sellershortsAmazon Account Health Rating: The 5 Metrics That Matter
Five numbers decide whether your Amazon account stays healthy. Here is what each one measures, the standard target, and the February 2026 change to how Amazon enforces late deliveries.
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Quick Answer
The five metrics that matter most are Order Defect Rate below 1%, Late Shipment Rate under 4%, Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate under 2.5%, Valid Tracking Rate above 95%, and On-Time Delivery Rate at or above 90%. These are the widely used standard targets, so confirm the live numbers for your account in Seller Central. The biggest recent change is that from 28 February 2026, a failing On-Time Delivery Rate deactivates only the specific listings causing the problem rather than your whole self-fulfilled catalogue.
- Order Defect Rate is the most serious one, measured over 60 days
- Three of the five are about shipping, so they mainly hit self-fulfilled orders
- The February 2026 change makes On-Time Delivery enforcement more targeted
- Check weekly, because a rolling window means problems linger
Account health is the part of Amazon selling that gets ignored until it is urgent. Nobody celebrates a green dashboard, and everybody panics when it turns yellow.
The good news is that there are only five numbers to watch, they are all measurable, and every one of them has a specific fix. This guide covers what each metric counts, what the standard target is, and the one enforcement change that landed in February 2026.
Reviewed by the SellerShorts editorial bench. SellerShorts runs an AI tool marketplace for Amazon teams.
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The five metrics at a glance
These are the standard targets used across Amazon seller guidance. They are very widely agreed, but Amazon can adjust them, so treat your own Account Health dashboard as the authority.
| Metric | Standard target | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Order Defect Rate | Below 1% | Orders that ended in a defect, over 60 days |
| Late Shipment Rate | Under 4% | Orders confirmed as shipped after the promised date |
| Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate | Under 2.5% | Orders you cancelled before shipping |
| Valid Tracking Rate | Above 95% | Shipments with usable tracking numbers |
| On-Time Delivery Rate | 90% or above | Orders delivered by the promised date |
Confirm each of these in Seller Central before you build a process around them.
Order Defect Rate, the one that matters most
Order Defect Rate is the percentage of your orders that ended badly, and the standard target is below 1%. It is the most serious metric on the list because it is the one most closely tied to account deactivation.
It is built from three separate things:
- Negative feedback. One and two star seller feedback from buyers.
- A-to-z Guarantee claims. When a buyer escalates to Amazon rather than resolving with you.
- Credit card chargebacks. When a buyer disputes the charge with their bank.
It is measured over a rolling 60 day window, which is the detail sellers most often miss. A bad fortnight does not clear next week. It stays in your number for two months, which is why catching problems early matters far more here than anywhere else.
How to bring it down:
- Answer buyer messages fast. Most A-to-z claims begin as a message nobody replied to.
- Fix what buyers actually complain about. Read your negative feedback and look for the repeated word.
- Stop overselling in the listing. A product that under delivers against its own description generates defects at scale.
- Package properly. Damaged arrivals turn into both feedback and claims.
Late Shipment Rate
Late Shipment Rate is the percentage of orders you confirmed as shipped after the date you promised, and the standard target is under 4%.
The important insight here is that this is usually a promise problem, not a speed problem. If you set a handling time of one day but you genuinely take two, you fail every single order even though your warehouse is running normally.
- Set handling time to what you actually do. Not what you hope to do on a good day.
- Confirm shipment when it leaves, not at end of week. Late confirmation reads as a late shipment.
- Check for a single bad SKU. Often one supplier or one custom made item causes most of the misses.
- Plan for weekends and holidays. A promise made on Friday afternoon has to survive Monday.
Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate
Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate is the percentage of orders you cancelled yourself before shipping, and the standard target is under 2.5%.
Almost all of these come from one cause: selling something you did not actually have. Inventory accuracy is the fix, not customer service skill.
- Sync stock across every channel. Selling the same unit on two sites is the classic cause.
- Keep a safety buffer. Show fewer units available than you physically hold.
- Count regularly. Drift between the system and the shelf builds quietly.
- Deactivate rather than cancel. If you know a product is out, turn the listing off before an order lands.
Note that buyer initiated cancellations are a different thing. This metric is about the ones you cancel.
Valid Tracking Rate
Valid Tracking Rate is the percentage of your shipments that carry a usable tracking number from an integrated carrier, and the standard target is above 95%.
This is the most fixable metric on the list because it is almost entirely a process issue. Nothing about your product or your demand affects it.
- Buy shipping labels through Amazon or an integrated tool. Tracking flows through automatically.
- Stop typing tracking numbers by hand. Manual entry is where typos and blanks come from.
- Use carriers Amazon recognises. A tracking number Amazon cannot verify does not count as valid.
- Watch cheap untracked postage. Saving a small amount per order here can cost you the metric.
On-Time Delivery Rate
On-Time Delivery Rate is the percentage of orders that actually arrived by the promised delivery date, and the standard target is 90% or above.
This is the hardest one to control because it depends on the carrier, not on you. You can ship perfectly on time and still miss the delivery date because of a depot delay hundreds of miles away.
- Choose reliability over price. The cheapest carrier is rarely the most punctual one.
- Do not promise your best case. Set transit times based on your typical result, not your fastest.
- Track it by region. Problems are often concentrated in specific delivery areas.
- Ship earlier in the day. Missing a carrier collection cutoff loses you a whole day silently.
The February 2026 change you need to know
Effective 28 February 2026, Amazon changed the consequence of a failing On-Time Delivery Rate. Instead of putting your whole self-fulfilled catalogue at risk, Amazon now deactivates only the specific listings driving the problem.
This is a meaningful improvement for sellers, and here is why it matters in practice:
- The blast radius is smaller. One problem product no longer threatens everything else you sell.
- Diagnosis is clearer. Amazon is pointing at the listings causing the shortfall, which tells you where to look.
- It is still a real consequence. Deactivated listings sell nothing, so this is not permission to relax.
- Per SKU monitoring now pays off. Knowing which ASINs deliver late is more actionable than it used to be.
The practical takeaway is to stop looking only at your account level number. Look at delivery performance by product, because that is now the level at which enforcement happens.
Account Health Rating, the separate score
The Account Health Rating is a single number summarising your policy compliance standing, and it sits alongside the five performance metrics rather than replacing them.
It is commonly cited as scored from 0 to 1000, with new accounts starting at 200. Those figures are community consensus rather than something we can point to on a public Amazon page, so check what your own dashboard shows.
The useful distinction: the five metrics measure how well you fulfil orders. The Account Health Rating measures how well you follow the rules, including things like intellectual property complaints, product authenticity, and listing policy violations. You can have perfect shipping numbers and still have a rating problem.
Which metrics apply to FBA and which to FBM
Not all five hit you equally, and it depends on who ships the order.
| Metric | FBM orders | FBA orders |
|---|---|---|
| Order Defect Rate | Fully yours | Partly yours |
| Late Shipment Rate | Yours | Amazon ships |
| Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate | Yours | Amazon ships |
| Valid Tracking Rate | Yours | Amazon ships |
| On-Time Delivery Rate | Yours | Amazon ships |
This is one of the underrated reasons sellers move to FBA. Four of the five shipping metrics move off your plate. It is also why the February 2026 change is specifically about self-fulfilled listings. If you are weighing this up, our FBA vs FBM comparison goes through the full trade.
A weekly routine that keeps you safe
Ten minutes a week beats a crisis every quarter.
- Open Account Health. Check all five numbers and note the direction of travel, not just the value.
- Read every new negative feedback. Look for the repeated complaint across them.
- Check open A-to-z claims. Respond same day where you can.
- Scan late shipments by SKU. Find the one product causing most of them.
- Check delivery performance by product. This matters more now that enforcement is listing level.
- Verify inventory counts on fast movers. This prevents next week's cancellations.
Common mistakes
The same errors show up across accounts of every size.
- Only checking after a warning email. By then the 60 day window is already carrying the damage.
- Setting handling time optimistically. This creates late shipments out of nothing.
- Ignoring a metric because it is close to the line. Close to the line means one bad week away from failing.
- Assuming FBA makes you immune. Order Defect Rate still applies to you.
- Watching account level numbers only. The 2026 change makes per listing delivery data more important.
Conclusion
Five numbers, five targets. Order Defect Rate below 1%, Late Shipment Rate under 4%, Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate under 2.5%, Valid Tracking Rate above 95%, On-Time Delivery Rate at or above 90%. Confirm each in Seller Central, because those are the widely used standards rather than numbers we can verify on a public page.
The 2026 change to On-Time Delivery enforcement makes the consequence more targeted, which rewards sellers who watch performance per listing. And since a clear, honest listing prevents a large share of defects before they happen, our Amazon Listing Optimizer is a reasonable place to start. Next reads: FBA vs FBM compared, the Seller Fulfilled Prime guide, and what wins the Buy Box in 2026.
References
Frequently asked questions
What are the main Amazon account health metrics?
Five carry the most weight for most sellers: Order Defect Rate, Late Shipment Rate, Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate, Valid Tracking Rate, and On-Time Delivery Rate. The standard targets are Order Defect Rate below 1%, Late Shipment Rate under 4%, Pre-fulfillment Cancellation Rate under 2.5%, Valid Tracking Rate above 95%, and On-Time Delivery Rate at or above 90%. Confirm the live figures in Seller Central because Amazon can adjust them.
What is Order Defect Rate?
Order Defect Rate, usually shortened to ODR, is the percentage of your orders that ended in a defect. It is made up of three things: negative feedback, A-to-z Guarantee claims, and credit card chargebacks. It is measured over a rolling 60 day window. The standard target is below 1%. It is the most serious metric on the list because it is the one most associated with account deactivation.
What changed for On-Time Delivery Rate in 2026?
Effective 28 February 2026, Amazon changed what happens when your On-Time Delivery Rate falls below the minimum. Previously a shortfall could put your whole self-fulfilled catalogue at risk. Now Amazon deactivates only the specific listings driving the problem instead of the entire catalogue. It is a much more contained consequence, but it is still a real one for the affected ASINs.
Do these metrics apply to FBA orders?
Not all of them in the same way. Late Shipment Rate, Valid Tracking Rate, and On-Time Delivery Rate are about the physical shipping, so they apply to orders you fulfil yourself. When Amazon ships an FBA order, Amazon carries that side. Order Defect Rate still matters to you because negative feedback and claims can come from any order, though Amazon does remove some feedback tied to its own fulfillment errors.
What is the Account Health Rating?
The Account Health Rating is a single score that summarises your policy compliance standing in one number. It is commonly cited as running from 0 to 1000, with new accounts starting at 200. Those specific figures are community consensus, so check what your own dashboard shows. The rating is separate from the five performance metrics, but both live in the same Account Health section of Seller Central.
How do I fix a high Late Shipment Rate?
Start with your handling time setting, because most late shipment problems are a promise problem rather than a speed problem. If you promise same day dispatch and you actually ship next day, you fail every time even though nothing is wrong operationally. Extend handling time to what you genuinely achieve, confirm shipments the moment they leave, and check whether one specific SKU or supplier is causing most of the misses.
How do I reduce my Order Defect Rate?
Attack the three parts separately. For negative feedback, fix the causes buyers complain about, usually delivery speed, item condition, or a listing that oversold the product. For A-to-z claims, respond to buyer messages fast, because most claims start as an unanswered message. For chargebacks, make sure your billing descriptor and order details are clear and that you ship what was ordered.
How often should I check account health?
Weekly is a sensible rhythm for most sellers, and daily during peak season. The reason is that Order Defect Rate uses a rolling 60 day window, so a bad week keeps affecting your number for two months. Catching a problem in week one instead of week six means you deal with a handful of defects rather than a trend you cannot outrun quickly.
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