Amazon COVID related Performance Metrics allowances

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Amazon have undertaken to take into account COVID related Performance Metrics on Merchants accounts and promise to help your business through the Coronavirus pandemic. They remind sellers that they always aim to deliver on customer promises but understand at the moment events out of your control might mean standards slip.

“Given the impact that COVID-19 has had on many of our sellers, we have taken steps to proactively mitigate the impact of this event on the health of your Amazon seller account by relaxing our policies for shipping-related Performance metrics. Specifically, we will take into account any COVID-related disruption as it relates to late shipping or needing to cancel orders due to factors outside your control. While we always aim to deliver on our customer promise, our goal is to help you manage your business through this difficult period.”
– Amazon

Whilst it’s very welcome that Amazon will protect your account from COVID related Performance Metrics, they don’t give any specific details as to how this will be done or how lenient they may be. Advice mainly involves putting your account into holiday settings if you are unable to ship and for specific orders asking the buyer to cancel the order rather than cancelling it yourself.

Top 3 Amazon COVID related Performance Metrics Questions

1) What should I do if I am unable to fulfil any orders?

If you determine that you are unable to fulfil any orders due to the impact of COVID-19, you can place your account in vacation status to protect the health of your Amazon seller account. Alternatively, you can take additional steps to manage your inventory. For additional information on how to take these actions, refer to the following:

2) How do I cancel an order that I accepted, but I am suddenly unable to fulfil?

If you realise that you cannot fulfil an order, use Buyer-Seller Messaging to communicate this information to the buyer, explain the reason why, and request that they submit an official cancellation request.

  • If the buyer is willing to submit an official cancellation request, follow the guidance in the Order cancellations Help page.
  • If the buyer does not submit an official cancellation request, please cancel the order and notify the buyer. This cancellation may impact your performance metrics. However, if we are able to confirm you notified the buyer using Buyer-Seller Messaging we will consider this unforeseen event when we evaluate your account’s recent performance. To prevent other orders from impacting the metrics, we recommend reviewing the delivery time and making updates as needed. To make these changes, follow the guidance in the Manage your delivery time in the Delivery time Help page.

3) What do I do if a buyer requests that I cancel an order?

If the buyer requests that you cancel a shipped or unshipped order, use Buyer-Seller Messaging to request the buyer to submit an official cancellation request. Once the buyer has submitted an official cancellation request, follow the guidance in the Order cancellations Help page.

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