ODR appeal help needed!

Hello fellow sellers

We’ve just recently heard back that our below appeal has been unsuccessful to address an ODR suspension. I’m sharing it here in hope of any and all constructive feedback. My initial concern is the length of the appeal - but like anything else, guidance on that would be greatly appreciated.

Appreciate the help

Brenkon

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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 our account being
suspended. I therefore detail below: What we’ve identified the problem to be, actions we will
take to resolve the issue at hand and actions we will take to ensure the issue does not occur
again in the future. In successfully and honestly addressing these above three points, we’re
able to evidence that we will comply with Amazon’s ‘Seller conduct code’ as well as
monitoring our account health and related policies.

The issues that resulting in our suspension and poor order defect rate:

• Within the past few months, I received several complaints from customers in the form of
  A-Z claims and negative feedback mentioning the non-receipt and late-receipt of orders.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• Our previous courier would often not provide tracking numbers for our orders, which meant
  customers (and ourselves) were unable to follow the progression of orders.

The actions that we’ve 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 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, caused by the
  COVID-19 pandemic. From now on, I will be using ‘UPS’ for delivery to Canada and the
  United States.
• I appointed an additional member of staff to help answer customer messages in a timely
  manner.
• I processed all unshipped orders immediately (Using our new courier ‘UPS’ instead of our
  previous unreliable carrier, which was experiencing delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic),
  ensuring that all products are in the correct quantities and exactly as described in the listing,
  along with updated tracking numbers.
• I checked all my recently shipped orders to verify that their tracking numbers are valid and
  that they were either already safely delivered to customers or will be delivered on time.
• I have taken time to fully understand the pandemic restrictions in both my own country
  (United Kingdom), Canada, United States and the Far East region to ensure I fully
  understand how best to operate my business without disruptions.- We have completely reviewed our inventory in order to liaison with our new courier ‘UPS’ to
  ensure that they are able to provide tracking numbers for all of our products. Following
  confirmation of this, we will relist products on the basis a tracking number can be supplied
  and the brand is able to fulfil orders within a timely manner.
• 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 reviewed our account health page to cross reference with the above point, to
  ensure those products that have caused issues are identified and ultimately addressed.
• I have carefully read all of Amazon’s policies and help pages, especially the ones regarding
  minimum performance standard and product condition guidelines, to ensure that I don’t
  violate them again.

The actions that we’ve taken to ensure the issue does not occur going forward:

• 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.
• Customer messages will be answered in a timely manner within the 24hour period.
• 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 fulfil orders to Canada and
  the United States without delays.
• 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 maintain an accurate return address and all customers returns will be authorised and
  processed in accordance with Amazon policies, within 24 hours of receipt.
• Before shipping goods to customers, each order’s products and quantities will be double
  checked, so that we are confident that everything is included and nothing is missing from the
  package. This will prevent complaints about items received materially different than
  described or in the wrong quantities. This will ensure unnecessary replacements do not need
  to be sent, which would prevent further delays and an increased order defect rate.
• We will test the suppliers more thoroughly than we have previously, ensuring that any new
  brands and manufacturers we work with are accredited.
• 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.
• We have hired 2 staff members dedicated to inventory management and trained them to
  use our new Inventory checking system (nChannel).
• We endeavour to use Amazon FBA services for inventory in the near future, with applicable
  brands.
• 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 are analysing all our refunds and replacements weekly, to ensure we are able to
  identify any other item or brand causing issues. If any are identified, we will remove the
  items from our inventory.- 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.

Evidence of successful order shipments:

Following the suspension of both our Canada and United States Amazon storefront, our
access to the store portals has been rescinded. We are therefore unable to extract data from
our Amazon portal for the purpose of this appeal. However, despite this, I have compiled
data from our internal system to display orders that have been delivered as per Amazon’s
request.

• Those orders highlighted in green have been delivered, which can be confirmed using a
  universal tracking website/software. This therefore evidences our intention of wanting ensure
  all orders are delivered in timely manner and that with best intentions, we completing
  endeavour to fulfil customer orders.
• Those orders highlighted in amber show that the package has reached the recipient’s local
  sorting office and given none of the ‘amber’ orders below were noted as an order defect - the
  assumption of delivery can be made. Although, and as evidenced above in steps to identify
  our order defect rate issue, we will be working with our new courier ‘UPS’ to ensure that all
  tracking numbers are ‘fit for purpose’ and evidence complete and final delivery (Much like
  those orders highlighted in green).
• This is not an exhaustive list of orders and excludes those that did not have a tracking
  number, for the simple reason we are unable to determine whether they were delivered or
  not. However, as evidenced above in our steps to address our order defect issue, we will
  ensure all our products are sent with tracking numbers. Any items that cannot be sent with
  tracking numbers will be immediately removed from our store. Our new courier ‘UPS’ is
  working in conjunction with us to achieve this.

The list of order shipments would be here, obviously not showing for GDPR

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

• Evidence or examples that demonstrate that your account complies with our Amazon
  Seller Code of Conduct and Monitor Your Account health policies.
• Evidence or examples that demonstrate your orders have been shipped and
  delivered.

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.