL) enforcement. We prioritise sellers who consistently delight customers and fully comply ... Fulfilment by ... and Shipped via Platform orders are exempt from OTDR calculations.
So, they've also jumped on the OTDR band-wagon, but the penalty isn't 'suspension', and they'll give you a free pass if you buy the shipping through them. Luckily I don't actually sell much on there, but 2 weeks notice is even worse than here!
