New 2025 Amazon Premium Shipping Requirements

Amazon’s Premium Shipping program has always driven better conversion rates, improved Buy Box share, and happier customers. But come June 29, 2025, Amazon is rolling out sweeping changes to Premium Shipping performance requirements, and they’re not kidding around. If you’re an ecommerce pro, brand operator, logistics expert, or retail strategist, buckle up. Here’s everything you need to know, served in a conversational style, with a dash of candor, and a sprinkle of “keep-your-cool” honesty.

From Monthly Roll-Ups to Weekly Check-Ins

Let’s cut to the chase: under the old system, you needed a 97% on-time delivery rate (OTDR) over a rolling 30-day window to keep that Premium Shipping eligibility. Amazon looked at your performance once a month, sent one warning if OTDR dipped below 97%, and gave you until the next month to fix it. Easy enough—if you had a random bad week, you could smooth it out with stellar performance the rest of the month.

Starting June 29, though, those monthly buffers disappear. Amazon will track OTDR on a weekly basis, from Sunday through Saturday, and drop any Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) orders from that calculation. If your OTDR for Premium Shipping falls below the new minimum, 93.5%, you’ll get your first email warning. Do it again next week, and you’ll receive a second warning. Miss the same threshold three times within four consecutive weeks, and you’re out of Premium Shipping until you earn it back.

Why 93.5%? Amazon’s rationale is that they want customers to experience the same reliability they’ve come to expect from the Prime program. Dropping the requirement from 97% to 93.5% might seem like a concession, but trust me, hitting 93.5% every single week is not easy when you’re dealing with carriers that are out of your direct control.

Why This Matters (and Why It’s Tougher Than It Sounds)

No More “Average” Weeks

Under the old model, you could have one sloppy week at, say, 94%, and then three spectacular weeks at 99%, and your overall 30-day OTDR would still be above 97%. Now, if that first week is below 93.5%, you’ll get dinged immediately. A single underperforming week can trigger a warning, and you can’t “erase” it with future weeks once that four-week window closes.

Carriers Need to Be in Your Back Pocket

Amazon explicitly calls out approved carriers like UPS, FedEx, USPS, and OnTrac. If a carrier misses scans, delays pickups, or delivers late, you’re on the hook. The OTDR calculation counts the percentage of orders that arrived on or before the promised “Deliver by” date. If your package is scanned late, or not scanned at all, Amazon assumes it’s going to be late unless an on-time delivery scan is received later. That’s why it’s more important than ever to monitor each carrier’s performance, review their “Last-Mile Delivery” scorecards, and swap out underperformers.

Shipping Settings Automation & OTDR-Protected Labels

Good news: Amazon is offering tools to help you hit your weekly targets. Shipping Settings Automation (SSA) will calculate transit times automatically so your “Deliver by” promises match real-world carrier performance. You still need to set accurate handling times, but SSA can help avoid accidentally over-promising.

Then there’s OTDR protection: if you enable SSA and purchase an OTDR-Protected label through Amazon Buy Shipping, Amazon won’t penalize you for late deliveries as long as the delay is due to factors outside your control. It’s essentially a safety net—except it only applies if you do everything else right (set your handling time properly, buy the right label, and ship on time).

What Sellers Must Do Right Now

1. Audit Your Carriers

• Pull up your Carrier Scorecard in Seller Central each Monday morning.
• Look for patterns: Who’s got the slowest last-mile scans?
• Drop carriers that regularly clock in under 95% weekly on-time scans, because once you hit 93.5%, there’s zero wiggle room.

2. Enable SSA on Every Shipping Template

• Navigate to Shipping Settings → Edit Template → Toggle on Shipping Settings Automation.
• Let Amazon calculate transit times based on carrier data. If you don’t do this, you’re basically flying blind and promising delivery dates you can’t reliably meet.

3. Purchase OTDR-Protected Labels

• Go to Manage Orders → Buy Shipping and look for the shield icon indicating “OTDR Protected.”
• If you use an external tool like Cahoot, make sure it’s integrated and configured to buy the correct labels.

4. Track Your OTDR Like a Hawk

• Check your Account Health → Shipping Performance → On-Time Delivery Rate view, filtered to the “Last 7 Days.”
• Log it in a simple spreadsheet or dashboard; if you’re at 95% on Thursday but have a big FedEx hiccup on Friday, you might dip under 93.5% by Saturday.

5. Prepare an Appeal Template

• If you get that dreaded second warning email, you have two weeks to appeal.
• Your appeal should include:
  • Specific orders that caused the miss (order IDs, promised vs. actual dates).
  • Evidence that you used SSA and OTDR-Protected labels (screenshots help).
  • Steps you’re taking to prevent a repeat (e.g., switching carriers, adjusting handling times).

The Ripple Effects on Your Business

Margin Compression vs. Service Reliability

Yes, spending more on premium carriers or buying OTDR-protected labels adds cost. But losing Premium Shipping can crater your conversion rate, tank your Buy Box percentage, and even affect organic search ranking. You have to run the numbers: maybe offering fewer SKUs with Premium Shipping is cheaper in the long run than risking weekly OTDR failures that affect your sales on your highest-performing SKUs (by being kicked out of the program).

Operations & Inventory Juggling Acts

Keeping enough stock in the “right” warehouses, so carriers aren’t shipping from the opposite coast, matters more than ever. If you sell nationally, you may need multiple fulfillment locations (a 3PL or micro-fulfillment center network). Staggering your replenishment orders (especially around holidays) can prevent stockouts that force you to oversell and then ship late.

Small Sellers vs. Big Sellers

Large brands with multi-warehouse setups and teams dedicated to carrier management can adjust more fluidly. If you’re a one-person operation fulfilling out of your garage, you’ll need to be extra strategic—maybe select just two to three proven carriers and ship as many orders as possible the same day you pick them. The bar is higher now, and patience for shipping errors is slim.

A Few FAQs to Keep You Sane

Q: What happens if a hurricane or blizzard slows down my carrier?
A: If Amazon deems it a “major disruption event,” late deliveries in that region won’t count against your OTDR. But you still need SSA + OTDR-protected labels before the delay. Don’t wait for your messages to start flooding; enable those tools now.

Q: Will this affect Seller Fulfilled Prime?
A: Sort of. SFP has its own stricter OTDR requirements, also on a weekly cadence, but it’s evaluated separately. Just remember, your SFP and Premium Shipping OTDRs are on parallel tracks; a slip in one doesn’t automatically tank the other, but it’s best to nail both.

Q: Can I regain Premium Shipping status after removal?
A: Yes, but you must meet all OTDR requirements for four consecutive weeks after your third infraction (without another miss). It’s basically a “clean slate” window: stay above 93.5% each week for four weeks, and Amazon resets your eligibility for that specific requirement.

Final Thoughts: Embrace the Change (or Get Left Behind)

Amazon’s shift from a 30-day OTDR roll-up to a 7-day weekly check is a clear message: if you want to hang with Prime-level sellers, you need rock-solid operational consistency and carrier partnerships. There’s no “coasting” on the back of a stellar month anymore; you have to nail every single week.

Yes, the change feels daunting. Your margins may squeeze, and your team (even if it’s a team of one) will need to revamp processes. But savvy ecommerce pros know adversity breeds opportunity. Rethink your shipping playbook:

• Lean into SSA and OTDR-protected labels.
• Cultivate trusted carrier relationships (and ditch underperformers ASAP).
• Monitor your weekly OTDR like your P&L depends on it (spoiler: it does).
• Build redundancy, FBA hybrid, multi-warehouse, or strategic 3PL partnerships.

Master these moves, and you won’t merely survive—you’ll thrive. Happy selling, and may your weekly OTDR always stay north of 93.5%.

Citations

• Amazon Seller Central – Upcoming changes to Premium Shipping
• Amazon Seller Central – Frequently asked questions about on-time delivery rate (OTDR)

• Category: Uncategorized
• Tag: Amazon, News, Order Fulfillment, Shipping and Logistics, Strategy