Hello fellow sellers,
I am facing a very frustrating issue regarding the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) metric, and I want to share my experience here. Maybe others have faced something similar.
On March 17, I received an order (Order ID: 111-2730541-1669000) from a business customer.
The promised delivery window shown to the buyer was March 21 to March 27.
I immediately shipped the order the same day via DHL Express, one of the most reliable carriers.
The tracking number was promptly uploaded to Amazon, and the order was successfully delivered on March 21, exactly within the promised window.
Today, I checked my metrics and noticed that my Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) has dropped to 93%.
I downloaded the VTR report and saw that this very order was marked with a VTR defect.
I contacted Amazon Seller Support through live chat. Here's what they told me:
The order failed "VTR Criteria 4," meaning "Carrier provided tracking scan to Amazon" was not met.
Even though the tracking number was working perfectly on DHL's official website, Amazon claimed they didn't receive an electronic scan directly into their system.
They advised me: "To avoid this in future, please ensure the carrier you select provides tracking scan to Amazon."
Here’s the strange part:
I have been shipping all my other orders with DHL Express too, and I have never faced any VTR defect with them before.
Only this one order is showing the defect — despite using the same carrier, same shipping process, and same tracking upload method.
Frankly, this is completely unfair.
We sellers have no control over whether major global carriers like DHL send tracking events directly to Amazon’s system.
We are fulfilling our duties — shipping on time, uploading tracking numbers, and ensuring timely delivery.
Still, Amazon punishes us for something completely outside our control, and damages our account health with unjustified defects.
Instead of supporting sellers who maintain good performance, Amazon’s rigid and unrealistic VTR policies are making it harder for us to focus on actual business growth.
My questions to the community:
Has anyone else experienced a random VTR defect even after proper shipping and delivery?
How are you handling such unfair VTR issues?
Is there any escalation method where Amazon genuinely investigates these cases?
It’s extremely discouraging. We are trying our best to give a good buyer experience, but random metric hits like this are totally demoralizing.
Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
