Valid Tracking Rate update starting tomorrow, January 15, 2025 🚩
Hello Sellers,
I want to remind you about tomorrow's significant update to the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) policy and calculation for seller-fulfilled orders.
This update, announced on October 15, 2024, introduces important changes:
- VTR will now include ALL shipping service providers, not just those integrated with Amazon for scan information
- Cross-border shipments between European marketplaces (DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, PT, PL, AT, SE) will be included in VTR calculations. Exception: Orders under €20 (including shipping, excluding VAT) using 'letter' shipping methods.
Updated Resources (Available from January 15):
We are aware that some orders using Amazon's "Buy Shipping" service through Royal Mail are being incorrectly flagged as untracked. The technical team is actively working to resolve this issue.
I'm in direct contact with the responsible team and am here to address any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to post them below.
Best regards, Ezra.
Valid Tracking Rate update starting tomorrow, January 15, 2025 🚩
Hello Sellers,
I want to remind you about tomorrow's significant update to the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) policy and calculation for seller-fulfilled orders.
This update, announced on October 15, 2024, introduces important changes:
- VTR will now include ALL shipping service providers, not just those integrated with Amazon for scan information
- Cross-border shipments between European marketplaces (DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, PT, PL, AT, SE) will be included in VTR calculations. Exception: Orders under €20 (including shipping, excluding VAT) using 'letter' shipping methods.
Updated Resources (Available from January 15):
We are aware that some orders using Amazon's "Buy Shipping" service through Royal Mail are being incorrectly flagged as untracked. The technical team is actively working to resolve this issue.
I'm in direct contact with the responsible team and am here to address any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to post them below.
Best regards, Ezra.
124 replies
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_Amazonthere is still unanswered questions on other threads that sellers have been asking for clarification on since this was announced.
The "Updated Resources" may have the answer but tomorrow is too late. Some of these changes may require wholesale changes to our suppliers and processes.
For example, how will Amazon know that an item is a letter and therefore excepted from measurement?
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_AmazonI have also noted the wording above is different from the original announcement. Above you refer to VTR applying to orders "between" European marketplaces and it does not mention the UK.
Taking the above literally, a shipment from the UK to DE does not fall under VTR as the shipment is not "between" the marketplaces stated. This would interpret the same for a purchase from the UK site or the DE site, i.e. a DE sale & DE shipment is not "between" marketplaces. However, a DE sale & AT shipment would come under VTR.
Can we get some urgent clarification on this? This really is the most uninformed policy update. We have been pursuing relevant information on how to comply for months without success. I trust there will be a grace period to allow time to implement processes to meet these requirements (once we know what they are!)
Seller_CQcvupkWMS9GV
Are Royal Mail first class and second class small letters and large letters still exempt from the valid tracking rate ? When sent within the United Kingdom.
Seller_iRvzn421UPys7
Hi
Could you please kindly help us?
Due to your technique issue, most of our RM shipment via " Buy Shipping" in December has been marked as " invalid", which has severely affected our VTR, it was 100%, but now it is below 95%.
We have contacted Amazon customer service and seller partner team this morning , so hopefully you will help fix the issue as soon as possible, and therefore not affect our account health and selling.
Thank you very much in advance, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
This happened to MANY sellers yesterday, and I assume it was because they were preparing for this change in policy. The technical glitch was acknowledged on the forum by Amazon forum mod, and said they were working on it, BUT there was NEVER any formal acknowledgement from Amazon about it - very poor IMO.
My concern was that some sellers might have some of their categories suspended because of low VTR, but nothing was said about that either. :(
Seller_HKRFhxMYICFJp
We have had the same issue - as have many other Sellers.
Seller_FStIrNuJftbKk
Yep we're one of the sellers that has had a category suspended because of low VTR. We raised case after case appealing the low VTR as this was down to the Royal Mail issue. It does feel like Amazon take immense joy in screwing sellers over!! We're now being overly cautious and not sending any Amazon seller fulfilled orders through Royal Mail so having to rely on bloody Evri (through Buy Shipping) which will no doubt cause refund issues as we play hunt the parcel but if that's what Amazon wants...
Seller_eKxfC0hfusHiG
@Ezra_Amazon
So Ive gone from sticking a stamp on a letter, to now having to buy shipping through Amazon for UK...Mmm
But, What do I do for international Letter shipments from the UK.
Seller_T8qPrRTWTRatw
Thank you for the information concerning the technical issue with Royal Mail.
For me this has caused my VTR to drop to 88%, do I need to do anything in the meantime or just wait for the tech team to sort it out?
Seller_xLwNMCbCJK72d
Why cant Amazon have a "Technical Issues" box on the seller central dashboard that advise sellers of current known major IT issues.
Then we would all know there is an issue and its being worked on, rather than having to trawl the forums to see if others are experiencing same problems and duplicate topics
Seller_RguKGMHvWFmo3
Its been over 24 hours - do we have an estimated time of a fix? Also do you think you could suggest to management about sending out bulletins to the home page and also to Seller Support of any site wide technical issues.
As I can guarantee that there was a huge amount of wasted time from both sellers and Amazon SS yesterday, on something that could not be resolved in any way.
Also can you ensure that this VTR issue is not effecting sellers sales as I have seen many comments about a huge drop in sales since this issue.
Seller_YdYWopTxpvyDo
Hi
The drop in VTR has impacted our ability to offer Premium Shipping. We too have seen a drop in sales. Surely while this problem is waiting to be resolved VTR should be omitted from metrics that it adversely affects.
Valid Tracking Rate update starting tomorrow, January 15, 2025 🚩
Hello Sellers,
I want to remind you about tomorrow's significant update to the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) policy and calculation for seller-fulfilled orders.
This update, announced on October 15, 2024, introduces important changes:
- VTR will now include ALL shipping service providers, not just those integrated with Amazon for scan information
- Cross-border shipments between European marketplaces (DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, PT, PL, AT, SE) will be included in VTR calculations. Exception: Orders under €20 (including shipping, excluding VAT) using 'letter' shipping methods.
Updated Resources (Available from January 15):
We are aware that some orders using Amazon's "Buy Shipping" service through Royal Mail are being incorrectly flagged as untracked. The technical team is actively working to resolve this issue.
I'm in direct contact with the responsible team and am here to address any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to post them below.
Best regards, Ezra.
Valid Tracking Rate update starting tomorrow, January 15, 2025 🚩
Hello Sellers,
I want to remind you about tomorrow's significant update to the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) policy and calculation for seller-fulfilled orders.
This update, announced on October 15, 2024, introduces important changes:
- VTR will now include ALL shipping service providers, not just those integrated with Amazon for scan information
- Cross-border shipments between European marketplaces (DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, PT, PL, AT, SE) will be included in VTR calculations. Exception: Orders under €20 (including shipping, excluding VAT) using 'letter' shipping methods.
Updated Resources (Available from January 15):
We are aware that some orders using Amazon's "Buy Shipping" service through Royal Mail are being incorrectly flagged as untracked. The technical team is actively working to resolve this issue.
I'm in direct contact with the responsible team and am here to address any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to post them below.
Best regards, Ezra.
Valid Tracking Rate update starting tomorrow, January 15, 2025 🚩
Hello Sellers,
I want to remind you about tomorrow's significant update to the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) policy and calculation for seller-fulfilled orders.
This update, announced on October 15, 2024, introduces important changes:
- VTR will now include ALL shipping service providers, not just those integrated with Amazon for scan information
- Cross-border shipments between European marketplaces (DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, PT, PL, AT, SE) will be included in VTR calculations. Exception: Orders under €20 (including shipping, excluding VAT) using 'letter' shipping methods.
Updated Resources (Available from January 15):
We are aware that some orders using Amazon's "Buy Shipping" service through Royal Mail are being incorrectly flagged as untracked. The technical team is actively working to resolve this issue.
I'm in direct contact with the responsible team and am here to address any questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to post them below.
Best regards, Ezra.
124 replies
124 replies
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_Amazonthere is still unanswered questions on other threads that sellers have been asking for clarification on since this was announced.
The "Updated Resources" may have the answer but tomorrow is too late. Some of these changes may require wholesale changes to our suppliers and processes.
For example, how will Amazon know that an item is a letter and therefore excepted from measurement?
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_AmazonI have also noted the wording above is different from the original announcement. Above you refer to VTR applying to orders "between" European marketplaces and it does not mention the UK.
Taking the above literally, a shipment from the UK to DE does not fall under VTR as the shipment is not "between" the marketplaces stated. This would interpret the same for a purchase from the UK site or the DE site, i.e. a DE sale & DE shipment is not "between" marketplaces. However, a DE sale & AT shipment would come under VTR.
Can we get some urgent clarification on this? This really is the most uninformed policy update. We have been pursuing relevant information on how to comply for months without success. I trust there will be a grace period to allow time to implement processes to meet these requirements (once we know what they are!)
Seller_CQcvupkWMS9GV
Are Royal Mail first class and second class small letters and large letters still exempt from the valid tracking rate ? When sent within the United Kingdom.
Seller_iRvzn421UPys7
Hi
Could you please kindly help us?
Due to your technique issue, most of our RM shipment via " Buy Shipping" in December has been marked as " invalid", which has severely affected our VTR, it was 100%, but now it is below 95%.
We have contacted Amazon customer service and seller partner team this morning , so hopefully you will help fix the issue as soon as possible, and therefore not affect our account health and selling.
Thank you very much in advance, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
This happened to MANY sellers yesterday, and I assume it was because they were preparing for this change in policy. The technical glitch was acknowledged on the forum by Amazon forum mod, and said they were working on it, BUT there was NEVER any formal acknowledgement from Amazon about it - very poor IMO.
My concern was that some sellers might have some of their categories suspended because of low VTR, but nothing was said about that either. :(
Seller_HKRFhxMYICFJp
We have had the same issue - as have many other Sellers.
Seller_FStIrNuJftbKk
Yep we're one of the sellers that has had a category suspended because of low VTR. We raised case after case appealing the low VTR as this was down to the Royal Mail issue. It does feel like Amazon take immense joy in screwing sellers over!! We're now being overly cautious and not sending any Amazon seller fulfilled orders through Royal Mail so having to rely on bloody Evri (through Buy Shipping) which will no doubt cause refund issues as we play hunt the parcel but if that's what Amazon wants...
Seller_eKxfC0hfusHiG
@Ezra_Amazon
So Ive gone from sticking a stamp on a letter, to now having to buy shipping through Amazon for UK...Mmm
But, What do I do for international Letter shipments from the UK.
Seller_T8qPrRTWTRatw
Thank you for the information concerning the technical issue with Royal Mail.
For me this has caused my VTR to drop to 88%, do I need to do anything in the meantime or just wait for the tech team to sort it out?
Seller_xLwNMCbCJK72d
Why cant Amazon have a "Technical Issues" box on the seller central dashboard that advise sellers of current known major IT issues.
Then we would all know there is an issue and its being worked on, rather than having to trawl the forums to see if others are experiencing same problems and duplicate topics
Seller_RguKGMHvWFmo3
Its been over 24 hours - do we have an estimated time of a fix? Also do you think you could suggest to management about sending out bulletins to the home page and also to Seller Support of any site wide technical issues.
As I can guarantee that there was a huge amount of wasted time from both sellers and Amazon SS yesterday, on something that could not be resolved in any way.
Also can you ensure that this VTR issue is not effecting sellers sales as I have seen many comments about a huge drop in sales since this issue.
Seller_YdYWopTxpvyDo
Hi
The drop in VTR has impacted our ability to offer Premium Shipping. We too have seen a drop in sales. Surely while this problem is waiting to be resolved VTR should be omitted from metrics that it adversely affects.
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_Amazonthere is still unanswered questions on other threads that sellers have been asking for clarification on since this was announced.
The "Updated Resources" may have the answer but tomorrow is too late. Some of these changes may require wholesale changes to our suppliers and processes.
For example, how will Amazon know that an item is a letter and therefore excepted from measurement?
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_Amazonthere is still unanswered questions on other threads that sellers have been asking for clarification on since this was announced.
The "Updated Resources" may have the answer but tomorrow is too late. Some of these changes may require wholesale changes to our suppliers and processes.
For example, how will Amazon know that an item is a letter and therefore excepted from measurement?
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_AmazonI have also noted the wording above is different from the original announcement. Above you refer to VTR applying to orders "between" European marketplaces and it does not mention the UK.
Taking the above literally, a shipment from the UK to DE does not fall under VTR as the shipment is not "between" the marketplaces stated. This would interpret the same for a purchase from the UK site or the DE site, i.e. a DE sale & DE shipment is not "between" marketplaces. However, a DE sale & AT shipment would come under VTR.
Can we get some urgent clarification on this? This really is the most uninformed policy update. We have been pursuing relevant information on how to comply for months without success. I trust there will be a grace period to allow time to implement processes to meet these requirements (once we know what they are!)
Seller_Vf10jieAEG9f1
@Ezra_AmazonI have also noted the wording above is different from the original announcement. Above you refer to VTR applying to orders "between" European marketplaces and it does not mention the UK.
Taking the above literally, a shipment from the UK to DE does not fall under VTR as the shipment is not "between" the marketplaces stated. This would interpret the same for a purchase from the UK site or the DE site, i.e. a DE sale & DE shipment is not "between" marketplaces. However, a DE sale & AT shipment would come under VTR.
Can we get some urgent clarification on this? This really is the most uninformed policy update. We have been pursuing relevant information on how to comply for months without success. I trust there will be a grace period to allow time to implement processes to meet these requirements (once we know what they are!)
Seller_CQcvupkWMS9GV
Are Royal Mail first class and second class small letters and large letters still exempt from the valid tracking rate ? When sent within the United Kingdom.
Seller_CQcvupkWMS9GV
Are Royal Mail first class and second class small letters and large letters still exempt from the valid tracking rate ? When sent within the United Kingdom.
Seller_iRvzn421UPys7
Hi
Could you please kindly help us?
Due to your technique issue, most of our RM shipment via " Buy Shipping" in December has been marked as " invalid", which has severely affected our VTR, it was 100%, but now it is below 95%.
We have contacted Amazon customer service and seller partner team this morning , so hopefully you will help fix the issue as soon as possible, and therefore not affect our account health and selling.
Thank you very much in advance, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Seller_iRvzn421UPys7
Hi
Could you please kindly help us?
Due to your technique issue, most of our RM shipment via " Buy Shipping" in December has been marked as " invalid", which has severely affected our VTR, it was 100%, but now it is below 95%.
We have contacted Amazon customer service and seller partner team this morning , so hopefully you will help fix the issue as soon as possible, and therefore not affect our account health and selling.
Thank you very much in advance, and we look forward to hearing from you.
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
This happened to MANY sellers yesterday, and I assume it was because they were preparing for this change in policy. The technical glitch was acknowledged on the forum by Amazon forum mod, and said they were working on it, BUT there was NEVER any formal acknowledgement from Amazon about it - very poor IMO.
My concern was that some sellers might have some of their categories suspended because of low VTR, but nothing was said about that either. :(
Seller_ZVAz3d5lZuGid
This happened to MANY sellers yesterday, and I assume it was because they were preparing for this change in policy. The technical glitch was acknowledged on the forum by Amazon forum mod, and said they were working on it, BUT there was NEVER any formal acknowledgement from Amazon about it - very poor IMO.
My concern was that some sellers might have some of their categories suspended because of low VTR, but nothing was said about that either. :(
Seller_HKRFhxMYICFJp
We have had the same issue - as have many other Sellers.
Seller_HKRFhxMYICFJp
We have had the same issue - as have many other Sellers.
Seller_FStIrNuJftbKk
Yep we're one of the sellers that has had a category suspended because of low VTR. We raised case after case appealing the low VTR as this was down to the Royal Mail issue. It does feel like Amazon take immense joy in screwing sellers over!! We're now being overly cautious and not sending any Amazon seller fulfilled orders through Royal Mail so having to rely on bloody Evri (through Buy Shipping) which will no doubt cause refund issues as we play hunt the parcel but if that's what Amazon wants...
Seller_FStIrNuJftbKk
Yep we're one of the sellers that has had a category suspended because of low VTR. We raised case after case appealing the low VTR as this was down to the Royal Mail issue. It does feel like Amazon take immense joy in screwing sellers over!! We're now being overly cautious and not sending any Amazon seller fulfilled orders through Royal Mail so having to rely on bloody Evri (through Buy Shipping) which will no doubt cause refund issues as we play hunt the parcel but if that's what Amazon wants...
Seller_eKxfC0hfusHiG
@Ezra_Amazon
So Ive gone from sticking a stamp on a letter, to now having to buy shipping through Amazon for UK...Mmm
But, What do I do for international Letter shipments from the UK.
Seller_eKxfC0hfusHiG
@Ezra_Amazon
So Ive gone from sticking a stamp on a letter, to now having to buy shipping through Amazon for UK...Mmm
But, What do I do for international Letter shipments from the UK.
Seller_T8qPrRTWTRatw
Thank you for the information concerning the technical issue with Royal Mail.
For me this has caused my VTR to drop to 88%, do I need to do anything in the meantime or just wait for the tech team to sort it out?
Seller_T8qPrRTWTRatw
Thank you for the information concerning the technical issue with Royal Mail.
For me this has caused my VTR to drop to 88%, do I need to do anything in the meantime or just wait for the tech team to sort it out?
Seller_xLwNMCbCJK72d
Why cant Amazon have a "Technical Issues" box on the seller central dashboard that advise sellers of current known major IT issues.
Then we would all know there is an issue and its being worked on, rather than having to trawl the forums to see if others are experiencing same problems and duplicate topics
Seller_xLwNMCbCJK72d
Why cant Amazon have a "Technical Issues" box on the seller central dashboard that advise sellers of current known major IT issues.
Then we would all know there is an issue and its being worked on, rather than having to trawl the forums to see if others are experiencing same problems and duplicate topics
Seller_RguKGMHvWFmo3
Its been over 24 hours - do we have an estimated time of a fix? Also do you think you could suggest to management about sending out bulletins to the home page and also to Seller Support of any site wide technical issues.
As I can guarantee that there was a huge amount of wasted time from both sellers and Amazon SS yesterday, on something that could not be resolved in any way.
Also can you ensure that this VTR issue is not effecting sellers sales as I have seen many comments about a huge drop in sales since this issue.
Seller_RguKGMHvWFmo3
Its been over 24 hours - do we have an estimated time of a fix? Also do you think you could suggest to management about sending out bulletins to the home page and also to Seller Support of any site wide technical issues.
As I can guarantee that there was a huge amount of wasted time from both sellers and Amazon SS yesterday, on something that could not be resolved in any way.
Also can you ensure that this VTR issue is not effecting sellers sales as I have seen many comments about a huge drop in sales since this issue.
Seller_YdYWopTxpvyDo
Hi
The drop in VTR has impacted our ability to offer Premium Shipping. We too have seen a drop in sales. Surely while this problem is waiting to be resolved VTR should be omitted from metrics that it adversely affects.
Seller_YdYWopTxpvyDo
Hi
The drop in VTR has impacted our ability to offer Premium Shipping. We too have seen a drop in sales. Surely while this problem is waiting to be resolved VTR should be omitted from metrics that it adversely affects.
