Late is the only option
Hi Guys - as most of us FBM sellers already know, these days when buying shipping we are shown carrier options that will be delivered on time, and then at the end of the list of options, we get the 'risk of late delivery' choices.
Well, today I went to ship an order I received just after 9AM this morning, and EVERY shipping option is 'risk of late delivery'!
I'm not looking for any type of solution, I just thought this was funny. It just fully sums up how idiotic this OTDR nonsense is!
Late is the only option
Hi Guys - as most of us FBM sellers already know, these days when buying shipping we are shown carrier options that will be delivered on time, and then at the end of the list of options, we get the 'risk of late delivery' choices.
Well, today I went to ship an order I received just after 9AM this morning, and EVERY shipping option is 'risk of late delivery'!
I'm not looking for any type of solution, I just thought this was funny. It just fully sums up how idiotic this OTDR nonsense is!
0 replies
Seller_KB1Nfq4EKIBT3
Glad we are not the only ones seeing this. We fulfilled about 100 orders this morning, all expedited shipping methods are considered Late Delivery Risks because our main UPS methods are not considered on time. Our only 2-Day Shipping options were FedEx. We do not ship FedEx and have this selected in our shipping settings as well as our Templates using SSA. What is strange is that USPS Ground Advantage for the same shipments ~5lbs. will not be flagged as late despite taking longer to deliver as opposed to UPS Ground. Make it make sense.
Seller_r66TW3YhoeH8N
I got the same issue so I changed the date of shipping to Thursday and that fixed the issue, try it maybe it will work for you.
Seller_SJRMV3s4mNrFA
And every one of them is probably a scammer, KNOWING the second it is late, they can file for a refund and get it just as the item is being delivered... Ahhh, the advantages of ordering at the last minute...
Seller_pAqkHLGGFCun1
Amazon is over estimating how long a package takes to get delivered now.
They are adding a few more days for eta than it should normally take which is why you are seeing the late delivery risk notification.
Seller_CA70ZtA5VBcto
I'm seeing a lot of late delivery risk, even though the selected options standard time is 1, 2 or 3 days faster.
At this point you can only laugh, like you said, at the stuff Amazon does to 3rd party sellers. In this case, biting the hand that feeds you has no effect on Amazon.
One can only dream of a marketplace built and raised up by small US based businesses that actually respects those businesses. We've seen this a few times. The first thing they do is sell out to Chinese sellers. Then the Chinese create all types of issues with fake products and so forth and here comes all the new policies and tighter stats. The marketplace gets worse and worse for US based small business. The company grows and gets full of themselves, distancing themselves from US sellers, and good support. A decade passes and new competition arises and the company dials it back and starts actually providing good support they did when building up. Because it's all manipulative numbers game. You are but a number for profit then, now and into the future. The difference with Amazon is, they sell their own products. They put small business out of business by using them, gaining manufacturing contacts and knowledge through policy violations. So, they will probably be around for the rest of our lives.
I want to build a marketplace for US small business run by US citizens only and have US based support where our reps have moral ethics and proper training. A real business partnership. Where buyers aren't able to scam sellers. No stats on backend. Just front-end display of stats. Like ships quick, communication. No feedback. Just a scale system rating like 1-10. displayed vividly on every single product page. So, buyer can make informed decision. Vetting sellers ahead of selling, instead of suspending them and doing it after they've started. To sell on this site, you would pay a monthly fee that would cover the great support you would get from reps. Anyways, American dreams are just that these days.
Seller_i4DsYZVUgBKOw
I opened a case and the canned response I got was the boys know what they are doing. The shipping window for standard shipping is 1 day. Ship by today deliver tomorrow all the way across the country.
Seller_NzEmZKTEdcpPZ
We see quite a few of these. Usually, these spike up around holidays and most of them (in our case) have to do with Business Hours of the customer. Unfortunately, Amazon's "Promised Delivery Date" algo doesn't talk to the database that contains customer's set business hours. If it does, then it doesn't do well, apparently. Buy Shipping algo, however does see Business Hours that the customer set and makes everything Late.
Example: SFP order, Next Day delivery, placed on December 24th with a Promised Delivery Date for Thursday, December 26th (25th is a holiday). Normally, that's not a problem. However, customer indicated in the business hours that they are closed this Thursday. This makes all shipping options to be marked with Late delivery. We ship it Next Day anyway, to at least have first delivery attempt on the Promised Delivery Day to show to the SFP Eligibility team that we did everything we could. But we will still get dinged for the late delivery metric anyway (SFP doesn't care if customer is not available at first delivery attempt). On top of that, we waste money on Next Day shipping, even though we perfectly aware of the fact that there will be nobody to accept the package.
Believe it or not, but we lost eligibility before because of this and had to submit plan of action to get re-established. And the Performance Team would, normally, ignore the obvious and kept on denying appeals, asking us to explain how we can solve this issue so it would not happen again in the future. Just plain stupid.
We reported this Promised Delivery Date and Customer Business Hours disconnect to the SS, but we were told to get lost with our silly suggestions.
Seller_n1qB1pRgmXtgJ
My account is now at risk of deactivation due to the OTDR being low. My shipping on time rate is perfect - never late. So the problem is the shipping carrier being late or delayed according to Amazon's Buy Shipping calculation of their delivery timing.
When I use another label company or go to the Post Office, their delivery dates are always much different...either quicker or later depending on the zone. Amazon also tells customers there are services available that are not, such as Saturday delivery and pick up. Fed Ex and UPS do not do Saturdays in rural Maine and USPS closes at 11 am. Amazon does not change this in their system.
After having perfect OTDR scores for years, for some reason they are way off this year although all things are the same. Amazon has changed their calculations, as is evident by the number of others experiencing the same problem.
Hard to tell if they'll kick me off now. Out of 1000 December sales only 4 people complained about a late delivery. I'll take that as a good job.
Seller_R2dP7Hunjcdj0
This is, of course, ridiculous, and Amazon should REALLY look into how their insistence that IF we ship an ASIN Same-Day or Next-Day we COULD be FORCED to ALWAYS ship that ASIN Same-Day or Next-Day, and how that affects our choices of Carrier and cost of Outgoing Postage when purchasing Postage using "Amazon Buy Shipping".
This Policy, of course, means that those of us who wish to be able to schedule a weekday OFF for whatever reason have to be especially creative so as to be Amazon-Compliant, and still manipulate our Free Time by determining exactly when the orders are processed, not taken to the Carrier.
In a similar situation as yours, we had a LARGE and expensive Hulk Statue that was the first time we Sold that ASIN, so we knew we had to ship on Day-2, or risk ALWAYS having to ship quickly. Yet when I went to purchase Postage using Amazon Buy Shipping on Day 2, the Cheapest Option I could find was UPS 3-DAY Select, which cost us about $100.00 more than the invoiced postage amount... And had an additional $10.00 "Adjustment" later on for good measure!
After THAT fiasco, I began to try and manipulate the system, while staying within the system.
For example, IF I return to work and process orders on the First Day, but AFTER 5:00 pm (when Post Office is Closed), I find I still get better pricing on my shipping options (Almost everything goes USPS GROUND ADVANTAGE except VERY LARGE and Expensive stuff). If I wait to Buy Postage ON Day 2, USPS GROUND ADVANTAGE appears as a "Possible Late Delivery" on at least 1/3 pf the orders. This is NOT acceptable to me.
So, I pull a "Night Shift" to process tomorrow's orders after 5:00 pm today, and when I take them to the Post Office the Next Day (Day 2), All is right with the world. I got the cheaper Postage, and the package was in the Carrier's possession "On-Time" as scheduled by Amazon.
This practice was ESPECIALLY helpful during the 4th QTR, where we would have been buried in orders if we did not run Night-Shifts, as well as Saturdays and Sundays.
This can also work if you just need to take a weekday Off, just do the orders the night before, take them home with you, and take them to the Carrier when they open the next morning. You are Free the rest of the Day.
I am back at work for a "Night-Shift" again tonight, 12-30-24, because the Post Office Closes at Noon tomorrow. I can get 5 hours of orders done tonight, bring them to the PO in the morning, and have the rest of 12-31 and All of 01-01-25 free.
How this applies to YOUR situation is, I am quite certain that IF you had processed those orders the night before (last night), you would NOT have run into the "Late Delivery" problem you experienced today.
I suggest you experiment and see if this works for you as well.
Not that it makes it acceptable for Amazon to tie us in knots like this!
Good Luck, and Happy New Year!
Seller_aUbEyzlSSnsDJ
After reading some of the responses it's great to know we all pay fees and a price to sell on this site where something is always messed up. No problems on any other platforms amazon
