Amazon Seller Central Account Health FAQ
eCommerce is a fast-paced marketplace that thrives on innovation and efficiency. Therefore, eCommerce sellers are always trying to stay ahead of the curve and expertly manage their business operations. Amazon Seller Central allows online sellers to manage their online business operations easily while managing their account health on the Amazon marketplace platform.
Amazon Seller Central is a valuable tool for third-party eCommerce sellers on Amazon. Amazon Seller Central allows businesses to sell to consumers via Amazon and has several features that make eCommerce selling more accessible and manageable.
A third-party seller can use their Seller Central account to monitor Amazon Seller Central functions such as shipping and customer service. Alternatively, they can let Amazon handle these processes by enrolling in the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program. Some of the functions Amazon Seller Central includes are business metrics, inventory management, and customer feedback. These features help sellers get the most out of their selling privileges.
What are Seller Central Business Metrics?
Business metrics allow Amazon sellers to track the growth of their business, observe performance, and determine realistic sales targets. Some of the account health metrics sellers can monitor on Amazon Seller Central are order defect rate, late shipment rate, and on-time delivery rate.
Maintaining optimal business metrics ensures that businesses are operating at a level that maximizes their sales, visibility, and customer satisfaction in the Amazon marketplace. If companies are not working at or above optimal rates, they can use these available metrics to create a plan of action to reach their desired performance targets.
Amazon favors businesses that maintain optimal performance metrics. By ensuring you are using Amazon Seller Central efficiently, you ensure the growth of your business, and increase the benefits Amazon will award you in the form of visibility. Visibility means more customers, more sales, and increased brand awareness on the platform.
What about Shipping and Inventory Management?
A huge part of eCommerce is shipping and inventory management. Amazon Seller Central keeps track of sales, shipping confirmation information, and order cancellations. In addition, Amazon generates valid tracking numbers so that customers can track their orders.
When your customers can track their orders, it puts them at ease because they know their shipment’s location and progress. Tracking numbers also allows sellers to keep track of packages and ensure that damage claims and lost package complaints are valid. In addition, if an item needs returned to the seller, the item is eligible for return within 30 days.
Proper inventory management saves sellers time and money. Accessing inventory information via Amazon Seller Central allows eCommerce sellers to make informed decisions about purchasing the right amount of inventory for the sales they are making. Inventory management also determines the amount sellers keep in their safety stock if there is a sudden surge in sales.
Inventory management data makes it easier to manage your business’s cost controls. Accurate bookkeeping is another essential part of running a profitable eCommerce business. Keeping an accurate record of your inventory expenses, on-hand inventory, and items sold allows more efficient bookkeeping, which helps ensure that you are spending your money wisely.
How Do I Manage Customer Feedback?
Amazon allows buyers to rate products on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, paired with written comments. Buyers can leave feedback about a purchase within 90 days, and they have 60 days to remove their feedback if they choose to. However, buyers are only able to leave one piece of input per order.
Feedback is a great way to engage with buyers. Use it as an opportunity to address negative feedback and also thank buyers for positive feedback. Customer feedback is a great way to measure the effectiveness of your customer service, because if you can resolve issues, customers will often revise their rating to something more favorable.
With Amazon Seller Central, eCommerce businesses can easily view their short-term and long-term rating metrics. These metrics are displayed in a table so that they are easy for anyone to read and understand. For example, there’s one table that shows your feedback rating for the past year, your rating percentages, and your feedback count for the past month, three months, and the past year.
The second table displays your shop’s recent feedback, and also shows the review, order ID, and rating that the feedback corresponds with. The recent feedback feature also lets buyers view feedback comments, post public replies to recent feedback comments, contact customers, and request the removal of incorrect feedback in situations where removal is deemed appropriate.
How Do I Maintain my Seller Account Health?
Amazon Seller Central has features that provide you different ways to monitor and maintain your account health. The Amazon Account Health page offers vital metrics and information on how well you are adhering to performance targets and Amazon policies. Maintaining your account health helps you monitor how well your business is doing and make sure that you are getting the most out of the Amazon marketplace platform.
Some of the key metrics that are displayed on the Account Health page are:
- Order Defect Rate (ODR)
Your ODR is the percentage of orders where one or more defects are present in completed orders over a 60-day period. Order defects consist of your Negative Feedback Rate, A-to-z Guarantee Claim Rate, and Credit Card Chargeback Rate. Amazon requires sellers to maintain an ODR under 1% to remain in good standing, and an ODR above 1% can result in Amazon deactivating your seller account.
- Cancelation Rate (CR)
The percentage of orders canceled by the seller over a 7-day period constitutes your cancellation rate. Cancellation rates only apply to seller-fulfilled orders and do not include orders canceled by the customer. Amazon’s policy is that sellers must maintain a CR under 2.5% to sell on Amazon. A CR above 2.5% may result in account deactivation.
- Late Shipment Rate (LSR)
Your late shipment rate represents the percentage of orders over a 10- or 30-day period completed after the expected ship date. Amazon requires sellers to have a late shipment rate of 4% or less to maintain an active account status.
How Do I Meet Metric Standards?
To meet the metric standards and achieve maximum account health, sellers need more than attention to detail. They also require adequate financing. Payability offers Amazon sellers a financing option that keeps up with their fast-paced eCommerce needs, so they can focus more time and effort on tending to the other aspects of their business operations.
Payability’s Instant Advance allows Amazon sellers to access up to $250,000 in instant transfers after approval and offers up to 2% cashback on purchases made with the Payability Seller Card. Payability caters their finance options to eCommerce sellers who need to keep up with the bustling world of eCommerce. With Instant Access, you can get accelerated daily payouts without waiting for Amazon to release your funds. In addition, Payability’s applications require no credit checks and are dependent upon your sales history and account standing. Contact us today to learn more!
