Overview

Amazon has been pushing sellers toward its Shipping Settings Automation (SSA) feature, an enhanced shipping template for seller-fulfilled orders that promises more accurate delivery promises for customers and built-in protection from negative feedback related to late deliveries. For sellers who handle their own fulfillment, enabling this feature could reduce the risk of unfair negative feedback dragging down account health metrics.

Key Points

• Automated delivery calculations — SSA automatically calculates delivery promises by factoring in warehouse location, customer's delivery address, and real-time carrier transit times for specific shipping services
• Negative feedback protection — Amazon automatically removes negative feedback for late deliveries if seller meets all qualifying conditions (applies only to seller-fulfilled orders with SSA enabled)
• Four qualifying conditions — Shipped order on time per expected ship date, provided valid tracking information, actual shipping service matched or exceeded SSA-selected service, and order shipped domestically
• Domestic orders only — International shipments are not covered under this feedback protection

How SSA Calculates Delivery Promises

• Three variables — System factors in seller's warehouse location, customer's delivery address, and real-time carrier transit times for specific shipping services
• Dynamic promises — Customers see realistic delivery dates at checkout instead of static windows, reducing gap between buyer expectations and actual delivery
• Fewer disappointed customers — More accurate delivery dates result in fewer complaints and negative feedback

Verification and Monitoring

• Personalized insight dashboard — Compare promised delivery dates against actual delivery dates to identify patterns in fulfillment operation
• Carrier performance tracking — Consistent late deliveries may indicate issues with carrier choices, warehouse processing times, or accuracy of information SSA is working with