New rules for self-delivery are coming again, and these products may lose sales rights...

Under the same roof of Amazon, whether you are an FBA seller or a self-shipping seller, you must be prepared to accept the baptism of new policies at any time.

The editor learned that from August 9, 2021, in addition to using a delivery service provider that has connected to the Amazon Mall for delivery tracking , self-delivery sellers must also comply with two VTR requirements. If the seller does not meet the latest requirements, the sales rights of self-delivered products under the relevant categories may be suspended. Many sellers have received this message.

In fact, in addition to the above-mentioned new regulations, Amazon has recently released a number of new policies related to self-delivery. For example, after handing over the goods to the logistics carrier, self-delivery sellers need to complete the "Confirm Shipment" operation on the seller platform .

In addition, starting from May 25, 2021, Amazon’s US site return and exchange policy will be updated, and these sellers must provide a valid return address within the United States.

Starting from August 9, 2021, the new effective tracking rate policy will be implemented

Amazon has been introducing new policies recently. The commotion caused by the new FBA policy has just subsided, and a new policy for self-delivery is coming. The sales rights of self-delivery products that do not comply with the regulations may be suspended.

According to Amazon, starting from August 9, 2021, the new effective tracking rate policy will require:

1. Use a delivery service provider that has integrated delivery tracking with Amazon .

2. All packages with a total value and shipping cost of less than $5 must use a trackable delivery method that provides at least one physical scan.

3. All packages with a total value and shipping cost greater than or equal to $5 must use a fully tracked delivery method that provides at least two scans, which must include a delivery scan or attempted delivery.

Physical scan refers to the scan performed by the carrier to show that the package is in transit . Sellers should note that any order that does not meet the above delivery method requirements will not be counted as valid tracking. And manually entering tracking information using Chinese characters will be considered invalid because Amazon currently does not support Chinese carrier names.

The editor has learned that in addition to sellers on the US site who have received the above message, sellers on the European site have also received similar messages.

Amazon said that the platform will measure the effective tracking rate of all self-delivered orders shipped from China under different product categories in each Amazon store based on the past 30-day rolling cycle. If the seller 's effective tracking rate for a certain product category does not reach 95%, they may suspend the seller 's permission to sell self-delivered products in that product category.

The new policy is about to be implemented, sellers need to understand these details

There is still some time before the new policy is implemented on August 9. During this period, what self-shipping sellers need to do is to quickly figure out the specific details of the new policy to avoid stepping on landmines and causing property losses.

Taking the US site sellers as an example, you can carefully read the following two frequently asked questions ↓↓↓

1. How to calculate the VTR of shipments from China to North America?

VTR is the percentage of packages shipped with a valid tracking number divided by the total number of packages shipped and confirmed.

For packages with a combined value and shipping cost of less than $5, a tracking number is valid if Amazon records at least one scan event.

For packages with a combined value and shipping cost of $5 or more, a tracking number is valid if Amazon records at least two scans, including an actual carrier scan of any type and a final delivery scan or attempted delivery .

2. Can the delivery method of half-way tracking be counted as effective tracking?

To help sellers adapt to the new policy, all delivery methods with semi-tracking are currently considered valid.

However, starting August 9, 2021, semi-tracked delivery methods must provide at least one scan event for packages with a total value and shipping cost of less than $5 for the tracking code of that delivery method to be considered valid.

For packages with a combined value and shipping cost of $5 or more , the shipping method used must provide multiple scan events, one of which must be a delivered scan or attempted delivery, for the tracking number to be considered valid.

Thinking: Why does the seller’s effective tracking rate not meet the standard?

Valid tracking codes are an important part of a quality customer experience. Providing valid tracking information helps reduce the number of buyer contacts, lowers order defect rates, improves seller feedback ratings, and helps protect sellers ’ accounts from Amazon Marketplace transaction guarantee claims. After investigation, it was found that most of the effective tracking rates that did not meet the standards were caused by improper operation.

Many sellers who ship their own products may wonder: Why is the effective tracking rate lower when all the packages they ship their own products have tracking codes? Amazon said this may be due to the following two reasons:

1. There is a problem with the tracking code provided by the seller. Specifically, the tracking code provided is incorrect, the code has no association with the specified carrier, a carrier not supported by Amazon is used, or the tracking code is uploaded after the order is delivered.

2. ERP feedback error. If the seller uses ERP to manage orders, they need to ensure that the correct logistics provider is selected in the "Logistics method"/"Shipping method" selection area, otherwise the VTR will not meet the standards due to feedback errors.

Many sellers may also wonder: What does "InvalidId" in column F of the effective tracking rate report mean? It is understood that when the platform's system cannot process the tracking information entered by the seller for an order, "InvalidId" will be displayed in column F of the order . For example, if the order ID is 001-12345-67890, and the platform cannot process the tracking information entered by the seller for the order, column F will display 001-12345-67890-InvalidId.

In addition, if the seller's tracking information is left blank, it may be because special characters (such as punctuation marks) were entered that the platform system cannot recognize in the tracking information .

If you would like to correct any potential errors in the tracking information provided, you can edit the order tracking information by going to "Orders", then "Manage Orders", entering the order ID in "Advanced Search", and once you have found the correct order, click "Edit Shipment" and provide the revised tracking number. It is worth noting that it will take 72 hours for reports and metrics to reflect the changes.

Important: Self-delivery sellers please pay attention to these two new changes

The editor learned that in addition to the above changes, sellers should also note that there are new requirements for confirming delivery and returning and exchanging goods for self-delivery.

1. New policy for self-delivery confirmation of shipment: After handing over the goods to the logistics carrier, self-delivery sellers need to complete the "Confirm Shipment" operation on the seller platform . When confirming shipment, self-delivery sellers need to provide the shipping date, carrier, delivery service/method, tracking code, and shipping address . When the seller selects "other/other" in the carrier drop-down menu , the order will not be included in the calculation of the valid tracking rate (VTR), which will affect the store performance.

2. Update on Amazon's US site return and exchange policy: Starting May 25, 2021, if a seller ships an order valued at less than $25 from a country outside the United States to a seller in the United States, a valid return address in the United States must be provided. Amazon will use this address to generate a prepaid return label for the buyer when the return meets the requirements. If a US return address is not provided, Amazon will issue a refund to the buyer for eligible returns under $25, and will not require the return of the goods (i.e., refund without return) .

There have been frequent new policies recently, and the majority of self-shipping sellers need to pay attention to the latest developments in a timely manner to avoid pitfalls.

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