Overview

Amazon holds every third-party seller to a strict set of performance standards, and falling short can lead to listing suppression, account warnings, or even suspension. The "Improve Your Performance" help page in Seller Central serves as a roadmap for understanding which metrics Amazon monitors most closely and what sellers can do to bring underperforming numbers back into compliance. Whether you are dealing with a spike in order defects or struggling with late shipments, knowing where to focus your efforts is the first step toward a healthier account.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Order Defect Rate (ODR) is the top-priority metric — Amazon requires sellers to maintain an ODR below 1%. This single metric rolls up A-to-z Guarantee claims, credit card chargebacks, and negative feedback into one percentage that can trigger account reviews if it exceeds the threshold.
• A-to-z claims and chargebacks are heavily weighted — Each successful A-to-z claim or chargeback counts as a defect against your account, so proactive communication with buyers and accurate product listings are essential for prevention.
• Negative feedback directly impacts ODR — One- and two-star seller feedback ratings are counted as order defects, making feedback management a critical part of account health.
• Late shipment rate must stay below 4% — Orders confirmed as shipped after the expected ship date hurt your metrics and increase the likelihood of buyer complaints and A-to-z claims.
• Pre-fulfillment cancellation rate matters — Cancelling orders before shipment, especially due to stock issues, signals unreliability to Amazon and must remain below 2.5%.
• Buyer message response time is tracked — Amazon expects sellers to respond to buyer messages within 24 hours. Slow responses can escalate minor issues into claims and damage customer satisfaction scores.

How Amazon Measures Seller Performance

Amazon evaluates seller performance through several interconnected metrics that together paint a picture of reliability and customer satisfaction. The Order Defect Rate is the most consequential, calculated as the percentage of orders that received negative feedback, an A-to-z Guarantee claim, or a credit card chargeback within a given time window. Amazon reviews this metric on both 17-day and 30-day rolling windows. Late Shipment Rate tracks how often a seller confirms shipment after the promised handling time has elapsed, while the Pre-Fulfillment Cancellation Rate measures how frequently sellers cancel orders before they are shipped. Each of these metrics has a defined target threshold, and consistently exceeding those thresholds puts a seller's account at risk of deactivation.