FAQs on Valid Tracking Rate policy in UK
Dear Selling Partners,
We would like to provide additional information regarding the new requirements and shipment confirmation and valid tracking rate.
As a reminder, from 19 April 2021, we will require you to do the following:
- Provide the following information during Ship Confirm:
-
The name of the shipping service provider and the specific delivery service used for all merchant fulfilled orders; and
-
The tracking ID for merchant fulfilled orders that are shipped with a tracked ship method or the unique parcel ID (located above the 2D barcode on the label) in case you use the Royal Mail 24® or Royal Mail 48® ship methods.
- Reach a 95% VTR on your domestic shipments through Amazon.co.uk over a rolling 30-day period (that is if you ship from an address in the UK to a delivery address in the UK)
We will measure the VTR for merchant fulfilled shipments at a category level. VTR will be measured on all domestic shipments shipped through integrated shipping service providers where Amazon receives scan information.
FAQs
-
Are scan events provided for Royal Mail 24®, Royal 48®, Royal Mail 1st Class and Royal Mail 2nd Class?
Yes, if you are using a Royal Mail 24®/48®/1st Class/ 2nd Class product that offers a delivery confirmation then Amazon will receive this once the product is scanned on delivery. This will provide visibility to Selling Partners, Customers and Amazon of delivery. If you are using one of these products without a barcode, please ensure you contact your Royal Mail account manager, or contact Royal Mail here, to set up these services. You will not be able to confirm shipment of an order using a Royal Mail 24®/48®/1st Class/2nd Class delivery method unless you provide the parcel ID. -
Are Royal Mail 1st / 2nd class stamps considered for VTR?
Postage stamps are not a tracked service, if you are shipping your shipments using an untracked ship method you are not required to provide us a tracking ID for domestic and cross-border shipments. -
What happens if my shipping service provider fails to scan my packages meaning I miss ‘VTR’ for a product?
- The first thing to do is engage directly with your shipping service provider to try and find a resolution with them. You should also review your labels to ensure you’re using the right ship method and that labels are being printed correctly.
- You can also consider using Buy Shipping, which allows you to buy shipping labels through the Seller Central interface. With Buy Shipping, the shipping service provider, ship method and tracking ID are automatically provided by shipping services provider to Amazon and all tracking IDs received by Amazon through Buy Shipping are considered valid. In the UK, we currently have DPD, Hermes, Amazon Shipping and Royal Mail ship methods available. You can access Amazon negotiated rate cards or, for Royal Mail, you can link your accounts to benefit from your own rates. For more details on how to use Buy Shipping please visit this help page: https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/help.html?itemID=G200202220.
- If my shipments do not reach 95% VTR in a category, when will I be suspended?
You are expected to meet 95% VTR from 19 April, meaning we will review the first 30 days’ delivery performance on 19 May 2021. From May 19, you may receive an email notification if your VTR does not meet the 95% bar at category level in the last 30 days. The impacted selection may be suspended in the category level if the 95% bar in the last 30 days is not met. To reinstate suspended selection, you will need to submit a plan of action, which will need to be approved.
Seller_sFEUMUfeW5484
How should this be entered correctly to ensure it is not included in the VTR metric?
Seller_bbq8eA650G6ER
Just to be clear is it valid at the point of purchase or does there need to be a scan at some point. i.e. can it be mailed in a post box or will it need to be scanned at the Post Office or on delivery.
Seller_K0ROhKaYqU1kY
All my products are sent with 2nd Class stamps. I have been using Royal Mail as the carrier and 2nd class as the shipping with no tracking number. My VTR is now 0% and showing a warning (!)
Looks like from 19th May, since all my products are in the same category, I will be banned.
Seller_ZjZ4slOF0jHpk
Beggars belief! The ONE Q 90% of us all want answered, STILL not CLEARLY answered. #sigh
Seller_19xPhE8YgkmxW
Hello Jessica
Thank you for this clarification.
I send everything 2nd class at the Post Office with them applying their postage labels - as far as I can tell untracked by Amazon’s definition
Over the past week my VTR data page has updated from ca 50 non-exempted shipments to 1 (and 0 validly tracked) and all Delivered.
That order {Moderator Edit (Jessica) order ID removed} has a latest delivery date within the current scanning window (i.e. 19th March) and is, like most of the others a Large Letter posted at the Post office without tracking and should, I think, be exempted, but appears on the Non-Exempted Shipments report
As a result my VTR is 0%, when perhaps it should be N/A
Is there anything I can do to correct this anomalous item?
Thank you
Brian
Seller_DROodOAYHftnc
Thanks for responding Jessica, but what you have quoted we all know and have read many, many times, but that still does not accurately answer the very specific questions about HOW to manually enter the confirm shipment boxes for untracked methods so that they are seen as exempt for VTR calculations.
Also, we need an answer or solution for non-tracked postage labels bought via ‘Buy Shipping’ . These are currently being counted as invalid and included in the VTR calculation, hence VTR is at 0%, yet the exact same non-tracked postage bought off site, either C&D or at a PO, and shipment manually confirmed are exempt and not negatively impacting VTR.
If Amazon can recognise manually confirmed shipments of non-tracked items sent 1st/2ndclass as being exempt, then why can the same services purchased via Buy Shipping not be recognised as exempt also ?
There appears to be an integrated link missing from ‘Buy Shipping’ to register as exempt.
Why would Amazon encourage us to use their own ‘Buy Shipping’ but then not link it correctly and register as invalid ?
Seller_lx3tBQ67kUzc8
Thank you Jessica but what do we select / enter in the drop down menu to show that we have used stamps with no tracking to avoid a detrimental effect to our VTR rate? Many thanks
Seller_hjUvQMJHm86oo
We use 1st and 2nd class stamps so in simply what do I put the delivery field.
A - SELECT royal mail and then select second class and leave the tracking blank
OR
B - SELECT Other and then select 2nd class and leave the tracking blank
it does say in the VTR policies this
The following items are not included in the VTR calculation:
- Domestic items delivered by carrier/delivery service provider not integrated with Amazon
*** Domestic items delivered with untracked delivery services/delivery methods** - Digital products, e.g. audio book
stamps are a untracked delivery service
Seller_1AlYkyOZa1b1S
Hi Jessica,
Can you please confirm if Royal Mail 2nd class large letter, bought through Amazon buy shipping will give a positive VTR or would these orders flag as a negative VTR?
Thank you
Seller_mz7g6KyUIMkR0
“1. Are Royal Mail 1st / 2nd class stamps considered for VTR?
Postage stamps are not a tracked service, if you are shipping your shipments using an untracked ship method you are not required to provide us a tracking ID for domestic and cross-border shipments.”
Hello Jessica, could you please specifically tell me how I should dispatch as the above is my case. Thank you sincerely
