ODR appeal letter - Give me pointers!

Hello Amazon Sellers,

I’m about to send off my ODR appeal to Amazon Seller Performance team, but before I do it - I thought I would share it with the forums.

Please feel free to make any pointers, small or large, I’ll take all the help I can get! With a bit of luck, this will be my last attempt…

I appreciate you taking the time

Dear Amazon Seller Performance Team,

We are writing to you to address the recent suspension of our Canadian and United States store and we regret that we have failed to meet our order defect targets, consequently resulting in customers receiving orders later than expected and and without tracking numbers. I therefore detail below: What we’ve identified the problem to be, actions we immediately took to resolve the issue at hand and actions we will take in the future to ensure this does not happen again. In successfully and honestly addressing these above three points, we’re able to evidence that we will comply with Amazon’s ‘Seller conduct code’, ensure order defect rate concerns do not occur again, as well as monitoring our account health page to identify further concerns.

What was the root cause that led to the issue?

• I failed to use a fast and reliable shipping courier, which would ensure timely delivery to Canada and the United States, despite the pandemic situation. This resulted in the order defect rate exceeding the 1% target.

• This was in part caused by strict COVID-19 related restrictions in my country, for which I wasn’t properly prepared. There were severe delays affecting postal services and packages sent to Canada and the United States and as some were not being accepted by our couriers.

• Our previous courier and suppliers would often not provide tracking numbers for customer orders, this meant we were unable to provide one. Customers were therefore unaware of the progress of their order, we were also unable to identify where customer’s orders were located, when ultimately asked.

• This shipping issue was also compounded by problematic items (Brands) in our inventory, which were marked as in stock rather than out of stock.

• We did not test the shipment service of the problematic brands before listing the items, which meant we were unable to identify issues as early as we would have liked.

What actions have we taken to resolve the issue?

• All remaining customers’ messages were answered and I issued full refunds for orders which were not received by customers or offered replacements.

• I processed all unshipped orders immediately, with our new courier ‘UPS’ instead of our previous unreliable carrier, which was experiencing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• I checked all my recently shipped orders to verify that their tracking numbers were valid and that they were either already safely delivered to customers or will be delivered on time. Any issues with a order’s shipment that was identified, was resolved with the customer via a refund.

• We identified those suppliers, and by extension products, that were not providing tracking numbers to our courier. Those that were identified were removed from our inventory.

What steps we’ve taken to prevent future issues?

• I signed an agreement with ‘UPS’ to become our new courier which provides faster and more reliable posting services to Canada and the United States. They will also provide tracking numbers for all our orders and process them without delays. Any order or product from a supplier without a tracking number will not be shipped and UPS will inform us of these orders. From now on, I will be using ‘UPS’ for delivery to Canada and the United States.

• All future customer orders will be dispatched on time and confirmed as shipped within the expected ship date, using our courier ‘UPS’, which will ensure a timely delivery to Canada and the United States. This will prevent the late-receipt and non-receipt complaints.

• In case that I am for any reason unable to fulfil orders or if there will be further postal delays relating to the pandemic in the future, the entire account will be set to vacation to ensure that further customer orders are not placed.

• I will be regularly informing myself and the team of the latest COVID-19 restrictions in my country and verifying that the selected postal carrier (UPS) can continue to fulfil orders to Canada and the United States without delays.

• I will maintain an accurate return address and all customers’ returns will be authorised and processed in accordance with Amazon policies, within 24 hours of receipt.

• We have started to monitor our stock levels on a new inventory management software named ‘nChannel’. The items will be scanned as soon as they arrive at the warehouse, checked and scanned again once the item is sent to the buyers. This will also allow us to associate tracking numbers with individual orders, ensuring they are provided to customers.

• We have hired 2 staff members dedicated to inventory management and trained them to use our new Inventory checking system (nChannel). They have also been trained to ensure that all orders are supplied with tracking numbers and if there are orders without numbers, appropriately address the issue by providing the number or dealing directly with our courier and/or supplier to obtain one. This will ensure we are able to identify and quickly address the factors that ultimately led to our order defect rate suspension.

• If a customer has placed an order, yet a tracking number cannot be provided, the customer will be offered a refund within 24 hours.

• We have started a new process in which items without a valid tracking ID will automatically be deleted from our store, regardless of any other consideration relating to our relationships with brands and manufacturers. This will allow us to solve the crux of customer complaints and why we ultimately got suspended.

• We have analysed all our refunds/replacements of the last 3 months to find out if there are any other brands causing similar issues. Those that were identified as an issue, were removed from our inventory and we will no longer list the products on our store.

• We have completed tests and will continue to test shipments for all items before listing them on our store, to verify they arrive in time. If an item does not arrive in time, passing our ‘shipment testing process’ we will not list the item.

• We have set out a new policy to monitor the account health page on a daily basis to identify any prevailing product issues. If any issues are identified, they will be addressed immediately - within business hours or outside of business hours.

• I will regularly review Amazon policies and guidelines. I will be monitoring my performance metrics to ensure that I am within Amazon’s targets.

I am hopeful and confident that this appeal has successfully addressed the reason for our suspension and addressed Amazon’s request for the following:

If I can provide any further information or if any details in this appeal require further clarification then please do not hesitate in letting me know.