Amazon.com Direct News

New Chargebacks for Fill Rate Infractions
We will begin chargebacks for low fill rates on POs issued after September 15, 2012. Amazon policy requires vendors to ship, in full, the same unit quantity that was confirmed for every ASIN on a PO. A 100% fill rate is important because it allows us to provide great customer service on your items and improve instock positioning, which allows customers to better find and purchase your products.
We will notify you regarding infractions starting September 15, 2012, but you will have until October 15, 2012 to make corrections before the chargebacks go live.
The fill rate chargeback will be calculated as follows:

• The chargeback amount will be 5% of the cost of goods, to Amazon, that was confirmed but not shipped.
• We will allow a 5% tolerance on the fill rate metric per ASIN before we generate a chargeback.
• For rejected quantities, no chargeback will be generated.

For example, if you confirm 100 units of an ASIN on a PO and we receive 95 units, no chargeback will be generated; but if you confirm 100 units of an ASIN and we only receive 90 units, we will generate a chargeback for 5% of the cost of 5 units.

Please note that you are in full control of the confirmed quantity, and you can modify that confirmed quantity until you create the Routing Request/ASN. Chargebacks will only be generated if the quantity submitted on the PO is confirmed and not received.

For more information about our PO confirmation and shipment policies, search for "infraction" in the Vendor Central Help, or go to Resource Center > Infraction Management Policy and Tutorials.

 

Transportation Chargebacks to Begin October 1, 2012

Transportation chargebacks will begin October 1, 2012 for the following:

• Not Routing - This chargeback will be for collect shipments that are delivered without a corresponding routing request.
• Routing - Non-preferred Carrier - This chargeback will be for collect shipments that have a routing request, but are delivered by a carrier other than the one specified by Amazon; shipments that are tendered to a non-preferred carrier.

Notifications of the infractions will begin September 17, 2012, but you will have until October 1, 2012 to make corrections before the chargebacks go live.

The charges for Truckload (TL) and Less Than Truckload (LTL) shipments:

• Not Routing - $150/infraction
• Routing - Non-preferred Carrier: $150/infraction

For small parcel shipments, you will receive infraction notices beginning September 17, 2012, but the go-live date for small parcel infractions is still to be determined. The charges for small parcel shipments will be:

• Not Routing - $5/infraction
• Routing - Non-preferred Carrier: $5/infraction

For more information, see the following documents in the Vendor Central Resource Center:

• North American Vendor Shipment Prep and Transportation Manual
• Infraction Management Policy and Tutorials

 

New PO Cancellation Emails and Required Response

In mid-September, we will start sending a new type of PO cancellation email that requires your response in Vendor Central. When you receive this new cancellation email, you will be instructed to confirm whether the order has shipped.

• If you have already delivered the order to the carrier, you will indicate that the order shipped prior to the delivery of the PO cancellation email.
• If the item shipped prior to delivery of the cancellation email, please be prepared to provide us, upon request, with the relevant copy of the bill of lading that shows the date the order was delivered to the carrier.
• If you deliver an order after delivery of the PO cancellation email, we may issue a chargeback or pursue other remedies under our Vendor Terms and Conditions.

Note: Amazon also supports EDI PO Change messaging for vendors who already support EDI X12 860/865 messaging. To set-up EDI PO Change messages in Vendor Central, go to EDI > Self Service Setup > General Survey. In the General Survey, go to the Amazon EDI Transactions page, and select the options for 860 and 865 EDI messages.