Amazon Plan of Action for Late Shipment Rate
Late shipment rate deactivations come from a fulfilment process that cannot keep the promise your handling time makes. Amazon expects to see what broke, and the change that makes the promise realistic again.
Policy reference: Amazon Selling Policies; Late Shipment Rate Performance Standard (threshold: 4%)
Is this your violation?
- •The notice cites a late shipment rate above the 4% standard
- •The deactivation followed a seasonal peak or a supplier delay
- •Your handling time is set shorter than your real processing time
- •Orders shipped without valid tracking, or were confirmed late
What Amazon wants to see
- ✓The specific operational reason why shipments were late
- ✓Completed operational changes that prevent recurrence
- ✓A monitoring system for on-time shipment going forward
The three-part structure
Every Amazon plan of action answers the same three questions, in this order. Skipping one is the most common structural mistake.
- 1. Root cause. What went wrong, stated as a fact about your own operation. Not what Amazon misunderstood.
- 2. Corrective actions. What you have already done, with dates. Past tense throughout.
- 3. Preventive measures. The system that stops it recurring. A process, not a promise to be careful.
Root cause examples
Pick the one that is true for you and rewrite it in your own words with your own specifics.
- A supplier delay caused a stock-out that resulted in orders being shipped later than the promised date
- A high-volume period exceeded my fulfillment capacity, leading to delays in picking and shipping
- A carrier or logistics issue caused shipments to be delayed after they left my facility
- My handling time settings did not accurately reflect my actual processing capacity
Corrective action examples
Replace every bracket with your real supplier, brand, or date.
- I adjusted my handling time settings in Seller Central on [DATE] to accurately reflect my actual processing time
- I contacted all buyers with late shipments and provided tracking updates and compensation where appropriate
- I hired an additional fulfillment staff member to increase packing capacity during peak periods
- I moved my FBM inventory to FBA on [DATE] to eliminate shipment delays caused by my own fulfillment process
Preventive measure examples
- I review my late shipment rate in Seller Central daily during busy periods and weekly during normal periods
- I maintain a minimum safety stock of 30 days to prevent stock-out-related shipment delays
- My handling time is set conservatively to ensure I can ship within the promised window even during high-volume periods
Evidence to attach
- •Your late shipment rate breakdown from Seller Central
- •Order numbers of late shipments and the cause for each
Mistakes that get this appeal rejected
- ✗Blaming carriers for late shipments without providing evidence
- ✗Not adjusting handling time settings as a corrective action
Questions sellers ask
Can I blame the carrier?
Only with evidence, and only as part of the picture. Amazon measures ship confirmation, which sits inside your control. An appeal that puts the whole cause on a carrier usually comes back.
What is the most credible corrective action here?
Increasing handling time so it matches reality. It shows you fixed the promise instead of hoping for a better month.
Does moving to FBA help the appeal?
It can, because it takes your own fulfilment out of the equation. Give the date you moved and which SKUs it covers so it reads as a completed action.
Not sure this is your violation?
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