Amazon has performance metrics for sellers that inform a seller of their performance status. The metrics are a way to control the quality of sellers, and these metrics are part of your overall seller rating (that is a rating scored out of 100). You can see your selling rating on your homepage in Seller Central.
Amazon metrics are derived from different factors, including:
- Order Defect Rate (ODR): Amazon calculates this number by dividing the number of orders with the “negative defects.” These negative defects include:
- A credit card chargeback due to fraud, bad service, etc.
- Negative feedback from customers
- An A-Z claim because the product never arrived or was not as described online.
- Sellers should keep order defect rates below 1%.
- Cancellation rate: The number of orders that are canceled by the seller before shipment. The most common reason this occurs is because of poor stock management by the seller so make sure to manage your inventory well. Amazon suggests you keep this rate no higher than 2.5%.
- Late dispatch rate: When an order is shipped to the customer 3 or more days later than it says on the shipping confirmation.
- Policy violations: To the extent, you as a seller sell a product that violates one of their policies either because of the item itself or the way it was listed. Make sure to read your “Policy Notifications” in Seller Central.
- Buyer-seller contact response time (CRT): This metric measures whether or not you have responded to customer inquiries promptly (24 hours or less). Make sure to regularly check your email and respond to customer inquiries soon after you receive them.