An Introduction to Amazon Buy Shipping

What is Amazon Buy Shipping? If you're a new seller or considering fulfilling your own orders, you've probably seen mentions of this program.

Amazon Buy Shipping allows sellers to purchase shipping labels individually or in bulk at discounted rates from shipping carriers directly through Seller Central or the Merchant Fulfillment API. Sellers can also use the service to ship and confirm orders and track shipments. In this post, we’ll provide an overview of Amazon Buy Shipping.

Amazon Buy Shipping Benefits

You can use Buy Shipping to purchase labels in bulk for up to one hundred orders at a time. You can also track each order's delivery status on the Order details page in Seller Central. Amazon will instantly upload tracking details for all orders.

If you fulfill your own orders rather than using FBA, Buy Shipping can help protect you from A-to-z Guarantee claims. If an order is shipped with Buy Shipping and a buyer files an A-to-z claim stating that the order was not received, Amazon covers the cost of the claim. Your Order Defect Rate is also not impacted by claims related to Buy Shipping issues.

Amazon Buy Shipping and Seller Feedback

Seller feedback is an important performance metric. Negative feedback can cause a seller’s rating to drop and may cause merchants to become ineligible for Amazon programs such as Seller Fulfilled Prime. It can also negatively impact sales conversions. If you receive negative feedback for fulfillment issues related to an order sent on time through Buy Shipping, request to have it stricken from your seller feedback rating.

If you're using Buy Shipping and receive negative feedback related to a delayed order or an order that is not received, you can ask Amazon to review the feedback. This only applies to Buy Shipping orders that were shipped on time and to feedback that is only related to delayed or undelivered packages. If Amazon agrees that the feedback was specific to Buy Shipping, the impact of the feedback will be removed from your Order Defect Rate and the feedback comment will appear with a line striking through it with the following statement from Amazon: “The fulfillment issues associated with this order were not due to the seller.”

Valid Tracking Rate

If you're selling on the Amazon US marketplace, you must maintain a Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) of 95% or more for orders at a product category level to continue to sell on Amazon. The VTR measures the percentage of your seller-fulfilled packages that have a valid tracking number. Failure to maintain a VTR greater than or equal to 95% can result in selling restrictions. It can also cause you to become ineligible for premium shipping and guaranteed delivery.

If your listing is suspended, submit an appeal by clicking on the "Appeal" button beside the impacted categories on the Account Health page in Seller Central.

Amazon offers a few recommendations to help you maintain a healthy VTR. One is to purchase your labels through Amazon's Buy Shipping services. Choose carriers that are integrated with Amazon, as they provide real-time tracking details to Amazon (and by extension, Amazon customers). Verify that the carrier name, shipping service, and tracking ID are entered correctly for your orders. Note that tracking IDs need at least one carrier scan to be considered valid.

Buy Shipping and Seller Fulfilled Prime

When the Seller Fulfilled Prime program first opened, you were required to purchase shipping for 99% of Seller Fulfilled Prime items via Buy Shipping. However, due to poor seller performance, the program paused new enrollments for several years while it refined its practices. Amazon will reopen new seller enrollment for Seller Fulfilled Prime in the US on October 1, 2023. Many of the requirements have changed, including the use of Buy Shipping. This rule is now optional; you may use any Amazon-integrated carrier of your choosing.

Seller Fulfilled Prime allows merchants to fulfill products labeled as hazardous materials (hazmat) in a Prime-eligible fashion. It also provides the benefit of making a merchant-fulfilled order eligible for Prime. Since many buyers filter by Prime eligibility, this can positively impact sales. Buy Shipping allows sellers to take advantage of carrier discounts and provide up-to-date tracking information to Amazon.