Menu

Merchant help > Managing your merchant account

Your merchant performance

What is the Customer Metrics page?

The Customer Metrics page provides a dashboard that gives you greater insight into how you are doing with respect to customer satisfaction.

The following performance metrics are included on this page:

  • Order Defect Rate (ODR): The percentage of orders that have received a negative feedback, an A-to-z Guarantee claim, or a service credit card chargeback. The Order Defect Rate allows us to measure overall performance with a single metric.
  • Policy Violations: Measures any other policy violations or issues that you must address to continue using the service.

Are these the only performance measures Amazon is looking at?

No. We look at a variety of other factors internally.

What is an order defect?

An order is defined as having a defect if we have received an A-to-z Guarantee claim, or a service credit card chargeback on that order.

What is the Order Defect Rate (ODR)?

The Order Defect Rate is the number of orders with a defect divided by the number of orders over the period of interest. It is represented as a percentage.

Over what time period is the Order Defect Rate computed?

Since many defects are reported several weeks after orders are placed or received, we typically only compute them for periods not earlier than 30 days from the present.

If I have both an A-to-z Guarantee claim and a chargeback on an order, do those count as two defects?

No. An order can only be "defective" once.

Are buyer-withdrawn or not-granted claims counted as defects?

Yes — all claims are counted as defects. Because Amazon values customer experience and expects merchants to accept responsibility for dispute resolution, we want to capture any problems that cause buyers to file claims. Over time, merchants with enough orders will have some claims they feel were unjustly filed. However, the number of these claims should be small compared to total order volume.

What is a service credit card chargeback?

When a buyer disputes a purchase charged to their credit card with their bank, that dispute referred to as a chargeback request. These chargebacks are broadly categorized as either fraud or service. A fraud chargeback means the buyer claims not to have made the purchase at all. These are typically related to stolen credit cards used by fraudulent buyers. Amazon Pay protects you 100% from fraudulent transaction chargebacks if you meet our Payment Protection Policy. For more details, see the Amazon Payments Customer Agreement .

With a service chargeback, a buyer acknowledges a purchase but indicates to their credit card issuer that they experienced a problem. Such problems may include the following:

  1. The buyer claims the item was not received.
  2. The item was returned but no refund was given.
  3. The buyer received a damaged or defective product.

A service chargeback is similar to an A-to-z Guarantee claim except that the processing and decision is made by the credit card issuer, not Amazon.

What is the Service Chargeback Rate?

The Service Chargeback Rate is the number of orders that have received a service credit card chargeback divided by the number of orders over the period of interest. The metric is order-correlated and is represented as a percentage. It is one of the components of the Order Defect Rate metric.

What is the Filed A-to-z Guarantee claim rate?

The A-to-z Guarantee claim rate is the number of orders that have received an A-to-z Guarantee claim divided by the number of orders over the period of interest. This metric is order-correlated and is represented as a percentage. It is one of the three components of the Order Defect Rate metric. When computing the A-to-z Guarantee claim rate, we consider all claims, in any status, filed by buyer.

Why can't you provide data on recent orders?

A-to-z Guarantee claims, and service credit card chargebacks are submitted, on average, at least several weeks from the date of an order. Until that average time has passed, a merchant's defect rate will always be artificially low. Waiting an extended period (90 days) gives the most accurate view of actual performance. However, in the interest of providing earlier information on your performance, we may report information on orders as early as 30 days post-purchase.

What are the performance targets?

All merchants should be working toward achieving and maintaining a level of customer service that meets the following performance target:

  • Order defect rate: < 1%

What happens if my account's performance does not meet the performance targets?

Failure to meet these targets does not necessarily put your account in negative standing, but failure to improve may negatively impact your account. Accounts that fall significantly below the performance thresholds can be temporarily suspended or blocked.

How can I use this information to improve my business?

We hope you'll be able to use both recent and historical information to minimize your defective orders. Taken together, these practices will increase positive customer experiences, which will be reflected in happier customers. Both can drive increased sales.

Why don't the numbers in the report match details otherwise in my account?

Today there are multiple views of merchant performance. The metrics reported in this page are order-correlated and focus primarily on the customer experience. Metrics reported elsewhere in the account are not order-correlated and are linked to financial data.

What is an order-correlated metric?

When a measure is order-correlated, we are reviewing the results for a specific order over a given time period.