🚚 [CLOSED] OTDR Policy Q&A: Join Our Ask Amazon Event (17-24 Sept)
Hi UK Sellers,
Join our Ask Amazon event to discuss and ask questions about the new OTDR policy that was announced via this News article on September 2nd 2025.
❔ What is OTDR?
On Time Delivery Rate (OTDR): The percentage of tracked seller-fulfilled units delivered to customers by the promised delivery date. Starting September 16, 2025, sellers will need to maintain a minimum 90% OTDR when fulfilling Fulfilled by Merchant orders on Amazon.co.uk.
📅 Key Dates to Remember:
- September 16, 2025: OTDR metric goes live on Account Health dashboard
- October 16, 2025: Informative warnings begin
- February 2, 2026: Policy enforcement starts
🔍 Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
- On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) Programme Policy
- Shipping Settings Automation
- Use Buy Shipping services
- What is the estimated delivery date (EDD)?
📝 How to Participate to this Ask Amazon event:
- Post your questions and feedback in this thread starting now
- Our Partner Team will aim to respond to all questions by Sept 24th (complex queries may require additional time)
Note: This event is for general questions about the policy. For individual account concerns, please contact Seller Support directly.
💡 Your input matters! The questions and feedback shared here will help improve our seller resources and documentation.
Ange
🚚 [CLOSED] OTDR Policy Q&A: Join Our Ask Amazon Event (17-24 Sept)
Hi UK Sellers,
Join our Ask Amazon event to discuss and ask questions about the new OTDR policy that was announced via this News article on September 2nd 2025.
❔ What is OTDR?
On Time Delivery Rate (OTDR): The percentage of tracked seller-fulfilled units delivered to customers by the promised delivery date. Starting September 16, 2025, sellers will need to maintain a minimum 90% OTDR when fulfilling Fulfilled by Merchant orders on Amazon.co.uk.
📅 Key Dates to Remember:
- September 16, 2025: OTDR metric goes live on Account Health dashboard
- October 16, 2025: Informative warnings begin
- February 2, 2026: Policy enforcement starts
🔍 Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
- On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) Programme Policy
- Shipping Settings Automation
- Use Buy Shipping services
- What is the estimated delivery date (EDD)?
📝 How to Participate to this Ask Amazon event:
- Post your questions and feedback in this thread starting now
- Our Partner Team will aim to respond to all questions by Sept 24th (complex queries may require additional time)
Note: This event is for general questions about the policy. For individual account concerns, please contact Seller Support directly.
💡 Your input matters! The questions and feedback shared here will help improve our seller resources and documentation.
Ange
86 replies
Seller_7VQiMhCLfHHus
Hello,
How will part-tracked (no delivery scan) services from Whistl or TheDeliveryGroup (who mostly use Royal Mail for UK based final mile) be treated.
These are used by many media (book/dvd/cd) sellers to provide services on low value items (such as large letter sized books for around £3 delivered).
These generally do not have a delivery scan, but have pickup and other scans prior to handover to royal mail.
The question applies to both the domestic and international services provided by these companies as they offer similar services into Europe and elsewhere.
Will they be exempted from consideration in the metric, or will we have to switch to more expensive tracked services and put up our prices accordingly?
If we will have to switch to tracked services from these part tracked services, which are about 50p more expensive, has amazon factored in that prices for these items on their marketplace will be significantly higher than elsewhere (given low value items of £2.79 might have to go up to £3.29 this would be an 18% price rise) and the potential impact this might have on their customer satisfaction.
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
For letter post purchased through Buy Shipping, is the inability for them to receive a carrier scan that Amazon can verify going to cause all shipments to be recorded as defects?
Ange_Amazon
Hi @Seller_HwaQlgFnhSuGS,
I think you are referring to automatic handling time rather than SSA.
AHT is turned on for Sellers with handling time gaps (difference between the HT they configured in their settings and their actual HT), and you can always switch back.
Don't hesitate to open another thread in this regards if you believe you do not have Handling time gaps or face technical issues in switching back, so that we can take a closer look at this for you.
Ange
Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ
I doubt it. There have been threads for over a year about sellers finding that SSA has been turned on for them without their permission or consent, and they've only even found out by noticing that their advertised deliveries times are wildly inaccurate, leading them to check their shipping settings to see that SSA is active when it shouldn't be.
This is a separate issue to the people who keep getting automated handling time switched on for them.
Ange_Amazon
Hi @Seller_W0UadCH7lVBVG,
When a buyer reschedules their delivery our system receives this update from the carrier and marks the package as 'delivered' on the day customer made that rescheduling request - not on the actual future delivery date. This means your delivery performance is measured based on when the customer chose to reschedule, not when the final delivery occurs.
Ange
Ange_Amazon
Hi @Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ,
Not exactly. I don't want to call them "unscanned", because that's how we refer to a tracked or partially tracked service that doesn't receive a scan that it should.
What I'm talking about are the services that are intended to be untracked from start to finish. Several of these services are purchasable through Buy Shipping. Since they're untracked, when purchased through Buy Shipping they are excluded from the VTR metric, however it seems like it may be the case that they aren't being excluded from the OTDR metric.
I can't give a specific example because we only use fully tracked services, but some people who have been struggling with their OTDR since account health was updated do use those services, and although I haven't seen their reports to confirm it, it seems to me that their low OTDR score (in some cases below 50%) would be explained by these units being counted in the metric.
This should not be happening.
If it is, it would be good that those are flagged through Seller Support and another thread on the Forum so we can take a look at it closer.
Ange
Ange_Amazon
Hi @Seller_ZQyopdiwkUHOZ,
I doubt it. There have been threads for over a year about sellers finding that SSA has been turned on for them without their permission or consent, and they've only even found out by noticing that their advertised deliveries times are wildly inaccurate, leading them to check their shipping settings to see that SSA is active when it shouldn't be.
This is a separate issue to the people who keep getting automated handling time switched on for them.
The date of Sept 29th refers to when AHT was added automatically for some Sellers hence my comment.
Ange
Seller_W0UadCH7lVBVG
@Ange_Amazon
Thanks for the replies
Can I ask you to talk to the decision makers in regards to this OTDR for orders that have multiple items in one order.
eg, a customer see's a Doormat for sale. Priced and listed as one item, they want 10 so they add 10 to their basket. The seller therefore packs 10 of them in to one package and dispatches.
For whatever reason, the shipper delivers the parcel late by 1 day.
Amazon count all 10 items in the package as 10 late deliveries, not 1 package that is late.
So, the impact to a seller can be big very quickly.
I currently have 18 items that are impacting my OTDR, and yet it is only 4 orders that are late.
This can't be fair, surely, as it is only 1 package/delivery that is late, not 10 individual parcels.
So if a mod can please research this and let all Sellers know asap, Thanks
Seller_tQCfsb3zoC4AP
this will be the final nail in my Amazon coffin (as if it is not already nailed shut]
I am in Northern Ireland and thanks to Brexit rules all goods shipped from here to England Scotland or Wales has to go through customs so all deliveries to the Uk are very random depending on how quick or slow they get customs clearance in the one post bag I could have goods delivered the next day while others in the same bag could take 16/18 days to arrive.
So my ODR is going to be unworkable under your new system.
The only way it could be achieved would be a massive price increase to send goods special delivery which would lead to massive complaints from customers saying bought a £2.49 product but was charged £8.50 for delivery.
Or use courier services for heavier items that will be double the costs of my other sales channels leading to Amazon saying on the catalogue pages Cheaper elsewhere and give me a pricing violation.
Just for once would love to see just one change that would be a benefit for sellers.
Instead of the constant hostility towards 3rd party sellers
Seller_HetZ8jdM3gAgI
What tools will be made available for sellers to appeal ODTR penalties in the event that the reason for late delivery is beyond their control? IE; customer not available for delivery attempt and package not left by the carrier, serious weather delays carrier vehicles on the way to their national hubs causing a delay or an extreme weather event such as snow, hurricane or flooding that delays packages?
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
This new OTDR policy is really totally out of the seller's control - none of us can possibly give an accurate delivery date promise, for the reasons given in many of the posts, such as severe weather disruption, floods, accidents on the motorway/roads network etc. etc. Where I live, the roads can be closed for 12/24 hrs in the event of a serious accident which would obviously delay any deliveries, and being in the highlands of Scotland, the weather can have a huge impact - which again it totally outwith seller's control.
Seller_YggczqLpELtNd
Hello everyone,
Recently my OTDR rate has dropped to 7.48%, but the main reason for this is delays caused by the shipping carrier, not by me as a seller. Unfortunately, the system doesn’t differentiate between seller responsibility and courier responsibility, which makes the situation very unfair for sellers who are trying their best to provide excellent service.
I always dispatch my orders on time, but if the carrier delivers late, the penalty still reflects on my account. This not only damages my metrics but also doesn’t reflect the reality of my performance.
I believe Amazon should review this policy and provide better protection for sellers when delays are caused by third-party couriers. Sellers should not be penalized for something completely out of their control.
Has anyone else faced the same issue? How do you manage OTDR when carrier delays happen?
Thanks in advance for your insights.
Seller_6A9BM76EEV5EG
Could you not just get the OTDR rates from the couriers directly then all that leaves is the seller to make sure they are shipped on time. Save a lot of hassle (unless I am missing something)
