Overview

Amazon is rolling out significant changes to its Premium Shipping program that raise the performance bar for participating sellers. The updated requirements introduce a higher On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR) threshold, shift to weekly performance evaluations, and establish a clearer enforcement framework. Sellers currently enrolled in Premium Shipping need to understand these changes to maintain their eligibility and avoid removal from the program.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• OTDR requirement increasing to 93.5% — Amazon is raising the minimum On-Time Delivery Rate that sellers must maintain to remain eligible for Premium Shipping. This higher bar means sellers need tighter control over their shipping operations.
• Weekly performance reviews replace monthly evaluations — The evaluation window is shrinking from 30 calendar days to just 7 calendar days, giving sellers less room to recover from a bad shipping week.
• Three-strike enforcement system — Missing a requirement the first time triggers an email warning. A second miss generates another warning. A third violation results in removal from the Premium Shipping program.
• Four-week reset available — If a seller meets the requirement for four consecutive weeks after receiving a first or second warning, their eligibility status for that specific requirement resets.
• OTDR protection for sellers using Amazon shipping tools — Sellers who use both Shipping Settings Automation (SSA) and Buy Shipping labels can receive protection from late deliveries that are outside their control.
• Major disruption events excluded — Amazon will not count late deliveries caused by major disruption events against a seller's OTDR, though the determination of what qualifies as "major" remains at Amazon's discretion.

How the New Monitoring System Works

Under the revised framework, Amazon will evaluate seller performance on a weekly basis rather than the previous 30-day rolling window. This is a dramatic shift that means a single bad week could put sellers on notice, whereas previously poor performance could be diluted across a full month of orders. The weekly review period gives Amazon a more granular and responsive view of seller shipping performance, but it also means sellers have far less margin for error. Orders fulfilled through certain Amazon programs may be excluded from the evaluation and assessed under separate performance standards.