Amazon VTR (Valid Tracking Rate) comes into effect today

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The much discussed and potentially very troublesome Amazon VTR (Valid Tracking Rate) came into effect today. Merchants selling on the marketplace under MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network) are now required to maintain an Amazon VTR of 95%.

It’s worth noting that Amazon VTR kicks in on the big five Amazon marketplaces across Europe, but for some countries there is an exclusion for products below a specific price. In Spain, items with a total price of below €15 are excluded from the metric, In Germany the exclusion is items below €20 and in France items below €10 are excluded.

Unfortunately, in the UK and in Spain there is no minimum price and so all items are included in the new Amazon VTR metric. We don’t know Amazon’s reasoning for this, but it may be based on country norms and the postal options available that can offer tracking. Whilst in the UK a humble 1st class stamp doesn’t include tracking, there are services where the stamp comes with a barcode and so does get a scan on the doorstep… so long as the Postie delivering performs the scan and that’s where the issues arise.

Amazon VTR requirements

You must provide during Ship Confirm:

The name of the delivery service provider and the specific delivery service used for all merchant fulfilled orders; and
The tracking ID for merchant fulfilled orders that are delivered with a tracked delivery method or the unique parcel ID (located above the 2D barcode on the label) in case you use the Royal Mail 24®/48® delivery methods.
Tracking numbers are only considered valid if they have at least one carrier scan recorded by Amazon

You will be required to reach 95% Valid Tracking Rate:

On your domestic orders through Amazon UK over a rolling 30-day period i.e. if you dispatch from an address in the UK to a delivery address in the UK.
Amazon will measure the Valid Tracking Rate for non-prime merchant fulfilled orders at a category level.
Amazon Valid Tracking Rate will be measured on all domestic orders delivered through integrated delivery service providers including any orders delivered with Royal Mail 24®/48® delivery methods.

VTR Exclusions

Domestic items delivered by carrier/delivery service provider not integrated with Amazon
Domestic items delivered with untracked delivery services/delivery methods
Digital products, e.g. audio book