Hi,
Shipping orders on time is key when it comes to meeting delivery promises and providing an exceptional customer experience. That’s why we’re introducing the Late Shipment Rate standard to help you better understand your shipping performance and support your continued growth.
What is Late Shipment Rate?
Late Shipment Rate is the percentage of your self-fulfilled orders not confirmed as handed off to the carrier by the Expected Ship Date. You will be required to maintain a Late Shipment Rate of 5% or below.
How is Late Shipment Rate different from On-Time Delivery (OTD) rate?
Late Shipment Rate tracks whether you confirm shipments on time. It reflects how quickly you prepare packages, hand them off to carriers, and mark them as shipped.
OTD rate tracks whether orders arrive by the promised delivery date. It reflects carrier performance but is also affected by when you ship. This makes maintaining a low Late Shipment Rate a great way to boost your OTD rate.
How can I meet Late Shipment Rate standards?
- Ship orders on or before the Expected Ship Date.
- Mark each order shipped as soon as the carrier receives it.
- Regularly review tracking data and carrier performance to identify issues.
When will Late Shipment Rate go into effect?
Late Shipment Rate will soon be visible on your Performance dashboard and will become an accountable Seller Performance Standard this summer. We’ll provide a detailed timeline and resources beforehand to set you up for success.
Check out Marketplace Learn for more information on how Late Shipment Rate works and tips for improving your shipping performance.
Thank you,
The Walmart Marketplace team
This is an excellent explainer for OTDR and LSR, for any platform.
I got all excited when I read the 5% stuff. And then I saw it was for Walmart. 
We had a huge storm go through and my power was out for 35 hours. Went out Monday night/Tuesday morning at about 1:15AM and no way to ship anything until Wednesday afternoon. Can’t use my kids since they have accounts that would be linked and the library was out as well.
Had one group of at least 9 service trucks working on the same lines!
I actually had to drive a mile to get cell service so I could put the store in vacation mode when the first ‘service will be restored by 12pm’ notice went by to be followed by ‘4am’, which was followed by another 12pm notice. Internet finally came back at 11:50am on Wednesday so they were finally right!
My late ship rate soared to 14% with the related warning of imminent suspension. It has dropped out of the extreme danger area but sales are so slow it may take another week to get below the 4%!
And that’s why I think “lower” volume sellers really have to strive for perfection (unfortunately). It doesn’t take much to get the numbers out of whack.
Hope it all works out in the long run for you. You know the answer is going to be “Why couldn’t you predict this an put the store in vacation mode BEFORE it hit?” Always your fault and lack of preparation. Ugh
Same lol. But just reposting for everyone.
W A L M A R T 
That will work for the people that actually read stuff. I buy on Amazon (sometimes) so I am not required/expected to do that…
Oh no … don’t say it’s so … after all those wonderful NSFE posts, you have finally been corrupted by the institution (or was it that you were institutionalized … which ever) …
Well, not yet anyway but it’s always a possibility…
I have battery backup, and it is carefully wired to power the Verizon FiOS gateway and the router, so, when power fails, I still have a few hours of internet between the gateway being powered and the laptop having its own battery.
When the built-in battery in the battery backup unit needed replacing, I looked at the tiny lawn-mower battery it wanted, and instead bought some car battery cables and a Marine deep-cycle battery, and wired it to the battery backup unit, so I have LOTS of battery backup now Maybe days.
This kind of set-up SHOULD give one lots of time to put an FBM store in “vacation” mode, but the “seller app” would also be a way to switch to “vacation mode” if the power outage does not take out cell service.