High ODR Account Suspension

High ODR Account Suspension

High ODR (Order Defect Rate) suspensions are caused by a high number of negative feedback, A-to-z guarantee claims, and chargeback claims. Order defect rate is supposed to be under 1%. The best ways to reduce the order defect rate is appealing negative feedback through Feedback Manager page, appealing claims, and increasing the number of the total orders (in order to reduce the percentage of defected orders).

You should identify the root causes of the account suspension before starting to write an appeal for the account suspension. Read the negative feedback from clients, review the claim history and communicate with the client directly.

If you are still unable to identify the root cause of the issue, you can talk to the account health team directly. Try to receive as much information as possible.

After identifying the root causes, review the following template and update it accordingly. Then submit the appeal on the account health page.

Below there are 3 different templates you can choose from. Review them and decide the best option for the client.

Template 1 for the Submission

Cause of the Problem:

1. We received three negative feedbacks on our seller account, which caused our ODR to go over 1%.

2. These feedbacks mentioned our shipping time, service, and return policies. We shipped items with an inappropriate shipping service which caused the order to be delivered outside of Amazon's shipping time frame.

3. These negative feedbacks led to our account suspension.

What have we done to solve the issue?

1. We have shipped all outstanding orders on our Amazon account with verifiable tracking.

2. We have responded to all customer messages and have assisted the customer through a refund or return where applicable.

3. We have audited our inventory to ensure that all listings are accurate and have proper shipping times and methods.

What will we do to prevent future issues?

1. We will ship promptly with verifiable tracking information, using a shipping carrier that will deliver all orders in accordance to the promised delivery date set by Amazon. We have also reset our handling time to ensure that customer expectations are in line with our ability to ship.

2. We have trained our staff to ensure that ALL orders are verified to go out on time and that the shipping method used will get orders delivered on time.

3. We will abide by the Amazon return policy and allow for returns with a FULL refund or replacement for all eligible orders, to ensure customer satisfaction is always achieved.

Amazon - our account has complied with the above issues. We are a large seller and have a valid business. We have learned from this event and will ensure that our account and operations abide by Amazon policies to prevent further negative feedback and to keep the customer happy. Please review our appeal and reactivate our account as we have met Amazon policy

Template 2 for the Submission

The root cause of the issue

1. Buyers not receiving orders or late receipt of orders:

We didn't check our inventory levels regularly. We sold some products that we did not have stock of. We were not able to ship the products since we did not have them in our warehouse.

We have not used signature confirmation for the shipments. They were left off on the front door of the customers. That caused packages being lost or stolen. Sometimes shipping companies delivered the items to the wrong addresses.

We have not tracked the shipments regularly and not taken care of the issues on time. We did not use an automated system for printing labels causing issues with printing labels properly and sending the products to the correct addresses. We made several mistakes while printing the labels and they caused customers not receiving their orders.

We did not have a proper system in place. We checked the orders and printed labels randomly. We did not have a manager in the warehouse to supervise the process. This caused shipments being lost or forgotten before being delivered to the shipping companies. This also caused printing labels and delivering the shipments to the shipping companies too late.

Our inexperienced personnel at the warehouse did not pack the products properly causing extreme damages during the shipment. Improper packaging caused items being lost during the shipment. Sometimes shipping companies returned the packages back since they were damaged during the shipping process.

The actions you have taken to resolve the issue

1. Buyers not receiving orders or late receipt of orders:

We have already contacted all customers that had problems with their orders and offered compensation. We have offered replacement items, full refund, and partial refund according to their problems. We have made sure all customers are satisfied with the service they received from our company. We have sent out several replacement orders to the customers who received damaged or different products.

We have assigned one of our experienced employees as a manager in the warehouse. He is responsible to update the stock regularly and supervise all warehouse employees to make sure they pack the products properly with protective material. We have bought bubble wraps, bubble bags, packaging foam, and wrapping paper. This will prevent the items being lost during the shipment.

We have created accounts with FedEx and UPS to use their premium services for shipments. They will ensure the packages are delivered to the correct address. This will prevent customers not receiving the orders.

The steps you have taken to prevent the issue going forward

1. Buyers not receiving orders or late receipt of orders:

We will integrate better-streamlined solutions for efficient on-time shipping processing. We will be switching to ShipStation automated shipping software. One of our employees is taking training for the software. He will finish all the courses this week and we will start using this software immediately. This software will submit all valid tracking information to Amazon automatically.

We have trained all of our employees on printing labels and providing Amazon with the correct tracking information properly. If there is any problem with ShipStation, they are able to handle the problems manually.

Our shipping department manager will be supervising and double-checking the whole shipment process to prevent shipments being lost or forgotten before delivering to the shipping companies. He will check the orders three times a day:

- in the morning, at 9 AM (to print labels and create tracking ids)

- in the afternoon, at 1 PM (to print labels and create tracking ids)

- in the evening, at 5 PM (to check all orders are taken care of and check all shipment are delivered to the shipping companies)

He will be performing a stock check every morning and update the stock accordingly. We will never list or sell a product that we do not have in the warehouse. We will have a buffer inventory to prevent being out of stock. We will restock products when we have 4 weeks of stock. We will only list the products we have in our warehouse physically.

Our shipping department manager will be supervising and double-checking the whole shipment process to prevent improper packaging or late shipments. Improper packaging causes losses during the shipment. Making sure all the packages are proper will prevent the losses during the shipment and customers not receiving the orders.

We have created a checklist to pick and pack the products. All employees have to follow simple but effective instructions while packing the products to prevent damages during the shipment.

- If the product is fragile, use bubble wraps.

- If the product is fragile, put a fragile sticker on it.

- If the product is heavy, use an outer carton.

- If the product is heavy, make sure the taping is proper. If not, use more taping to secure the carton.

This will ensure the products will not get damaged during the shipment.

We will use "Buy Shipping" service of Amazon and FedEx & UPS companies from now on to ensure Amazon will take care of the shipping process after we drop off the items to the shipping companies.

We will use signature confirmation service to make sure the packages are delivered to the correct address and people. This will ensure the orders are delivered and not lost or stolen after it is delivered.

We have decided to start using FBA so that we can fulfill Amazon Selling Policies easier. We will move our business to FBA 100% in 3 months.

We will buy the products from dependable suppliers and send them to Amazon FBA warehouses. We have already talked with 2 suppliers and we will start working with them as soon as our account is reactivated. We will start using FBA services immediately.

In this 3 months, we will do FBM as we will need more investment to buy products to send to FBA.

We will provide a great level of customer service in the future and take action for all customer complaints immediately. We will respond to all customer messages within 12 hours. If they have a problem with their orders, we will provide them with a solution. We are going to send a replacement item or refund them immediately if they have a problem with the product they receive. We are going to use a 2nd-day shipping service for replacement orders to satisfy the customers. If they request a refund, we will refund them without a return.

We have learned from this incident and understand Amazon takes failure to comply with its policies seriously. We have had a company-wide meeting and discussed all employees in the company should obey all rules determined by the company to comply with all Amazon rules, policies, and other regulations. We are confident these mistakes will never happen in the future.

We appreciate your support to help us keep selling on Amazon. We offer a great level of shopping experience to our customers and try to do our best on Amazon.

Template 3 for the Submission

Greetings Amazon Seller Performance Team,

Please see our completely updated Plan of Action.

The root cause of the issue

Customers not receiving the orders:

1. We did not have a proper system in place. We checked the orders and printed labels randomly. We did not have a manager in the warehouse to supervise the process. This caused shipments being lost or forgotten before being delivered to the shipping companies. This problem occurred in our warehouse. Since we confirmed the shipments before we delivered them to the shipping companies, we were not able to notice unshipped products.

2. We didn't check our inventory levels regularly. We sold some products that we did not have stock of. We were not able to ship the products since we did not have them in our warehouse.

3. We have not used signature confirmation for the shipments. They were left off on the front door of the customers. That caused packages to be lost or stolen. Sometimes shipping companies delivered the items to the wrong addresses.

The actions you have taken to resolve the issue

Customers not receiving the orders:

1. We have already contacted all customers that had problems with their orders and offered compensation. We have offered replacement items, full refund, and partial refund according to their problems. We have made sure all customers are satisfied with the service they received from our company. We have sent out several replacement orders to the customers who received damaged or different products.

2. We have assigned one of our experienced employees as a manager in the warehouse.

3. We have created accounts with FedEx and UPS to use their premium services for shipments. They will ensure the packages are delivered to the correct address. This will prevent customers not receiving the orders.

4. We have hired a new customer service specialist. She is responsible for responding to customer messages, contacting warehouse personnel for customer complaints, and keeping track of customer feedback.

5. We have already contacted all customers that had problems with their orders and offered compensation. We have offered replacement items, full refund, and partial refund according to their problems. We have made sure all customers are satisfied with the service they received from our company. We have sent out several replacement orders to the customers who received damaged products.

The steps you have taken to prevent the issue going forward

Customers not receiving the orders:

1. We have decided to start using FBA so that we can fulfill Amazon Selling Policies easier. We will move our business to FBA 100% in 3 months.

We will buy the products from dependable suppliers and send them to Amazon FBA warehouses. We have already talked with 2 suppliers and we will start working with them as soon as our account is reactivated. We will start using FBA services immediately.

In this 3 months, we will do FBM as we will need more investment to buy products to send to FBA.

2. We will use "Buy Shipping" service of Amazon and FedEx & UPS companies from now on to ensure Amazon will take care of the shipping process after we drop off the items to the shipping companies.

3. We will use signature confirmation service to make sure the packages are delivered to the correct address and people. This will ensure the orders are delivered and not lost or stolen after it is delivered.

We will keep track of the shipments and if they are not delivered or delivered to the wrong address, we will reach out to the customer and solve their issue by sending a replacement or refunding them.

4. We will confirm the shipments after we drop the packages off to the shipping companies. This will prevent issues with pre-confirmation.

5. Our shipping department manager will be supervising and double-checking the whole shipment process to prevent shipments being lost or forgotten before delivering to the shipping companies. He will check the orders three times a day:

- in the morning, at 9 AM (to print labels and create tracking ids)

- in the afternoon, at 1 PM (to print labels and create tracking ids)

- in the evening, at 5 PM (to check all orders are taken care of and check all shipment are delivered to the shipping companies)

- confirm shipments on Amazon seller central.

- check if any shipment is unshipped, if yes, deliver the packages to the carrier company immediately.

6. He will be performing a stock check every morning and updating the stock accordingly. We will never list or sell a product that we do not have in the warehouse. We will have a buffer inventory to prevent being out of stock. We will restock products when we have 4 weeks of stock. We will only list the products we have in our warehouse physically.

7. We will provide a great level of customer service in the future and take action for all customer complaints immediately. We will respond to all customer messages within 12 hours. If they have a problem with their orders, we will provide them with a solution. We are going to send a replacement item or refund them immediately if they have a problem with the product they receive. We are going to use a 2nd-day shipping service for replacement orders to satisfy the customers. If they request a refund, we will refund them without a return.

8. We will contact all customers who leave negative feedback, open a-to-z claim, or have complaints about their orders immediately. We will provide them with an immediate solution to make up for the problem right away. We will give them different options and they may choose any of them:

- Replacement item sent out with expedited shipping service

- Full refund without return

- Compensation for the inconvenience

- Partial refund for the inconvenience

We have learned from this incident and understand Amazon takes failure to comply with its policies seriously. We have had a company-wide meeting and discussed that all employees in the company should obey all rules determined by the company to comply with all Amazon rules, policies, and other regulations. We are confident these mistakes will never happen in the future.

We appreciate your support to help us keep selling on Amazon. We offer a great level of shopping experience to our customers and try to do our best on Amazon.