Amazon Now Archives Orders Over Two Years Old, Stripping Buyer Personal Data
Amazon will automatically archive any Seller Central order older than 24 months each month, moving it to an “Archived Orders” view and permanently deleting buyer PII (name, address, phone, gift‑message). The stripped record keeps purchase date, ASIN, quantity, price, tax and shipping fee. Sellers must export full order data via the SP‑API Orders endpoint or bulk CSV before the next monthly run (e.g., March 2024 for March 2022 orders).
Overview
Amazon is introducing an automatic archiving rule that moves any Seller Central order older than two years into a restricted view. During this monthly process, all personally identifiable information (PII) such as buyer names, shipping addresses, phone numbers, and gift‑message text is stripped from the record. The remaining transaction details stay visible, but sellers who rely on the full order data for tax filing, accounting, or post‑sale support must export the information before it disappears.
Key Points
- Monthly roll‑over — Orders that cross the 24‑month mark are archived each month without any manual trigger from Amazon.
- PII removal — Buyer‑specific fields are permanently deleted; for example, a 2022 order for a kitchen gadget will lose the customer’s name and address after the next archival run.
- Core sales data retained — Purchase date, ASIN, quantity, price, tax, shipping fee, and marketplace channel remain accessible for reporting.
- No grace period — Once an order reaches the two‑year threshold, the PII is removed in the very next monthly cycle, leaving no window for late downloads.
- Compliance risk — Sellers who use Amazon’s order reports to prove nexus or to reconcile state tax returns could lose essential address data if they do not act in time.
- Customer‑service impact — Extended warranty or post‑sale support that depends on contacting a buyer for a 2021 purchase will no longer have the buyer’s contact details in Seller Central.
How Order Archival Works
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Eligibility check — At the start of each month, Amazon scans every order in Seller Central to identify those whose order date is more than 730 days old.
- Example: An order placed on March 15 2022 will be flagged in the March 2024 archival run.
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Data stripping — For each flagged order, Amazon removes fields that can identify the buyer: name, street address, city, ZIP code, phone number, and any gift‑message content.
Analysis & Recommendations
Why This Matters
Without the buyer’s name and address, sellers cannot prove nexus for state tax filings or contact customers for two‑year warranty claims. The change removes a grace period, so any order that hits the 730‑day mark will lose PII in the very next monthly cycle, risking compliance penalties and service failures.
Key Takeaways
- Orders older than 730 days are archived each month and buyer PII is permanently stripped.
- Core sales fields (date, ASIN, quantity, price, tax, shipping fee) remain visible in reports.
- The archival run occurs at the start of each month; e.g., a March 15 2022 order is flagged in March 2024.
- Exporting reports that include PII after archiving will show empty cells for those columns.
Recommended Actions
- →Run a custom report in Seller Central > Reports > Fulfillment > All Orders for the last 24 months and download the full CSV before the month’s arch...
- →Set up an automated daily pull from the SP‑API Orders endpoint and store the full payload (including PII) in an encrypted S3 bucket.
- →Update warranty workflows by creating a webhook that writes buyer email and phone to your CRM (e.g., HubSpot) at order creation.
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