As far as I can see that means that you are shipping EARLY and do not get the “warning” as a result.
What do you have for the dreaded ‘gap’? Is it over 2?
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As I noted, this is from the NEW Manage Orders page. This format isn’t used on the OLD page.
That’s the only explanation I could come up with. But if Amazon is going to change the rules, an announcement would be nice. Previously, I believe we had seven business days to confirm shipment. That’s why it just seems odd to me to see it presented this way.
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To ship … no … shipping had to be done by Aug 21 …
… this …
If you do not use Amazon Buy Shipping, this is a reminder to input your tracking by this date.
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My gap is 2.7, but since the beginning of the month, I have been shipping on Day 2 and my handling time is 3 days.
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I am absolutely confused
Can someone tell me if I need to do something?
Handling time is 0 days
A few months ago (at least) I activated SSA (and now can not turn off)
What I do not understand is that everyone here is attempting to comply, but come Sept 25th, for those that can not, or those that have no clue how to, or just are unaware, do you really think Amazon will shut off a few million sellers.
Yes maybe for those who abuse, but really? for shut down those that ship the same/next day, and use the same recommended carriers (but not with buy ship)?
That would be madness
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Oh great. They’re mucking around with something else too?? (besides the abomination that is the new Manage Inventory page).
Well, I guess that’s one way to make us all aware that Q4 is almost here and things should get busy!
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I guess I don’t have a new manage orders page.
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If your handle time is 0 days, that means you are set to same day shipping somewhere within your settings and/or have Automated Handle Time turned on.
Right now your stats show that your promised handle time is 0.7 days which translates into about 18 hours.
Your actual handle time is 0.5 days which means you are shipping (printing the label) on an average of 12 hours after the order is placed.
So your gap is only 0.2 days which is about 3 hours (which means you are printing your labels 3 hours before the deadline).
If you can handle that, then great. But this has little to do with changing to SSA and loosing the ability to turn it off.
If you are operating the way you wish and can purchase the label you want on Amazon Buy Shipping 100% of the time, then you have nothing to do.
If you can not purchase the shipping label service that you want , then you need to look at the shipping template associated with SSA and adjust the settings. We made a tutorial on this and have posted it here on this forum just a few days ago.
If your handle time is too short, then you need to set handle time at item level, check the handle time setting on your shipping template (turn off AHT on the template), set the handle time at default level and turn off AHT until September 25, 2024 so that your handle time will reset.
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It hasn’t changed other than Amazon messing with the Action column. It was buttons, then it became a drop down selection and now today it is back to buttons.
The manage inventory page has changed for everyone. That is where most of the excitement/diaappointment is being complained about.
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Thanks - appreciate the comments.
I should have been more clear.
- My AHT is off. My handling time is 0 - and I am fine with this set-up
- Again SSA was clicked a few month ago.
- I use Shipstation and NOT Buy Shipping because Amazon does not offer FIRST Class Mail, which I use for about 70% of my orders (they are under $10)
My question is in regards to the NEW “on-Time Delivery Rate” which on the screen print above is 88.6% but on my Account Health Page is 78.45%.
I can not understand, how Amazon could potentially shut my FBM down (they require 90%), if THEY ARE calculating FOR ME, and I have NO ABILITY TO deliver a faster way.
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But when did this change from the previous “confirm within seven business days” or Amazon will cancel the order? I don’t remember seeing any mention of it in the recent announcement of this OTDR policy change, but I suppose I could have missed it.
So I wonder if we must confirm within, at most, three days of shipping (in this case), or the previously stated seven business days? The orders I referenced in my screenshot above were placed on Mon., Aug. 19. I have 2-day handling.
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For you to have OTDR protection, you have to have AHT turned on (your do), you have to have SSA turned on (you do) AND you have to use Amazon Buy Shipping.
Since Amazon does not have your preferred method of shipping, we suggest adjusting your shipping template to ONLY offer USPS Package Service which will extend your transit time to be longer over any of the other selections. The items you have under $10 should be assigned to this template. Continue to use Shipstation on these orders.
For the items you have over $10 and under 1lb total weight when shipped, set up another template with only USPS Ground Advantage (less than 1lb) as the shipping service. The items that fall in this category are attached to this template.
For the items you have over $10 and over 1lb, set up a template with USPS Ground Advantage/Cubic as the shipping service. The items that are in this category are attached to this template. Use Amazon Buy Shipping for this template.
In addition … on each of your SSA shipping templates, turn off Economy, Expedited, 2 day, 1 day and Same Day shipping options. Use Amazon Shipping for this template.
If you do this, then your estimated delivery time should be longer and it will help you deliver on time and improve your OTDR.
Note … you should do this now … don’t wait.
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It’s not a change. You always had to input tracking that was bought off of Amazon to get paid. This reminder to do it is new. The reason for Amazon pushing this … is that when the label is purchased on Amazon or the tracking number is entered on Amazon the calculation for AHT can be calculated for the order. With this new OTDR push, the input of tracking and/or purchase of the label on Amazon has to be done to make this system work. The penalties that Amazon has put in place is to force sellers to do this process correctly (most do and the lazy ones will get caught and will complain).
Buy by the last day of ship by date and input tracking by the day following the last day of ship by date.
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UPDATE –
As I indicated above, I now have the ‘warning’ for the one order that needs to ship today.
IF you want to try and get it down under the toxic “2” just delay shipping until day 3.
You will still meet that Amazon requirement but might be able to avoid all the penalties that they are determined to reward us with if we perform better than expected.
Unfortunately, business is still slow, nearly dead in the water, and I shipped several orders early. That has me now hovering at 1.8, up from about 1.5 a bit ago. I may have to take a ‘late shipment’ hit on a couple to solve this!
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I thought I could get it to 1.5 if I ship after noon on Day 2, if I have a 3-day handling time?
If I ship on Day 3, my OTDR will suffer.
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Thank you.
So, in essence, you think (because with Amazon it’s impossible to know!) that the within-seven-business-days confirmation is still in effect as far as Amazon not canceling the order. But the confirm-as-soon-as-you-can is advised simply as an off-shoot of the new OTDR policy, to avoid - as it says - late shipment.
If so, that makes sense to me. If not, please correct me.
One more thing (if I may abuse you further) I mentioned upthread which no one has commented on is the extended ship-by date in the Messages section.
I looked back at my messages with customers and all have the ship-by date extended by one day. I’m wondering if Amazon has things programmed so that if there is contact with a customer, the ship-by date is extended by a day?
That seems odd, but I don’t know what else to make of it.
Here’s a screenshot:
You can see purchase date as 8/9 (a Friday), making my last ship-by date 8/13 (Tuesday). Yet this page (and Messages with all other customers) shows this extended window.
I know pointing out Amazon’s inconsistencies can be a never-ending venture, but I just wondered about your thoughts on this.
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Please, please tell me I’m doing it right. I have 3 day handling time set. I ship on Day 2 after 12PM. I’m going to get it below 2 days, right?
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If you do this, it will help your rolling 30 day average handle time gap come down faster under the 2.0 required Sept 25th.
Do not take an late shipment over this. Hovering around 1.8 gap isn’t bad but you need to be cautious. Avoid printing any label before noon Pacific Time the day before the last ship by date to keep this under 1.5 handle time gap days.
After noon Pacific Time on the day before the last ship by date. A Thursday order with 3 Day Handle Time will have a last ship by date on the following Tuesday so the don’t print this label until after noon Pacific Time on Monday.
A Friday order with 3 day handle time will have a last ship by date the following Wednesday so you won’t print the label until Tuesday after noon Pacific Time.
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As long as you have been doing this since August 5, 2024 or so, then yes you should bring your gap down below 2.0 by doing this.
We were at 2.5 and just showed our first drop yesterday (down to 2.4) and expect it to drop steadily from now on as our past 30 days starts to include the adjustment we made starting August 5, 2024.
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