Amazon has begun requiring sellers who do their own fulfillment in the United States to maintain at least 90% of deliveries to Amazon Business customers during business hours. The new rule took effect on Wednesday (30) and now ties logistics performance to offer eligibility in the B2B marketplace.
The metric, called Business Hour Delivery Rate (BHDR), considers the percentage of seller-fulfilled orders delivered to business customers during their operating hours. The calculation uses a 14-day rolling window.
Sellers who are below 90% will initially receive a notification from Amazon and recommendations to improve performance. If the rate remains below the minimum on October 30, seller-fulfilled offers may be deactivated for Amazon Business customers.
The measure does not affect offers fulfilled by Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) nor products sold directly by Amazon itself. In practice, the risk falls mainly on merchants who depend on external carriers and manage their deadlines and shipping settings internally.
Amazon expands control over B2B logistics
The company recommends that sellers use carriers with consistent performance and keep processing and shipping times configured accurately. BHDR can be monitored in the Account Health section of the seller account.
Amazon also directs sellers to three of its own tools: Automated Handling Time, Shipping Settings Automation and Amazon Buy Shipping. According to the company, shipments processed with the three solutions are considered in compliance with the business-hours delivery requirement.
The change turns a logistics performance metric into a requirement capable of determining whether a given offer will remain available to corporate buyers. For sellers who operate with their own fulfillment, this increases the importance of choosing carriers and automatically configuring delivery promises.
