🚚 MFN Roadmap: Shipping Settings and Carrier Complications
Hello Sellers!
Welcome to Week 3 of the MFN Roadmap: From Shipped to Delivered series. In Week 1 we covered LDR and VTR penalties, and in Week 2 we tackled shipping label costs and overcharges. This week, we're diving into a topic that frustrates many MFN sellers: what happens when your carrier delivers late — and how your shipping settings play a role in whether you take the hit.
Here's the reality: your delivery promise to customers is calculated from the settings you configure. If those settings don't reflect how your operation actually works, you're setting yourself up for late deliveries — even when your carrier performs normally.
For this event, we also invited an experienced seller to provide you with real, actionable insights. Please welcome seller @Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn !
How Your Delivery Promise Is Calculated
When a customer sees an estimated delivery date on your listing, that date is built from two components you control:
- Handling Time — The number of business days from when an order is placed to when you hand it to your carrier
- Transit Time — The number of business days your carrier takes to deliver from your location to the customer's address
Delivery Promise = Handling Time + Transit Time + Weekends/Bank Holidays
If either setting is too aggressive for your actual operation, your On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) will suffer — even if you're working as fast as you can.
What Is OTDR and Why Does It Matter?
On-Time Delivery Rate measures the percentage of your seller-fulfilled parcels delivered by the estimated delivery date. Sellers are expected to maintain a minimum 90% OTDR when fulfilling Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) orders on Amazon.co.uk
OTDR performance directly affects your delivery promise eligibility. If your OTDR drops, Amazon may add extra time (promise padding) to your delivery dates — making your offers less competitive. Strong OTDR means faster promises, which means better visibility and conversion.
When Carriers Are Late — Who's Responsible?
If your carrier misses the delivery window, your OTDR takes the hit — unless you've taken specific steps to protect yourself.
Common carrier complications that can impact your metrics:
- Weather delays or force majeure events — Amazon may apply promise padding automatically during major disruptions, but localised delays often aren't covered
- Carrier capacity issues during peak periods — Holiday surges, Prime Day volume, and seasonal spikes can slow carriers down
- Incorrect carrier scan data — If your carrier doesn't scan on time or provides incomplete tracking, it can appear as though delivery was late even when it wasn't
- Carrier service downgrades — Some carriers may reroute parcels to slower services without notification
How to Protect Your Metrics: Amazon offers tools specifically designed to shield you from carrier-related delivery failures.
1. Enable Shipping Settings Automation (SSA)
SSA automatically calculates transit times based on your warehouse location, customer location, and real carrier performance data. Instead of guessing how long delivery takes to each region, Amazon uses millions of data points from the carriers you select.
Benefits of SSA:
- No more manual transit time calculations
- Delivery promises reflect actual carrier capabilities
- Amazon dynamically adjusts transit times during peak season, Prime Day, or weather events
2. Use Buy Shipping with OTDR-Protected Labels
Orders won’t have a negative effect on your OTDR when fulfilled using all three of Amazon’s automation tools:
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA) enabled on shipping templates
- Automated Handling Time (AHT) enabled on your account OR a 0–1-day default handling time enabled
- Amazon Buy Delivery labels purchased through Manage Orders, Delivery API or multi-channel integrators with access to Buy Delivery.
Small-volume sellers (defined as those that ship fewer than 20 units during the 14-day evaluation period) are also exempt from OTDR requirements.
3. Enable Automated Handling Time (AHT)
AHT sets more accurate handling times for each of your products based on your historical performance — rather than applying a blanket 1 or 2 days across everything.
4. Set Realistic Handling Times
Be honest about how long it takes you to process and dispatch orders. If you consistently need 2 days but your handling time is set to 1, every order starts behind schedule. You can set handling time at:
- Default level (applies to all SKUs) — via Settings → Shipping Settings → General Shipping Settings
- Template level (applies to SKUs linked to that template)
- SKU level (overrides default for specific products)
5. Configure Order Handling Capacity
You can set a daily order limit for how many orders you can manage with your current handling time. Orders above that limit automatically get an extra day of handling time — without triggering a Late Shipment Rate defect.
6. Utilize Seller-Set Holidays During Affected Times
Seller-set holidays are configurable non-operating days that you can set for your account, which extend shipping and promised delivery date by the number of days you’ve set as holidays. You can still receive orders on custom holidays.
Shipping Settings Checklist
Use this quick audit to make sure your settings are working for you, not against you:
✅ Is your default handling time realistic for your operation?
✅ Have you enabled Shipping Settings Automation (SSA)?
✅ Have you enabled Automated Handling Time (AHT)?
✅ Are you using Buy Shipping with OTDR-protected labels?
✅ Have you set an order handling capacity limit?
✅ Are your dispatch-from addresses accurate and up to date?
✅ Are you using Amazon-integrated carriers (Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, Parcelforce, Amazon Shipping)? Helpful Resources
Helpful Links
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA)
- Automated Handling Time (AHT)
- Buy Shipping Services
- Set Your Shipping Templates
- On-Time Delivery Rate
- Account Health Dashboard
- Create, edit or delete shipping templates
What's Next on the Roadmap?
On Thursday, we'll be posting about EasyShip — and whether it's the right fit for your business. Then next week is our LIVE Ask Amazon event on 26 August — where the Amazon MFN team will be here all day (8:00 AM – 5:00 PM BST) answering your questions in real time.
Have you experienced carrier delays that impacted your metrics? What shipping settings have made the biggest difference for your business? Share your experience below — your tips could help a fellow seller avoid a preventable OTDR hit.
🚚 MFN Roadmap: Shipping Settings and Carrier Complications
Hello Sellers!
Welcome to Week 3 of the MFN Roadmap: From Shipped to Delivered series. In Week 1 we covered LDR and VTR penalties, and in Week 2 we tackled shipping label costs and overcharges. This week, we're diving into a topic that frustrates many MFN sellers: what happens when your carrier delivers late — and how your shipping settings play a role in whether you take the hit.
Here's the reality: your delivery promise to customers is calculated from the settings you configure. If those settings don't reflect how your operation actually works, you're setting yourself up for late deliveries — even when your carrier performs normally.
For this event, we also invited an experienced seller to provide you with real, actionable insights. Please welcome seller @Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn !
How Your Delivery Promise Is Calculated
When a customer sees an estimated delivery date on your listing, that date is built from two components you control:
- Handling Time — The number of business days from when an order is placed to when you hand it to your carrier
- Transit Time — The number of business days your carrier takes to deliver from your location to the customer's address
Delivery Promise = Handling Time + Transit Time + Weekends/Bank Holidays
If either setting is too aggressive for your actual operation, your On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) will suffer — even if you're working as fast as you can.
What Is OTDR and Why Does It Matter?
On-Time Delivery Rate measures the percentage of your seller-fulfilled parcels delivered by the estimated delivery date. Sellers are expected to maintain a minimum 90% OTDR when fulfilling Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) orders on Amazon.co.uk
OTDR performance directly affects your delivery promise eligibility. If your OTDR drops, Amazon may add extra time (promise padding) to your delivery dates — making your offers less competitive. Strong OTDR means faster promises, which means better visibility and conversion.
When Carriers Are Late — Who's Responsible?
If your carrier misses the delivery window, your OTDR takes the hit — unless you've taken specific steps to protect yourself.
Common carrier complications that can impact your metrics:
- Weather delays or force majeure events — Amazon may apply promise padding automatically during major disruptions, but localised delays often aren't covered
- Carrier capacity issues during peak periods — Holiday surges, Prime Day volume, and seasonal spikes can slow carriers down
- Incorrect carrier scan data — If your carrier doesn't scan on time or provides incomplete tracking, it can appear as though delivery was late even when it wasn't
- Carrier service downgrades — Some carriers may reroute parcels to slower services without notification
How to Protect Your Metrics: Amazon offers tools specifically designed to shield you from carrier-related delivery failures.
1. Enable Shipping Settings Automation (SSA)
SSA automatically calculates transit times based on your warehouse location, customer location, and real carrier performance data. Instead of guessing how long delivery takes to each region, Amazon uses millions of data points from the carriers you select.
Benefits of SSA:
- No more manual transit time calculations
- Delivery promises reflect actual carrier capabilities
- Amazon dynamically adjusts transit times during peak season, Prime Day, or weather events
2. Use Buy Shipping with OTDR-Protected Labels
Orders won’t have a negative effect on your OTDR when fulfilled using all three of Amazon’s automation tools:
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA) enabled on shipping templates
- Automated Handling Time (AHT) enabled on your account OR a 0–1-day default handling time enabled
- Amazon Buy Delivery labels purchased through Manage Orders, Delivery API or multi-channel integrators with access to Buy Delivery.
Small-volume sellers (defined as those that ship fewer than 20 units during the 14-day evaluation period) are also exempt from OTDR requirements.
3. Enable Automated Handling Time (AHT)
AHT sets more accurate handling times for each of your products based on your historical performance — rather than applying a blanket 1 or 2 days across everything.
4. Set Realistic Handling Times
Be honest about how long it takes you to process and dispatch orders. If you consistently need 2 days but your handling time is set to 1, every order starts behind schedule. You can set handling time at:
- Default level (applies to all SKUs) — via Settings → Shipping Settings → General Shipping Settings
- Template level (applies to SKUs linked to that template)
- SKU level (overrides default for specific products)
5. Configure Order Handling Capacity
You can set a daily order limit for how many orders you can manage with your current handling time. Orders above that limit automatically get an extra day of handling time — without triggering a Late Shipment Rate defect.
6. Utilize Seller-Set Holidays During Affected Times
Seller-set holidays are configurable non-operating days that you can set for your account, which extend shipping and promised delivery date by the number of days you’ve set as holidays. You can still receive orders on custom holidays.
Shipping Settings Checklist
Use this quick audit to make sure your settings are working for you, not against you:
✅ Is your default handling time realistic for your operation?
✅ Have you enabled Shipping Settings Automation (SSA)?
✅ Have you enabled Automated Handling Time (AHT)?
✅ Are you using Buy Shipping with OTDR-protected labels?
✅ Have you set an order handling capacity limit?
✅ Are your dispatch-from addresses accurate and up to date?
✅ Are you using Amazon-integrated carriers (Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, Parcelforce, Amazon Shipping)? Helpful Resources
Helpful Links
- Shipping Settings Automation (SSA)
- Automated Handling Time (AHT)
- Buy Shipping Services
- Set Your Shipping Templates
- On-Time Delivery Rate
- Account Health Dashboard
- Create, edit or delete shipping templates
What's Next on the Roadmap?
On Thursday, we'll be posting about EasyShip — and whether it's the right fit for your business. Then next week is our LIVE Ask Amazon event on 26 August — where the Amazon MFN team will be here all day (8:00 AM – 5:00 PM BST) answering your questions in real time.
Have you experienced carrier delays that impacted your metrics? What shipping settings have made the biggest difference for your business? Share your experience below — your tips could help a fellow seller avoid a preventable OTDR hit.
13 replies
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
The biggest challenge for us is maintaining our OTDR above 90%
I see other sellers have this issue as well on a regular basis. Linking our Royal Mail account to Amazon gives us some issues so we can't take advantage of OTDR protection by buying our shipping through Amazon.
With the way we work only our tracked post is included in the OTDR calculation and as some of our orders have a large number of units it only takes a small number of late orders to drag our OTDR below 90%. For this reason we can no longer use Tracked 48 post as this often takes longer than the 2-3 day aim Royal Mail give. We are now having to use Tracked 24 post for all of our tracked orders on Amazon in order to maintain our OTDR above 90%, when we were using Tracked 48 earlier in the year we were going below 90% and receiving warnings.
Seller_oLG8iq4VBPVWg
When are you going to fix the issue of orders to be delivered on a Sunday, when Royal mail & DPD do not deliver on this day.
We was told to set our cut off times on a Friday evening by seller support to ensure delivery will not show, but the same is happening, we also have Sunday set as a no delivery day. One response from seller support was to send a plan of action to Royal mail asking them why they do not deliver on a Sunday!
Seller_GKVc5zj2QTT1e
Like many sellers, we had set 'realistic handling times' for OUR business, but Amazon decided to implement changes to the 'default level' which means it can now only be set to 2 days (or more) by 'SKU level'...
But, from September, the system will start to automatically apply shorter handling times if it sees that we are dispatching quicker than what is set, a change that will catch sellers out, and complicate processes - it didn't need to be changed.
If anything, it is these types of changes that increase the chance of late dispatch and deliveries.
4. Set Realistic Handling Times
Be honest about how long it takes you to process and dispatch orders. If you consistently need 2 days but your handling time is set to 1, every order starts behind schedule. You can set handling time at:
- Default level (applies to all SKUs) — via Settings → Shipping Settings → General Shipping Settings
- Template level (applies to SKUs linked to that template)
- SKU level (overrides default for specific products)
Seller_UJ5qQhJN37Y7u
Good Morning This information isn't correct. Our setting are all set to automated and our statastis are all been met however out delivery time is still showing one day extra than it should it keep changing every week and is driving sales down badly. I really need this issue escalating.
Seller_yTtln4o5Jyq5k
"2. Use Buy Shipping with OTDR-Protected Labels
Amazon Buy Delivery labels purchased through Manage Orders, Delivery API or multi-channel integrators with access to Buy Delivery."
Apart from Royal Mail OBA, which other multi-channel integrators have access to Amazon's Buy Delivery?
I no longer have my OBA account, but I'm setting up my selling account again and can't decide between Tracked 24 parcels or Buying through Amazon for the protection...but longer delivery times.
