Receiving and replying to emails outside business hours

[Kika]

I believe customers are told to expect a response in 48 hours but we are told 24 hours so Amazon can exceed expectations.

Yes, this is correct.

Sellers should respond by the 24 hours deadline, while the customers will be told by Amazon to expect a reply within 48 hours:

[Sansar]

Is it?

I did mention we (sellers) are expected to respond within 24 hours.

[Elusive]

Yes, this is correct.

Buyers may well expect to get a reply within 48 hours…

But we are Sellers - and Seller are expected to reply to buyer messages within 24 hours… otherwise your average response-time percentage calculation will be affected and you will a have red flag marker in your seller account.

[Kika]

Buyers may well expect to get a reply within 24 hours…

Amazon clearly advises them they will receive a response within 48 hours.

Answering buyer-seller messaging past the deadline has no negative impact on your metrics or performance.

It’s just an advisory target.

[Elusive]

Buyers may well expect to get a reply within 48 hours…

Is what I posted on the forum

[Elusive]

But we are Sellers - and Seller are expected to reply to buyer messages within 24 hours… otherwise your average response-time percentage calculation will be affected and you will a have red flag marker in your seller account.

[Elusive]

@Kika

Hi,
Our business hours are Monday to Friday 8.30am - 4.30pm. When we receive emails from customers, we have 24hrs to answer them, which during the week is fine, but it’s the same rule for the weekends as well. I’m often having to log-in from home at the weekends to answer emails that should really wait until Monday.

Is there anywhere in the system that I can change the office opening hours for emails received during the weekend?

Many thanks in advance.
Natalie

I think the OP has their question answered. She is under the impression she needs to reply to messages within 24 hours, which is correct. So why are you trying to change her thought process to “48 hours”?

[Kika]

So why are you trying to change her thought process to “48 hours”?

No, I was only confirming the correctness of statement by @Sansar.

Customers are told they will receive a reply within 48 hours while sellers have a 24 hours response target.

[Adrian]

That is incorrect. Amazon expect you to reply within the SLA - which is under 24 hours

Actually @Sansar is totally correct.
Amazon state 48 hours to the buyer but 24 hours to the seller as per the following policy page
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_v4_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201889690

[Elusive]

@Adrian
@Kika

Amazon state 48 hours to the buyer but 24 hours to the seller

yes agreed.

The OP wrote

I’m often having to log-in from home at the weekends to answer emails that should really wait until Monday.

So, a message sent to her from a buyer on Friday evening for example can not wait until Monday morning for a reply…

Anyway, the OP has her questions answered now. Good Luck

[BCE]

I thought this was changed a few months ago? I’m sure I read, ‘messages that are not answered within 24hrs will no longer count against seller metrics’ or something along those lines?

[Kika]

Messages which are left unanswered for over 24 hours never affected your Seller Account, however there was an announcement some time ago where Amazon said that they completely removed the metric from all performance dashboards.

[SANJEEV]

Mark messages as ‘No Response Needed’

This is what we do. It works as well if you just mark as ‘No Response Needed’ just before you reply - so we mark as NRN for any messages over the 24 hour time period on a Monday morning and then reply straight away after that, and it doesn’t affect metrics this way either.

[Carols_Books]

Yes, you can’t even have a holiday without checking for emails.

Not that I get many, Jilly, as buyers can’t even find my books to ask questions about them!

[APD1]

I log-in for an hour on Saturday morning and about the same on Sunday to make sure I catch any serious complaints or clock any weekend A-Z Claims.

[Magical_Planet]

I thought this was changed a few months ago? I’m sure I read, ‘messages that are not answered within 24hrs will no longer count against seller metrics’ or something along those lines?

That’s my impression too. However it is best to keep your response profile at 100% , even if response times have no negative effect currently .

[Simply_NikNaks1]

I thought this was changed a few months ago? I’m sure I read, ‘messages that are not answered within 24hrs will no longer count against seller metrics’ or something along those lines?

That’s my impression too. However it is best to keep your response profile at 100% , even if response times have no negative effect currently .

Yes the system changed a few months ago. Late replies used to affect your seller metrics but no more - however, Amazon still warn you if you not replied within 24 hours.

As regards using the App I often find I get a notification of a message but when I goto the messages there nothing to see. Even refreshing several times has no effect. If I wait and look an hour or so after receiving the notification then I can see the message or I can login on computer and see it. So if I’m out and about and get a notification of a message I have to remember to check an hour later to read it.

[Elusive]

@BCE
@Kika

I thought this was changed a few months ago? I’m sure I read, ‘messages that are not answered within 24hrs will no longer count against seller metrics’ or something along those lines?

Finally I can go on a weekend break without worrying about replying to buyer messages !!! - I think not… If you have OCD about metrics, you wouldn’t leave it 48 hours to reply to your buyer… not on Amazon anyway… the repercussions can be heavy

[Andy_T]

If you believe it’s a counted metric, please post a screenshot of said metric from your performance dashboard within Seller Central. Because it appears nowhere in mine.

[system]

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