If you are a seller on Amazon, then you have to comply with all of the seller policies the company has put in place. The entire process is a standard to make sure Amazon maintains its brand image among its customers and does not lose the credibility it has built over the years. When you are using a middle party to sell your products, it becomes compulsory to follow the rules and requirements set by them. If you are a new seller and looking for an answer to the question: how to cancel Amazon order, then read on.
The onset of COVID-19 has made it difficult to cancel items from Amazon for sellers as the satisfaction rate had gone considerably down. First, when the lockdown started, the halt on international travel and transit put a strain on many traders and sellers’ businesses. Amazon even eased a few restrictions and rules regarding the performance and quantity measures. But the conditions remain as unpredictable as they can be considering the market conditions and fluctuating economic climate. As a seller, you should have the know-how to cancel the order from Amazon without it impacting your performance rating negatively. Here’s how to cancel order to keep your business from suffering:
The Policy to Cancel an Order:
Amazon’s order cancellation policy varies for customers and sellers. While customers can make cancellation request after 30 minutes of placement, the sellers have the leverage to cancel order at any time they want to cancel on behalf of any reason until it gets shipped.
This pretty much translates you can cancel items from Amazon anytime unless you ship your products yourself.
There is no cancellation fee attached in case of legitimate issues no matter what they’re about. But frequent cancellations can hurt seller performance rate and affect your credibility. Your sales get directly affected by how satisfied your customers are, pretty much like any purchase experience.
You need to maintain a rate of 2.5% or lower for cancellation. Any requests made by the customer to do so do not add up to the rate, but inventory shortage, supply chain halt or any other reason that makes you cancel an order gets added to it. In case your rate goes higher than the policy requires, your account gets deactivated.
Follow the process to Cancel Order on Amazon:
We now know how it affects the performance rating. If you want to cancel an order, while maintaining your reputation, you can’t tap cancel checked items. You will have to consider other things as well. Let’s see how to do the deed without damaging your performance.
You need to ensure that the process is only used if absolutely necessary and not very frequently because you don’t want unhappy customers. Using the following steps, you can easily cancel an order from Amazon through the web page:
- Sign in to your Amazon seller account
- Your main menu will include something called ‘Manage orders’ click on that, then click on ‘View your orders’
- Use Order ID or other relevant information to find out the order you’re looking to cancel through the search bar.
- It will show you a ‘Cancel order’ button, tap cancel checked item to cancel your order.
- It will bring a pop-up, asking for the reason, state the reason.
That’s it for now.
Amazon Order Cancellation Made Easy Via Mobile App:
If you did not already know, you need to get acquainted with Amazon’s Mobile Application as well because it lets you do your business from anywhere in the world. It includes somewhat similar steps for the cancellation request:
- Open App or download in case you don’t have it already
- After logging in, the top left corner will take you to ‘Your orders’
- Go to ‘View order details’ after you’ve selected the one you want to cancel
- The menu will ask you cancellation reason, state your reason
- Click ‘Cancel checked items’ and the order will be gone from your pending list
Call Via Phone to Cancel the Order:
Another way to cancel an order as a seller on Amazon is through call. You can directly call this number 00 1 206 922 0880 and make your order cancellation request with one phone call.
This, just like any other method, only works before the order is shipped. If your order is shipped and your customer has requested to cancel, then you can inform the customer about the return/refund policy, rather than opting for cancellation request. Amazon’s contact page can help you with any other queries you might have regarding this process. You can find all the customer’s information in the list of orders in your ‘Manage orders’ section in the main menu.
Cancellation rate:
Despite providing a fairly easy and convenient process to cancel orders, the cancellation rate remains in trouble for several sellers. Maintaining a 2.5% or less cancellation rate gets difficult for sellers, especially in uncertain times like now.
Source: aws.amazon.com
You need to actively keep your cancellation rate in check in order to make sure you’re making the cut. There is a report you can access through your account that gives your account’s health in terms of the policy requirements such as the cancellation rate.
One way to navigate bad reviews and customer satisfaction is to come clean and use the buyer-seller support page to inform your customers of the cancellation and the reasons and apologize for the inconvenience politely. In another case, if you are unable to deliver, you can put your account into vacation status. Other than that it is empirical to make sure you’re adopting healthy and smart activities in order to maintain a smooth flow of goods from your supplier, to you and onwards to your customers.
FBA Order:
FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon basically refers to the process where Amazon takes care of the shipping process. In case of a cancellation for FBA order, you can reach the seller support staff through your account or this number 1 800 419 7355. The cancellation process requires the Order ID that you want to cancel, Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) and the reason for cancellation. A confirmation will reach both you and the buyer informing about the cancellation.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment Orders:
Many business owners that are looking to grow and scale their businesses opt for the multi-channel fulfillment process that is Amazon’s program to cater to sellers who want to store their products on Amazon warehouses and fulfillment centres. Amazon then takes care of the entire fulfillment process for any orders you receive through any of the online platforms where your products are listed. The process is more comprehensive and fool-proof than FBA which is why it costs more too. But businesses that are looking to build a long-lasting customer relationship need to make such investments in order to keep their customer satisfaction checked.
The cancellation process for MCF is the same as others in normal circumstances. For bulk order cancellation, there’s a more detailed cancelation process that you can find on Amazon MCF page to access the report. Another way is to go to Amazon Marketplace, login, click on Cancel Fulfillment Order on the Fulfillment Outbound Shipment API option. Granted that all cancellation takes place within the pending stage.
This is all you need to know on how to cancel Amazon order as a seller. If you find this guide helpful, share this with other Amazon sellers and let them benefit from it too.
