Is Amazon's Latest Seller Requirement Attainable?

Amazon will begin penalizing sellers if shipping carriers deliver their packages outside the business hours of buyers who are enrolled in the Amazon Business program. But concerned sellers say they can't control the time of day a carrier delivers their packages.

Launched in 2015, Amazon Business caters to buyers who have procurement processes and policies in place. Amazon offers features to help sellers attract Amazon Business customers, allowing them to make Business-only offers; offer quantity pricing; and list credentials such as "small business" and "veteran-owned"; however, sellers cannot block Amazon Business customers from buying their items.

Beginning September 30, 2026, professional sellers must maintain a Business Hour Delivery Rate (BHDR) of 90% or higher for seller-fulfilled orders. The BHDR metric isn't new - a seller opened a discussion board thread about it in July of 2024. And in February of this year, Amazon announced the existence of the BHDR metric on the seller announcement board.

On Tuesday, Amazon announced the new BHDR policy, writing in part the following:

"If your Business Hour Delivery Rate is below 90% on September 30, we'll notify you and provide recommendations on how to improve. If your rate doesn't improve by October 30, your seller-fulfilled offers may be deactivated for Amazon Business customers. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and retail offer eligibility will not be impacted."

A comment from a seller responding to the news: "Another meaningless metric made to make us sellers hop and jump and follow that delivery truck to these businesses. Are you kidding me. The USPS, FED EX, UPS doesnt know what to do with mail?? And how can sellers really dictate when a delivery will be made but to jump on the conveyor belt and follow that package. I have never had a compliant from a business customer yet about delivery issues in the decades I have been on Amz. Amz. stop thinking about metrics, and do more thinking elsewhere."

Another seller provided three examples of how his BHDR metric took a hit despite his using shipping carriers recommended by Amazon: 

For further example - we had 3 failed BHDR

1) FedEx tried to deliver at midnight - I guess FedEx figures if they are working everyone else is too.

2) A UPS delivery at 947am - business hours for that Customer are 10am - 430pm

3) A UPS delivery on Juneteenth - not everyone or every business takes that holiday (even Amazon) but the Customer did and was closed.

Another seller explained the conundrum sellers face in trying to meet Amazon's expectations;

So let's see how this works.

A customer in NYC orders a book on Thursday evening.

Amazon INSISTS that I ship it on Friday (because 1 day handling time is super-important!)

Since NYC is 5 miles away, it will get there overnight, to be delivered on Saturday, when all of the Jewish businesses are CLOSED! (and there's a lot of them in NYC).

So which is worse; taking the hit for Amazon thinking a delivery is getting there when they are closed? Or taking the hit for late shipment so I can wait to make sure it doesn't get there on Saturday?

Another seller offered the following four suggestions to Amazon: 

1) Allow us to opt out of business customer sales. Currently Amazon forces us to sell to business customers.

2) Discount any shipping method required for BHDR to Amazon's COST.

3) Waive Amazon fees when this requirement would make the order unprofitable.

4) Allow us to cancel the order if we cannot make a profit by fulfilling it.

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