"Starting September 1, 2026, if performance remains below 90%, non-compliant listings may be deactivated, or sellers may lose the ability to list new FBM products." That is how Amazon's changelog for seller-fulfilled orders in Europe puts it, and read on its own it sounds like a cliff edge at 90%.
It is not a cliff. It is a ladder. Amazon's on-time delivery rate FAQ for Germany, the help page the changelog links to, sets out a warning first, 30 days to improve, and three different outcomes depending on how far below 90% you sit. If you ship your own orders on Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it or Amazon.es, those steps matter more than the headline number, because they decide how much time you actually have.
I understand how that feels if you are reading this with a German store you have not opened since summer. Here is what the Amazon on-time delivery rate rule says for Germany, France, Italy and Spain, how Amazon counts it, the exemption written into its own help page, and what I would check first.
TL;DR
- What changed: since 15 July 2026, Amazon expects seller-fulfilled (FBM) sellers in Germany, France, Italy and Spain to hold an on-time delivery rate of 90% or higher, with enforcement from 1 September 2026.
- A warning comes first: Amazon's FAQ says you always get a warning and 30 days to improve before any action.
- The ladder: between 80% and 90%, a warning only. Between 60% and 80%, non-compliant FBM offers are deactivated if the rate is not back above 80% within 30 days. Below 60%, deactivation can be followed by losing the ability to sell FBM in that store.
- How it is counted: tracked units, against the Deliver by date you promised in Seller Central before any extensions, over a rolling 14-day window. Sellers with fewer than 20 units shipped in that window are exempt.
- The exemption: orders shipped using Amazon's three delivery tools, or a 0 or 1-day SKU handling time with Shipping Settings Automation and Buy Shipping, do not count against the rate, provided the parcel reaches the carrier before the ship-by date.
What Amazon changed about on-time delivery rate in Germany, France, Italy and Spain
Amazon's SP-API changelog lists the new requirements for its European stores. Stripped of the developer language, the calendar looks like this.
| Date | What happens | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 15 July 2026 | On-time delivery rate of 90% or higher expected. The account-level default handling time only offers zero or one day | Rate: DE, FR, IT, ES. Handling time: also UK |
| 1 September 2026 | Enforcement of the 90% rate begins | DE, FR, IT, ES |
| 1 September 2026 | Automated Handling Time switched on for SKUs whose handling time runs a day or more longer than actual performance for more than 30 days | DE, FR, IT, ES, and the UK |
| 30 September 2026 | Business hour delivery rate of 90% or higher required | DE, FR, IT, ES, UK |
| 30 October 2026 | Offers to business customers may be deactivated if that rate is below 90% | DE, FR, IT, ES, UK |
For the UK, the changelog lists the business hour, handling time and cross-border customs changes, but not this on-time delivery requirement. The UK already had its own 90% on-time delivery threshold from September 2025, as both Cross-Border Magazine and SellerLegend note, and SellerLegend adds that 1 September is when Amazon was due to start switching on Automated Handling Time in the UK. The UK's own on-time delivery page also sets different, stricter consequences: even between 80% and 90%, listings with a rate below 90% can be temporarily deactivated there, with the option to reactivate them immediately. So the steps below are for Germany, France, Italy and Spain only.
What happens if your rate drops below 90%
This is the part the changelog leaves out and the FAQ spells out. Amazon says you always receive a warning first and have 30 days to improve before it takes action. After that, it depends on where you sit. The French, Italian and Spanish versions of the page set out the same steps.
| Your on-time delivery rate | What Amazon says happens |
|---|---|
| 90% or more | Meets the requirement |
| Between 80% and 90% | A warning with suggestions to improve. No offers are deactivated and no restrictions apply |
| Between 60% and 80% | A warning and 30 days. If the rate is not back above 80% by then, non-compliant FBM offers are deactivated |
| Below 60% | A warning and 30 days. If the rate is not back above 60%, non-compliant FBM offers are deactivated. If it still does not improve within 30 days of that, you lose the ability to sell FBM in that store: all FBM offers are deactivated and no new ones can be created until the restriction is lifted |
Three details in that FAQ are worth knowing before you need them:
- Deactivated is not frozen: while offers are deactivated you can still ship open orders and answer customers.
- Offers can come back quickly: the FAQ says deactivated offers can be reactivated straight away by submitting a request from the product policy compliance page in your seller performance area, where they are listed under order performance, on-time delivery. If you do nothing, they stay inactive.
- The FBM restriction has a price: to lift it, Amazon asks you to complete a questionnaire and confirm you have switched on Automated Handling Time, Shipping Settings Automation and Buy Shipping, and to keep them on for at least 90 days, or 180 days after repeated problems.
Amazon has not published any figures on how many listings have been deactivated under this rule since 1 September.
Two deadlines, two different questions
The business hour delivery rate arrived in the same changelog, with the same 90% but its own dates. That is where the resemblance ends.
| On-time delivery rate | Business hour delivery rate | |
|---|---|---|
| The question it asks | Did the unit arrive by your promised Deliver by date? | Did a business customer's parcel arrive during their operating hours? |
| Stores | DE, FR, IT, ES | DE, FR, IT, ES, UK |
| Enforcement from | 1 September 2026 | 30 October 2026, with the requirement starting 30 September |
| What is at risk | FBM offers, then FBM selling in that store | Your offers to business customers |
Amazon's announcement of the business hour rule for its US store defines it as the "percentage of your seller-fulfilled shipments delivered to Amazon Business customers within their operating hours over a rolling 14-day period." If you only sell to consumers, that second rule may barely touch you.
How Amazon counts your on-time delivery rate
The German FAQ is precise about this, and several of its details catch people out.
- Your date, not the customer's: the rate is measured against the Deliver by date shown on the order in Seller Central, which Amazon calculates from the handling time and transit time in your shipping settings, plus weekends and holidays where they apply. Amazon can add promise extensions to the date the customer sees, for things like extreme weather, network constraints or your own recent late deliveries, but you are measured against the date before those extensions. Amazon can move the finish line for the customer and still time you against the old one.
- Amazon's own example: 1 day of handling plus 3 days of transit on an order placed on Monday gives a Deliver by date of Friday. Delivered on Friday counts. Saturday does not.
- Units, not orders: the rate is units delivered on time divided by all eligible units. A late order of six units counts as six late units. That matters most if your customers often buy several at once.
- Tracked only: only shipments with tracking and a valid delivery scan are counted.
- A rolling 14-day window: Amazon takes tracked orders with promised delivery dates in the last 21 days and leaves out the most recent 7, because those parcels may still be travelling. In its example, 130 units minus the 30 from the last seven days leaves 100, and 90 of those on time is 90%.
- Small sellers are exempt: fewer than 20 units shipped in the 14-day window and the requirement does not apply.
- Missed and moved deliveries: if the customer is not home, the carrier's delivery attempt date counts. If the customer reschedules, Amazon counts the day they asked for the change, not the later delivery.
On-time delivery rate is one of several seller-fulfilled metrics Amazon watches. Our guide to ODR, late shipment rate and valid tracking rate covers the others, and the FAQ is clear that your late shipment rate still has to meet its own target.
The exemption in Amazon's own rules
The changelog puts it in one line: "Orders fulfilled using all three of the following tools will not count toward the on-time delivery rate or business hour delivery rate requirements." The three are Automated Handling Time, Shipping Settings Automation and Amazon Buy Shipping. The German FAQ adds two things:
- A second route: a 0 or 1-day handling time set at SKU level, combined with Shipping Settings Automation and Buy Shipping, also keeps those orders from hurting your rate.
- One condition: the parcel has to be handed to the carrier before the ship-by date.
Using just one of the tools, or Shipping Settings Automation and Buy Shipping without a 0 or 1-day SKU handling time, does not meet either route. And there is a trade-off worth naming. These tools hand the handling time, the transit time and the label choice to Amazon's data. For a catalogue of fast, predictable items that can be a relief. For bulky or made-to-order products with genuinely variable lead times, it is worth thinking through before switching them on everywhere, because the promise the customer sees is then built from Amazon's estimate rather than yours.
How to know if your German, French, Italian or Spanish listings are exposed
A two-minute self-check:
- You ship your own orders in any of those four stores: 20 or more units in a 14-day stretch, so the small seller exemption does not cover you. The requirement covers all your seller-fulfilled orders there, including Seller Fulfilled Prime. FBA orders sit outside it.
- You sell in more than one of them: the requirement names all four stores, so it is worth looking at delivery performance in every one you sell in, not only the biggest.
- Your handling time used to default to two days: Amazon's changelog and Ecommerce News Europe both said that accounts with a two-day default would be changed to one day from 15 July. If your SKUs use the account default, their promise got a day shorter while your warehouse stayed the same speed.
- You have had a warning: the 30 days start with it, so the date on that message matters.
- A listing has already gone quiet: if an offer in one of those stores is inactive with stock on hand, check whether it is listed under on-time delivery on the product policy compliance page. Our guide to listings that say currently unavailable walks through the other causes.
German and French listings also get blocked for reasons that have nothing to do with delivery, a missing packaging registration for instance. If that sounds closer to your situation, our guide to EPR and LUCID blocked listings is the better starting point.
What to check first
In order, cheapest first:
- The figure itself, store by store: in the English interface, Performance, then Account Health, then the On-Time Delivery Rate tab in the Delivery Performance section. The report of late units downloads from there. Amazon notes it can take up to 72 hours for updates to show.
- Which units were late, not how many: the percentage tells you there is a problem. The list of late units is what tells you which one: a carrier, a weekday, a destination country or a single product.
- Promised against actual times: the FAQ points to the Fulfilment Insights dashboard, which shows where your promised handling and transit times differ from what actually happens.
- Handling time, at account level and per SKU: since 15 July the default only offers zero or one day, and from 1 September the changelog says that if a SKU's handling time is a day or more longer than your actual performance for more than 30 days, Automated Handling Time "will be enabled" for it.
- Transit times on your shipping templates: Amazon's own advice in the FAQ is to ask your carrier for a transit time that covers at least 90% of your volume and set your promise to match.
The part that will actually annoy you is the handling time rule. An extra day added on purpose, as a safety margin, is exactly what Amazon is now trimming.
How to keep the rate above 90%
- A weekly look beats a monthly one: a late delivery enters the rate about a week after its promised date, and a warning gives you 30 days. Catching it before the warning is better than spending those 30 days recovering.
- Any change of carrier or warehouse is a delivery risk: treat the fortnight after a switch as a watch period for every store it touches.
- Decide on the tools deliberately: either a route that qualifies for the exemption, for the orders where Amazon's promise fits your operation, or honest handling and transit times you can keep. Switching on only part of a route does not earn the exemption.
- Business customers need their own check: if you sell to Amazon Business customers, from 30 September 2026 their deliveries are also judged on operating hours.
Check Where Each Store Stands This Week
If you sell seller-fulfilled in Germany, France, Italy or Spain, the useful question is not whether the rule exists. It is which of your stores sits closest to the next rung, and why.
That is where our account health work starts: reading the late units store by store and finding the setting or route doing the damage. If you have had a warning, or an offer has already gone inactive, we will read it with you and tell you what it actually names and how long you have. Get in touch and we will look at your European stores together.
Related guides
Common questions about Amazon on-time delivery rate in Germany
What is the on-time delivery rate requirement on Amazon.de?
Since 15 July 2026, Amazon expects seller-fulfilled sellers in Germany to keep an on-time delivery rate of 90% or higher, with enforcement from 1 September 2026. Amazon’s FAQ says a warning always comes first, with 30 days to improve. The same requirement applies in France, Italy and Spain.
Will Amazon deactivate my listings as soon as I drop below 90%?
No. Between 80% and 90% you get a warning only. Between 60% and 80%, non-compliant FBM offers are deactivated if the rate is not back above 80% within 30 days. Below 60%, offers are deactivated if the rate is not back above 60% within 30 days, and a further 30 days without improvement can remove the ability to sell FBM in that store.
Does the 90% rule apply to FBA orders?
No. It covers seller-fulfilled orders, including Seller Fulfilled Prime. Orders Amazon fulfils through FBA sit outside it.
Can an order be left out of my on-time delivery rate?
Yes, in two ways. Amazon’s changelog says orders fulfilled using all three of Automated Handling Time, Shipping Settings Automation and Amazon Buy Shipping do not count. Amazon’s FAQ adds that a 0 or 1-day SKU handling time combined with Shipping Settings Automation and Buy Shipping also works. Either way, the parcel must reach the carrier before the ship-by date.
How does Amazon calculate on-time delivery rate?
It divides tracked units delivered on or before your promised Deliver by date by all eligible units. The date is the one in Seller Central, built from your handling and transit times, before any promise extensions. It uses a rolling 14-day window: promised dates in the last 21 days, minus the most recent 7. Sellers with fewer than 20 units shipped in that window are exempt.
Is the business hour delivery rate the same thing?
No. It asks whether a shipment to an Amazon Business customer arrived during their operating hours. It starts on 30 September 2026 in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK, and offers to business customers may be deactivated from 30 October 2026 if it stays below 90%.
Does the new rule apply to Amazon UK?
Not the on-time delivery part. Amazon’s changelog gives the UK the business hour, handling time and cross-border customs changes. The UK already had its own 90% on-time delivery threshold from September 2025, as Cross-Border Magazine and SellerLegend both report. The UK page also sets its own, stricter consequences, so the German, French, Italian and Spanish steps do not carry over.