Late Shipment Rate

Late Shipment Rate looks at one specific thing: did you confirm that an order shipped on or before the expected ship date you committed to? When a customer buys a merchant-fulfilled item, the listing's handling time sets an expected ship date. If you confirm shipment after that date, the order counts as a late shipment.

The rate is the number of late-shipped orders divided by the total number of seller-fulfilled orders in the period, as a percentage. It only concerns orders you ship yourself — fulfilled-by-merchant orders. Orders sent through Fulfilled by Amazon are dispatched by Amazon's own network and do not count toward your LSR.

An important nuance is that LSR is partly about confirmation, not only physical dispatch. If you ship on time but forget to confirm the shipment in the system until after the expected date, the order can still register as late. Prompt, accurate shipment confirmation is therefore part of keeping LSR healthy.

Late shipments erode the customer experience and are a strong predictor of complaints, negative feedback and claims — which feed into other metrics such as Order Defect Rate. Amazon publishes a target of keeping LSR below 4%, and consistently exceeding it can lead to warnings or restrictions on your ability to sell.

Keeping LSR low comes down to realistic handling times and disciplined dispatch. Set handling times you can genuinely meet rather than optimistic ones, build buffers around weekends and holidays, and confirm each shipment promptly with valid tracking. For sellers using Fulfilled by Amazon, LSR is effectively removed from their concern because Amazon handles dispatch — one reason FBA appeals to sellers who struggle with self-fulfilment reliability.