Valid Tracking Rate FAQ

Valid Tracking Rate is a performance metric that measures the share of orders that you deliver with a valid tracking out of all your delivered orders, on your merchant fulfilled orders. This metric reflects Amazon customers’ expectations to find out where orders are and when they will be received. Starting on 15 July 2021, you must provide a tracking ID for orders with a tracked delivery method to confirm delivery of self-fulfilled orders.

Providing valid tracking numbers for all your orders has the following benefits:

• Fewer buyer contacts : Approximately 40% of buyer contacts relate to delivery status. The ‘where’s my stuff’ contact rate is 35 times greater for untracked deliveries than it is for tracked deliveries. Providing tracking numbers can help reduce the amount of time you spend answering delivery-related questions.
• Decreased order defects: The Order Defect Rate for untracked orders is 1.7 times greater than the rate for tracked orders.
• Protection from A-to-z Guarantee claims: Without tracking, you will automatically lose any ‘Order not received’ A-to-z Guarantee claims. Tracking helps you represent yourself against these claims and may prevent loss.
• Improved seller feedback ratings: Buyers tell us that being able to track their packages is one of the main reasons to leave positive feedback.
• Reduced lost order costs: Tracking can significantly reduce the costs associated with a lost order. If a package is lost in transit, you can use tracking to find out where it was lost and then determine responsibility.
• Improved conversion: When you use tracking on 98% of your orders and your on-time delivery rate is 97%, you become eligible to reduce handling and transit promise times. This is proven to increase conversion and revenue.

No, your account will not be suspended but Merchant Fulfilled Network offers in the target category may be suspended if you do not provide 95% VTR where required as per policy. You can continue to sell FBA products. If any of your listings gets suspended, you can submit a Plan of Action and apply for reinstatement. If your appeal is approved, your merchant-fulfilled listings in the affected category will be restored.

Carriers that Amazon currently supports tracking information for can be found on Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) Help page, and they will be available to choose from the drop-down box on Confirm dispatch page starting April 19, 2021, among other non-integrated carriers. . You could navigate to the Confirm dispatch page by going to Order > Manage Orders > Confirm dispatch.

A complete list of integrated carriers can be found on Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) Help page.

Tracking numbers are considered valid if one of the following applies:

• You purchased the label through the Buy delivery service where the tracking number is provided by the delivery service provider to Amazon.
• Your tracking number provides at least one physical carrier scan recorded to Amazon.

A package that does not include verified tracking information will have a “No” in the “Has Valid Tracking Number” column of your Valid Tracking ID report. If you have uploaded a tracking number but it is marked as unconfirmed, this might be because of the following:

• Your tracking number is correct, but it is not associated with the carrier you specified. For example, if you use DHL to deliver a package but enter “FedEx” as the carrier name, the tracking information will be marked as unconfirmed.
• You used an unsupported carrier. As a result, we cannot verify the tracking status.
• The tracking number was uploaded after the order was delivered. This means it was not useful to the customer and does not count towards your valid tracking rate metric.

Ensure you have entered the carrier and tracking ID for your package correctly. You can change, re-enter and update the tracking information under Manage Orders until the order is delivered. Your metrics will reflect this change within 72 hours.

If you have a package marked with “No” in the “Has Valid Tracking Number” column and you have verified that the tracking ID for the Amazon-supported carrier is correct, try submitting the tracking ID again. If this does not solve your issue, contact Selling Partner Support for additional investigation.

When our system does not receive updates from the carrier, “No” will display in column I (“has Valid Tracking Number”) for that order in the defect report. This can happen if:

• You left the tracking information field blank.
• You entered special characters (such as punctuation) that our system cannot recognise in the tracking information.
• You confirmed dispatch after delivery.
• We did not receive information from an integrated carrier.
• You used an unsupported carrier.

For more information on how to correct any potential errors in the tracking information you provided, go to How do I edit a tracking number? section below.

If cancelled orders are showing up in your report, it is because you confirmed dispatch before you delivered the package to the carrier. An order is not considered cancelled when you have confirmed dispatch because the buyer’s credit card is charged. To cancel this kind of order, you have to provide refund to the buyer. To prevent this sort of mix-up, we recommend that you confirm dispatch only after the carrier has received the package.

You can edit order tracking information by going to Orders, and then Manage Orders. Enter the Order ID into the Advanced Search. Once you find the correct order, click on Edit Dispatch and provide the revised tracking number.

Allow 72 hours for the report and metric to reflect the changes.