Late shipment rate

The Late Shipment Rate (LSR) is an important performance metric on Amazon that measures a seller's ability to ship orders on time as promised. It represents the percentage of orders that have been confirmed after the expected ship date, calculated over both a 10-day and a 30-day period. Here are some key points about the Late Shipment Rate:

- **Metric Calculation:** The LSR is calculated by dividing the number of orders that were confirmed late after the expected ship date by the total number of orders within a specific time period (either 10-day or 30-day).

- **Applicability:** The LSR specifically applies to seller-fulfilled orders. It is important for sellers to confirm the shipment of orders by the expected ship date to ensure customers can track the status of their orders online. Late shipments can lead to negative customer experiences, increased claims, negative feedback, and customer contacts.

- **Handling Regional Holidays:** Expected ship dates are adjusted for national holidays, but they are not adjusted for regional holidays. Sellers should consider shipping orders before regional bank holidays to avoid orders with expected ship dates on those holidays. This can be done by adjusting handling time to cover at least one additional working day after the regional bank holiday or setting the seller account to vacation mode before the regional bank holiday.

- **Policy Requirement:** Amazon's policy recommends that sellers maintain a Late Shipment Rate under 4% to continue selling on the platform. A Late Shipment Rate above 4% may result in the deactivation of seller-fulfilled offers.

- **Monitoring LSR:** Sellers can view their Late Shipment Rate and download the LSR report on the Account Health page in Seller Central. The LSR report provides detailed information about the late shipments.

If a seller's seller-fulfilled offers are at risk of deactivation due to a high Late Shipment Rate, they may have the opportunity to take a quiz to avoid deactivation. Eligible sellers will see this option in the banner at the top of their Account Health page. Passing the quiz can prevent deactivation and the need for a Plan of Action (POA).

If a seller's seller-fulfilled offers have already been deactivated due to not meeting the Late Shipment Rate requirement, they can follow the appeal path from Seller Central's Account Health page by clicking "Submit Appeal" and following the online instructions to submit a Plan of Action (POA) for reinstatement.

Maintaining a low Late Shipment Rate is essential to providing a positive customer experience and ensuring compliance with Amazon's performance targets and policies. Sellers should focus on timely order fulfillment to meet customer expectations and avoid late shipments.