Overview

Amazon holds its sellers to strict service performance standards designed to ensure a consistently positive customer experience. These requirements define the key metrics sellers must maintain — including order defect rate, cancellation rate, and delivery performance — and outline the consequences for falling short. Understanding these benchmarks is essential for protecting your selling privileges and maintaining good account standing.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Order Defect Rate (ODR) is the most critical metric — ODR measures the percentage of orders that result in a negative customer experience, including A-to-z Guarantee claims, negative feedback (1-2 star ratings), and credit card chargebacks. Amazon expects this rate to stay below 1%.

• Cancellation rates must remain under 1% — Seller-initiated cancellations are tracked closely. Orders cancelled by the buyer directly on Amazon are not counted against you, but any cancellation you initiate for any reason is included in the calculation.

• Late delivery and scheduling metrics are monitored — Amazon tracks whether orders are completed after the confirmed appointment day, whether appointments are confirmed within one business day, and whether sellers reschedule orders. Each of these metrics has its own threshold.

• Failing to meet requirements can result in account suspension — Sellers who consistently miss performance targets may lose selling privileges. However, Amazon does offer an appeals process where sellers can submit a plan of action to regain compliance.

• Weekly performance emails keep you informed — Amazon sends a weekly performance notification email containing your recent metrics, giving you regular visibility into where you stand relative to the required thresholds.

Performance Thresholds and Metrics

Amazon evaluates sellers across a range of service-level metrics, each with specific targets. The Order Defect Rate must remain below 1%, encompassing A-to-z Guarantee claims, negative seller feedback, and chargebacks. Cancellation rates and rescheduling rates initiated by the seller must also stay under defined limits, generally below 1% to 2% depending on the specific metric. Late completion rates — orders finished after the confirmed service window — and price change order rates are also factored in, with thresholds typically set between 1% and 10% depending on the metric category. Amazon calculates these figures by dividing the number of problematic orders by the total number of orders in a given time period, and performance is broken down by fulfillment channel (seller-fulfilled versus FBA).