Valid Tracking Rate FAQ

Valid Tracking Rate is a performance metric that measures the share of orders that you ship with a valid tracking out of all your shipped orders, on your merchant fulfilled orders. This metric reflects Amazon customers' expectations to find out where orders are and when they will be received. Starting July 15, 2021, you must provide a tracking ID for orders with a tracked ship method to confirm shipment of self-fulfilled orders.

Providing valid tracking numbers for all your shipments has the following benefits:

• Fewer customer contacts: Approximately 40% of customer contacts relate to shipment status. The 'where's my stuff' contact rate is 35 times greater for untracked shipments than it is for tracked shipments. Providing tracking numbers can help reduce the amount of time you spend answering shipping-related questions.
• Decreased order defects: The Order Defect Rate for untracked shipments is 1.7 times greater than the rate for tracked shipments.
• Protection from A-to-z Guarantee claims: Without tracking, you will automatically lose any A-to-z Guarantee claims that are filed for ‘Order not received’. Tracking helps you represent yourself against these claims and may prevent loss.
• Improved seller feedback ratings: Customers tell us that being able to track their packages is one of the main reasons to leave a positive feedback.
• Reduced lost shipment costs: Tracking can significantly reduce the costs associated with a lost shipment. If a package is lost in transit, you can use tracking to find out where it was lost and then determine responsibility.
• Improved conversion: When you use tracking on 98% of your shipments and your on-time delivery rate is 97%, you become eligible to reduce handling and transit promise times. This is proven to increase conversion and revenue.

No, your account will not be suspended but Merchant Fulfilled Network offers in the target category may be suspended if you do not provide 95% VTR where required as per policy. You can continue to sell FBA products. If any of your listings gets suspended, you can submit a Plan of Action and apply for reinstatement. If your appeal is approved, your merchant-fulfilled listings in the affected category will be restored.

Carriers that Amazon currently supports tracking information can be found on Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) Help page and it's available to choose from the drop-down box on Confirm shipment page starting April 19, 2021, among other non-integrated carriers. . You could navigate to Confirm shipment page by going to Order > Manage Orders > Confirm shipment.

A complete list of integrated carriers can be found on Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) Help page.

We use the tracking information submitted by you during shipment confirmation and verify it with the shipping carrier. Tracking numbers are considered valid only if they have at least one physical carrier scan recorded.

A package that does not include verified tracking information will have a "No" in the " Has Valid Tracking Number" column of your Valid Tracking ID report. If you have uploaded a tracking number but it is marked as unconfirmed, this might be because of the following:

• Your tracking number is correct, but it is not associated with the carrier you specified. For example, if you use DHL to ship a package but enter "FedEx" as the carrier name, the tracking information will be marked as unconfirmed.
• You used an unsupported carrier. As a result, we cannot verify the tracking status.
• The tracking number was uploaded after the order was delivered, this means it was not useful to the customer and does not count towards your valid tracking rate metric.

Ensure you have entered the carrier and tracking ID for your package correctly. You can change, re-enter, and update the tracking information under Manage Orders until the order is delivered. Your metrics will reflect this change within 72 hours.

If you have a package marked with "No" in the " Has Valid Tracking Number" column, and you have verified that the tracking ID for the Amazon-supported carrier is correct, try submitting the tracking ID again. If this does not solve your issue, contact Selling Partner Support for additional investigation.

When our system does not receive updates from the carrier, the tracking information you entered for an order, "No” will display in column I ('has Valid Tracking Number') for that order in the defect report. This can happen, if:

• You left the tracking information field blank.
• You entered special characters (such as punctuation) that our system cannot recognize in the tracking information.
• You confirmed shipment after delivery.
• We did not receive information from an integrated carrier.
• You used an unsupported carrier.

For more information on how to correct any potential errors in the tracking information you provided, go to How do I edit a tracking number? section below.

If cancelled orders are showing up in your report, because you confirmed shipment before you delivered the package to the carrier. An order is not considered cancelled when you have confirmed shipment because the customers credit card is charged. To cancel this kind of order, you have to provide refund to the customer. To prevent such errors in future, we recommend that you confirm shipment only after the carrier has received the package.

To edit order tracking information, go to Orders > Manage Orders. Enter the Order ID into the Search tab. Once you find the correct order ID, click Edit and provide the revised tracking number.

Allow 72 hours for the report and metric to reflect these changes.