Amazon account health: the rating and the metrics that put your account at risk
“Your account is at risk of deactivation” is the message every Amazon seller dreads. It comes from Account Health — and the good news is that the targets behind it are published. Here’s what Amazon measures, from its own seller guides.
The Account Health Rating
The Account Health Rating is a snapshot of your account’s risk of deactivation based on how well you comply with Amazon’s policies. It’s a color-coded score from 0 to 1,000. Check it on the Account Health dashboard in Seller Central, where you can also track your order defect, late shipment, pre-fulfillment cancellation and valid tracking rates.
Amazon’s basic advice: address policy violations promptly to keep the score healthy.
The performance targets
Alongside policy compliance, Amazon tracks how well you serve customers:
| Metric | Target | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Order defect rate (ODR) | Under 1% | All orders |
| Late shipment rate (LSR) | Under 4% | Orders you ship yourself |
| Cancellation rate (CR) | Under 2.5% | Orders you ship yourself |
Amazon says a high ODR can lead to restrictions on your selling privileges, a high LSR to deactivation of your seller-fulfilled offers, and a high cancellation rate to deactivation.
Amazon also tracks valid tracking rate (VTR) and on-time delivery rate (OTDR) for orders you ship.
How to stay inside the targets
- Cancellations are often caused by stock-outs. Keep inventory accurate — especially if you sell the same stock on other sites.
- Late shipments: confirm shipment promptly and provide accurate tracking.
- Order defects reflect the customer experience. Accurate listings and quick, helpful replies keep them down.
- Returns: Amazon says sellers must accept returns within the 30-day return window for most products — a “no returns” policy isn’t allowed.
If you use FBA, Amazon handles storage, packing, shipping and returns, and negative feedback about Amazon’s fulfillment or customer service may be removed.
Other policy issues
Account health also covers policy compliance — intellectual property, product safety, listing rules, review manipulation and Amazon’s Seller Code of Conduct. Breaking these can lead to cancelled listings or a deactivated account. If a listing has been hidden from search, see Amazon listing suppressed from search.
For how returns work on seller-fulfilled orders, see Amazon return policy for sellers.