OTDR and time of day
We continue to get orders marked as being late when they were delivered on the promised date but at a later time of day. This is ridiculous. We have no control over when the carrier will deliver a package, and it certainly doesn't matter to the customer.
@KJ_Amazon
@Jameson_Amazon
OTDR and time of day
We continue to get orders marked as being late when they were delivered on the promised date but at a later time of day. This is ridiculous. We have no control over when the carrier will deliver a package, and it certainly doesn't matter to the customer.
@KJ_Amazon
@Jameson_Amazon
36 respuestas
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_Zw8LsZUQSH440 Thanks for checking in with us about the OTDR report and orders marked as late.
A shipment can be delivered at any time on the order's "Promised delivery date without a promise extension" all the way up to 11:59:59 PM PDT.
When you review your OTDR report, please check the Pacific Daylight Time Zone information and not GMT.
OTDR calculations are based on Pacific Daylight Time. If a shipment has a Deliver By date of October 13, that appears on the OTDR report as the "Promised delivery date without a promise extension of 10/14/24 06:59:59 GMT (10/13/24 23:59:59 PDT). The PDT time is the relevant information. That is the time zone used for OTDR calculation.
KJ_Amazon
Seller_tzb0Adb4whsRu
This new OTDR is ridiculous as we sellers have no control over the carriers delays and it's not our fault.
@KJ_Amazon, do you take the hit when YOU don't deliver FBA orders on time? Heck no you don't, WE do!
This time zone thing is dumb.
Seller_rGcQW1yb6ZWbC
If you utilize Amazon's Buy Shipping program and your package is scanned into the mail stream by the ship by date, Amazon will not fault you if the shipment arrives late.
Seller_uoLPUzpiW5nS0
It's ridiculous. We are configured to a single shipping method. USPS Ground Advantage. We have automated shipping, we have automated handling time. We buy shipping from USPS ground adavantage. For 3 straight weeks, Amazon's automated shipping calculation has caused a massive number of late deliveries for orders Amazon promised Saturday delivery.
We didn't make the promise, Amazon did. We used the correct shipping method.
Our on time delivery rate is 90.17%.
We negotiated tier 2 rates with the post office AND build our own shipping platform to improve efficiency. Our tier 2 rates are significantly cheaper than buy shipping rates. $30k/year cheaper.
Why do we have to buy the shipping from Amazon and pay $30k/year more in shipping to use the exact same shipping method? Can't Amazon give us a API to request OTDR protection at the time we purchase shipping if we validate our shipping method agains the OTDR protection before we buy the postage, then buy it with the way that was cleared?
How is the answer spend $30k/year more on shipping because Amazon promises the wrong date?
KJ_Amazon
Hello @Seller_uoLPUzpiW5nS0 Can you please provide more details about why you believe the delivery promise calculation is incorrect? Have you filed a support ticket with details about those orders and delivery promises?
I also recommend beginning a new forums thread for that issue, as it will help other sellers and mods focus on your question about shipping settings.
KJ_Amazon
Seller_uoLPUzpiW5nS0
When we use automated shipping and ship on time using the ship method we configured in the automated shipping template, and ship on time, our on time delivery rate is entirely dependent on Amazon calculating the delivery promise correctly. Amazon sets the delivery promise, not us.
If Amazon calculates it wrong, and we do everything right, our on time delivery rate suffers.
Sometimes Amazon knows there will be issues and uses a promise extension to tell teh customer a later delivery date. Our shipping is still held to the date the customer doesn't see. This is mind boggling to me.
The workaround is to buy shipping from Amazon using the exact same shipping method we already use, pay $30k more/year in shipping. It's the same shipping, so the same days the same orders will arrive late. The only difference is we pay $30k/more for shipping. For 3 consecutive weeks, Amazon has been too agressiive with delivery promises for friday and saturday.
Our on time delivery score has plunged from 97% to 90.14%. Our late shipment rate is 0.02%. We always use USPS Ground Advantage for our standard shipping orders, the same service we configured in the automated shipping template.
When we ship on time, use USPS Ground Advantage as we configured, have ship time automation enabled and are using the automated shipping template, we shouldn't be forced to buy shipping from Amazon to get OTDR protection. We are 100% dependent on Amazon calculating the correct delivery promise.
We didn't change anything to fall from 97% to 90.14%. 3 weekends in a row there are a large number of late deliveries that were promised by Amazon for Friday or saturday delivery and Saturday. The two weeks prior to that there were 23, 35, 15, 30 on friday and saturday. Nothing changed on our end, Amazon's promised delivery became less accurate
If we buy shipping from Amazon, using identical ship method, which is the ONLY method we have configured and which we are guaranteed to be able to use, we are protected. Nothing changes for the customer. We spend more money and have a slower shipping system after investing months custom building our own shipping software to improve efficiency.
Amazon's policy needs to change. If there is only 1 ship method configured for standard shipping orders in our automated shipping template, and we ship on time, using that method, that should be enough for OTDR protection.
We shouldn't be stressed that we're going to fall below 90% because Amazon is cacluting the delivery promise wrong. We shouldn't be scrapping to reprogram our shipping software to be significantly slower and more expensive because Amazon calculates teh delivery promise wrong.
The visibile OTDR data is week old, we have no visibility into what the next week's of data looks like. We don't know if Amazon was better or worse this past week with delivery promises. We are totally dependent on Amazon being better at it.
Note: the 10th, 11th and 12th were negatively impacted by the hurricane. Sellers also shouldn't be punished because there was a hurricane.
KJ_Amazon
Thank you for sharing those details @Seller_uoLPUzpiW5nS0. I have shared it with our partner team for their review.
I see that there are Sunday delivery promise days in the information you provided.
Are the dates you are using based on the GMT or the PDT info in the OTDR report? The late deliveries would still be weighted more heavily later in the week, but with the expected small number of Saturday delivery promises.
If you provide a Case ID I can review the details.
Seller_uoLPUzpiW5nS0
Sunday promise doesn't make sense, maybe the days are off by a day, I just used the date of the promise in the report, which is GMT.
KJ_Amazon
The relevant date for that report is Pacific Daylight Time.
If an order has a promised delivery date without a promise extension of Monday, October 28, that delivery deadline will appear on the OTDR report as: 10/29/24 06:59:59 GMT (10/28/24 23:59:59 PDT).
KJ_Amazon
Seller_uoLPUzpiW5nS0
Yes, so subtract a day from those dates. Fridays promises those 3 weeks are the biggest issue. We don't control the promise, Amazon does, we ship the method we said we would use and ship on time. If Amazon gets it wrong, we get penalized. It doesn't' make any sense.
Seller_tzb0Adb4whsRu
Not all carriers (UPS and USPS) say it's protected but sometimes it does.
Not understanding why some FBM orders are protected and some are not when the settings are set the same for all of our products.
Very confusing and simply frustrating that Amazon is making these changes to the FBM orders. We are the seller and ship these orders, so we should be able to have our business settings that fit OUR business needs, not Amazon's.
KJ_Amazon
Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR)
“OTDR Protected” shipping labels on Amazon Buy Shipping are those calculated to meet the delivery promise.
Purchasing an "OTDR Protected" shipping label is one of several requirements to receive OTDR protection from late deliveries. If you use Automated Handling Time and Shipping Settings Automation (both available for Professional selling plans) in addition to purchasing shipping with an "OTDR Protected" badge, your OTDR will not be negatively impacted by late deliveries.
Seller_tzb0Adb4whsRu
That's what we're trying to explain.
There is not always a "badge" for the OTDR no matter which carrier we choose.
Everything is hit or miss
KJ_Amazon
Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR)
There are a few reasons why no OTDR Protected options are available in Buy Shipping.
The most common reason is that there are no shipping services that will meet the delivery promise. Do the shipping service options you are looking to use mention this reason?
Is the order for one of the below reasons not covered by OTDR protection? IN some cases the badge for these services will not available.
OTDR Protection is only available for units shipped through Standard Shipping, units shipped through other shipping options such as Free Economy, Standard Prime, or Premium Shipping, are not eligible for OTDR protection.
Seller_Qbd0RsfZFEZBY
The time zone doesnt matter. Its the end of the day....Use the PDT as your refferance not the GMT....THe threshold for late shipment is the last hour/minute/second in PDT
