Amazon "Late Delivery Risk" shipping labels

Selling on Amazon
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According to Amazon, “Late Delivery Risk” labels are ineligible for protections.

I assume that means even when USPS tracking showing the package was delivered before Amazon’s deliver by date, Amazon still is not going to protect seller against buyer’s item not received claim. So then there is no reason to tell the buyer to contact Amazon for A-Z claim to get their money from Amazon, right?

If that’s correct, then besides refund the buyer ourselves, is there any strategy/plan of action that can be used to deter or stop scamming buyer angling to get free items?

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At that point … if the customer contacted us, we would send this email …

Hi [BUYER_NAME],

Our shipments all have Delivery Tracking via USPS (United States Postal Service). USPS.com shows the following on your order:

[SHIPPING_TRACKING_NUMBER]
First-Class Package Service
Delivered
Month XX, 20XX, TT:TT am/pm
CITY, STATE XXXXX

We have attached a PDF with the full tracking information. It is important that you contact your local post office about non-receipt of this package. For us to be able to assist you, we will need for you to do the following:

  1. Open and print the attached PDF
  2. Take the PDF to your local post office and file a claim for non-delivery
  3. Post office will want to know what type of package - your package was a [6X8 brown stay flat envelope … STATE YOUR PACKAGE]
  4. You will receive a claim form with a claim number on it. ( PLEASE NOTE: Some post offices may require you to complete the form online. ) Please send us a copy of the claim form via email by replying to this email using the Amazon email system - If it is easier, you can mail us a copy to

[Seller Name]
[Seller Inbound Address]
[Seller City State Zip]

  1. Once we receive the claim number, we will be able to have USPS verify status and GPS delivery location.
  2. Upon receiving results from USPS, we will determine if a replacement shipment is warranted [OR REFUND IF THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO].

Your package was sent to Amazon order shipping address:

{{{Customer Name}}}
{{{Street Address}}}
{{{City, State Zipcode}}}

It is very important that you contact and report this lost/stolen mail to your local post office. Please note that USPS takes mail theft and/or fraud very seriously as both are federal crimes. We appreciate your business and will do our best to help you with this situation.

Please file the claim ASAP and provide us with the claim number.
Sincerely,
[YOUR BUSINES NAME]
[YOUR CONTACT … IF YOU WANT TO PROVIDE]

Sometimes we get a response back and, when we do, we work with the customer as best we can. Often, our customers will end up finding the package. Sometimes, we send a courtesy remake of the order (all depends on the customer’s attitude).

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Correct and correct.

My template is shorter than @Lost_My_Marbles’s but basically you send them proof of delivery and tell them to take a hike. They can file a claim anyway, of course, but there is nothing you can do to avoid that if that’s where the buyer wants to go. The only good thing here is that the buyer doesn’t know that the label was “Late Delivery Risk” and that Amazon will hang you out to dry.

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Thanks for your answers, appreciated very much.

A little detail about the situation:

I had this order, the address was 2200 NW 129th Ave Ste 108 XXX-XXXXX, Miami FL33182. It’s a Freight Forwarder address. I had orders with freight forwarder address before and didn’t have any problem, so the order was shipped (with an Amazon “Late Delivery risk” USPS GA label).

The package was delivered on 12/13, (3 days before Amazon’s deliver by date, so why did Amazon thought it was going to be late?).

Yesterday, the buyer messaged me to say even though USPS said the package is delivered, he didn’t receive it and want to know if I have proof of delivery.

So I replied to him with what USPS tracking was showing: Your item was picked up (by an individual) at the post office at 8:27 am on December 13, 2025 in MIAMI, FL 33182. (I just copy/pasted that, probably should have included the link to the USPS tracking page)

I also suggested that he should go to his post office to get more details about this package’s delivery. But afterwards I realized the buyer is most likely not in Miami, so it’s not likely able to go to the post office.

I replied to his message about 5PM (PST) yesterday, and so far he hasn’t messaged back yet. I’m hoping that means he now knows somebody from this freight forwarder company picked up his order package and will contact them to find it and that’ll be the end of that with me.

I started this thread after I replied to his message yesterday, just to get a better understanding of this “Late Delivery Risk” label and also to find out if there is any other recourse besides refund the order if the buyer come back insist he didn’t receive his order.

Since I don’t get any protection with the "Late delivery risk’ label, if the buyer request A-Z claim from Amazon to get his money back, I’d get performance hit by Amazon. So, unless somebody here has any other suggestions, I probably will just refund the order if the buyer come back and insist he didn’t receive the order. It’s a $30 order plus $5.15 shipping cost, so it’s not a major issue to refund.

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It sounds like the buyer needs to contact the freight forwarder about their package

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I hope that’s what he was doing since he hasn’t messaged me back.

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You need to inform them of this policy

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?nodeId=G201910550&ref_=help_search_1-1&ie=UTF8&qid=1407250942&sr=1-1

About Freight Forwarders and Hand Carry

Using a freight forwarder to ship or hand-carrying items internationally may result in complications not covered by Amazon.

You can search for items eligible for international shipping or visit Amazon International Shopping to find items that can be shipped internationally directly from Amazon.com. If you instead choose to export items purchased from Amazon.com by using your own freight forwarder or personally hand-carrying the items, the following policy applies:

You are responsible for export/import compliance for orders that you or your freight forwarder export/import.

If you (or your freight forwarder) purchase items from Amazon.com to be shipped to a U.S. location, you (or your freight forwarder) are now considered the exporter for any subsequent export of the items from the United States. As the exporter, you (or your freight forwarder) are solely responsible for compliance with all export and import regulations, including all U.S. export regulations and the import regulations of the destination country.

Amazon will not act and must not be listed on any export documentation (export declarations, invoices, packing lists, air waybills, etc.) as the exporter or United States Principal Party in Interest (USPPI) for orders where you choose to use a freight forwarder to export items that were delivered to a U.S. address.

Amazon cannot accept returns or issue refunds for lost or damaged items that you or your freight forwarder export.

Amazon is not responsible for any damage, defect, material difference, or loss that occurs to items after the items are delivered to you or your freight forwarder. This means that Amazon will not provide a replacement or a refund for any lost or damaged items delivered in the U.S. and subsequently taken outside of the U.S., either by hand-carrying or using a freight forwarding service. You should refuse the delivery of items if they arrive from Amazon damaged and instruct your freight forwarder to do the same.

Items delivered to a U.S. address, which are undamaged following their subsequent export, must be returned from the U.S.

Items that you (or your freight forwarder) export may not be returned to Amazon from outside of the United States. International return labels will not be issued for those items. In order to use an Amazon prepaid Return Mailing Label to return eligible items that you (or your freight forwarder) have exported, you must first return the items to a U.S. address. Amazon will not serve as the importer or exporter for the return shipment. You (or your designated freight forwarder) will be the exporter and importer for the shipment, bear all shipping costs, and be responsible for compliance with all applicable export and import regulations, including all U.S. import regulations and the export regulations of the relevant country.

Once the eligible items are returned to a U.S. address, you may generate a Return Mailing Label from the Online Returns Center which you may then use to return the items from the U.S. address to the Amazon fulfillment center listed on the Return Mailing Label. Title and risk of loss transfer to Amazon upon receipt of the items at the Amazon fulfillment center listed on the Return Mailing Label.

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That is very helpful. Thanks.

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Sorry. I accidentally flagged your post when I actually wanted to bookmark it!

Any easy way to tell that it’s a freight forwarder?

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My stuff is inexpensive, so I just refund. When I see the only option is late delivery risk or expensive shipping, I go to Click N Ship and buy directly from USPS. If I’m not getting reimbursed, I might as well buy the same label for cheaper somewhere else.

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The only ones I knew all have address in Miami. I didn’t keep track of the ones I had before, so I don’t if they were all of the same address (same fright forwarder company) as this one: 2200 NW 129th Ave Ste 108 XXX-XXXXX, Miami FL33182.

Usually, right after the Ste #, there is 3 letters - 5 digit numbers ( in above address bolded), which is related to the individual person who use the freight forwarder.

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I wanted to pop in and share my experience. For whats it’s worth, I’ve done this twice (2 for 2), but it has been more than a “one time fluke”.

CLIFF NOTES: I bought a shipping label through Amazon “Late Delivery Risk”. It was scanned ON TIME, and had full tracking to on-time delivery. I won the A-Z Claim BOTH times.

STORY: Buyer claimed the usual “didn’t’ get it”. The price was high enough ($150-$200) I didn’t feel like issuing a refund, so gave them the standard INR A-Z Claim template. Figured worst case they will refund it anyways and I would get an ODR ding. I have enough sales cushion this would not hurt me. Won BOTH claims like normal.

THEORY: I think if you have enough confidence it will get delivered on time and follow all the usual rules, you will be good. What I really think that means, is if the package gets “LOST” in transit, they won’t cover you since you used a “delivery risk” option. Also, if the package gets delivered “LATE” they also won’t cover anything related to the lateness. But as far as just PROOF OF DELIVERY aka “I didn’t receive it”, they will still cover you as long as the scan is on-time and the tracking shows full history to delivery.

That has been my experience. Again, limited, but it has worked both times…and again, this was just for “I didin’t receive it” defense. Nothing about lost or late.

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With the USPS changes on daily pickup this is going to become a big problem for sellers with more packages than the counter clerks feels like scanning at any one time. I wish Amazon would trust sellers scans sheet scans as long as the delivery scan shows up on time. Amazon knows this and uses this loophole to not cover sellers in A-Zs. :angry:

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Thank you for your info, that’s really good to know.

One question, when your buyer asked for A-Z claims, did Amazon automatically granted the refund out of their pocket and didn’t ding you for ODR or did you have to appeal the A-Z claim to get those “protection”?

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Funny; most of mine seem to go to Freeport NY (had 3 this week; rather unusual). I’ve also seen some in Miami, and a couple on the west coast. I think there’s also a big one somewhere in the midwest (Chicago?) but can’t recall exactly.
But all of the ones that I’ve noticed have a line in the address that makes it pretty obvious; a PO#, or a name in parenthesis, etc. Of course, a name like “Global Shipping” can give it away also… :wink:

(of course, there are probably some that I don’t know about because they don’t have the obvious signs; a variation on the “Toupee Fallacy”).

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The claim went “Under Review”. Even though it did not require any response from me, I always Respond to Amazon with the full “Amazon Buy Shipping INR” protection template. I won them both like that, no appeal, no ding, Amazon Funded.

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I only had one A-Z claim ever, and didn’t even knew it happened until after Amazon already funded it, so I didn’t need to do anything. Just wondering whether you would mind sharing your winning “template” here for us to learn from it? Thanks in advance.

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This is what I use, and I tweak it as necessary to basically either show it has full tracking to delivery, or it got lost somewhere in transit (still covered). Here are two recent examples of different tweaks to my template that won.

Item got lost in transit/was never actually marked “delivered”

This claim meets all requirements for Amazon “Item Not Received” coverage. This item was shipped with Amazon Buy Shipping. The carrier shows an on-time acceptance scan of Tue, Nov 11, 2025 with tracking to "The delivery of your package has been rescheduled based on your shipment instructions for the carrier. ", on Thu, Nov 13, 2025. Since Amazon Buy Shipping was used, the order was shipped to the exact address on the order as required. All messages to the customer were promptly responded to on-time. All Amazon selling policies and regulations were followed.

And the standard when marked as delivered:

This claim meets all requirements for Amazon “Item Not Received” coverage. This item was shipped with Amazon Buy Shipping. The carrier shows an on-time acceptance scan of Mon, Feb 10, 2025 with full tracking to on-time delivery, Fri, Feb 14, 2025. Since Amazon Buy Shipping was used, the order was shipped to the exact address on the order as required. All messages to the customer were promptly responded to on-time. All Amazon selling policies and regulations were followed.

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Thank you so much for sharing!
Hope I don’t need to appeal to any A-Z claims, but your input really helps to know what to say to Amazon.
Happy Holidays.

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The address will be something like this

(name) xj1856824
Street
City state zip

or
xj1856824
Street
City state zip

or
name
Street xj1856824
City state zip

When you see a string of numbers and or letters that just doesn’t make sense it’s usually a Freight forwarder.

Any issue with orders like this I google the address it usually comes up as something shipping or something logistics. The google listing will say freight forwarder to a specific region.

Once it is a freight forwarder Amazon will not protect the customer. This is one of the rare absolute rules they follow.

I have never lost a claim nor do they cover it when a Freight Forwarder is involved.

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