Amazon 1P Chargeback: PO On-Time Accuracy
PO On-Time Accuracy
Amazon's PO On-Time Accuracy chargeback kicks in when a shipment misses its purchase order window or ships fewer units than confirmed. Vendor sources report a 3% penalty on product cost for late or reduced shipments, rising to 10% for units never shipped. Amazon reportedly waives the charge when a supplier's trailing four-week on-time rate exceeds 90%.
Sourced from three independent vendor references (SupplierWiki/SPS Commerce, Amazowl, Consulterce). They agree on the measurement basis and penalty structure but differ on the exact fee range. Not drawn from Amazon's own Vendor Central documentation, August 2026.
What Amazon is claiming
Amazon says your shipment missed its purchase order window. Maybe the truck arrived late. Maybe you shipped fewer units than you confirmed. Either way, Amazon bills you a percentage of the product cost for the gap.
- Vendor sources describe two core failure types. NotOnTime means the shipment arrives outside the PO's ship or delivery window. NotFilled means some or all confirmed units never shipped.
- Amazowl's course material names a third sub-type: DownConfirmed. This applies when a supplier cuts its confirmed unit count five or more days after the PO window opens.
- Amazon measures prepaid shipments against the Carrier Requested Delivery Date (CRDD). It measures collect shipments against the Freight Ready Date (FRD). Both SupplierWiki and Amazowl confirm this.
- Per Amazowl, Amazon waives the chargeback for a week when a supplier's trailing four-week on-time rate stays above 90%.
What actually causes it
- Physical / Warehouse
- Warehouse pick-pack timing pushes the ship date past the FRD or CRDD window. Or a pick shortfall forces a reduced unit count.
- Carrier / Logistics
- A missed carrier tender response or appointment on a collect PO. The freight never leaves ready by the FRD, even though the warehouse finished on schedule.
- ERP / Data Bridge
- Your ERP confirmed a PO quantity your warehouse can't ship by the date. This usually happens because PO confirmation checks available-to-promise inventory, not real warehouse capacity.
Is it disputable?
Per Amazowl, Amazon's dispute workflow lets you contest the charge if you believe the underlying data is wrong. Vendor sources agree on a 30-day window from the chargeback notification, the same window Amazon uses for other chargeback types. None of the sources describe a separate dispute process specific to PO On-Time Accuracy.
Evidence you'll need
Gather this before you file, not after:
- The PO confirmation record showing the confirmed ship/delivery window and confirmed unit count
- Carrier pickup or tender documentation showing the freight ready date (collect) or delivery date (prepaid)
- Warehouse ship-confirm or pick-confirm records showing the actual ship date and quantity that left the dock
- The EDI 856 ASN transmission log tying the declared quantity and ship date to what the carrier actually picked up
How to stop it recurring
Recovering one deduction is worth less than removing the cause. What closes this one out for good:
- Confirm only the PO quantity you can actually ship by the assigned window. Don't confirm just because it clears an available-to-promise check. If your warehouse can't hit that date, you are getting hit with that chargeback.
- For collect POs, confirm carrier tender acceptance and appointment booking against the freight ready date on a schedule, not as an assumption. A missed tender response fails the window even when the warehouse finished on time.
- Track your trailing four-week on-time rate as its own metric. Vendor sources say this number decides whether Amazon waives a borderline week. Watch it separately from any single PO.
- Make any unit-count reduction inside the first five days of the PO window. Per Amazowl, a reduction after day five becomes a DownConfirmed chargeback, billed at the same rate as a late shipment.
Gate PO confirmation behind a warehouse capacity check. Before your ERP confirms a quantity to Amazon, check it against the ship/delivery window, not just available-to-promise inventory. Available-to-promise alone is what generates a PO you can't actually hit. Add a scheduled comparison between confirmed PO quantity and pick-confirm status, run with enough lead time to catch a real shortfall inside the five-day grace window. That way, a DownConfirmed reduction is a decision your team makes on purpose, not a chargeback that fires because no one was watching the clock.
You shipped the PO complete. Every case Amazon confirmed made it onto the truck. Then a chargeback for PO On-Time Accuracy shows up in Vendor Central anyway, and nothing was missing. The truck arrived outside the window Amazon assigned to that PO. Or your team trimmed the confirmed unit count a few days too late to dodge the penalty.
If you run supply chain, finance, or ops for a CPG supplier doing $10M-$500M in Amazon volume, this chargeback hits even shipments your team would call successful. It isn’t measuring whether the goods arrived. It’s measuring two narrower things: whether they arrived inside the date window Amazon set, and whether you shipped every unit you confirmed.
SupplierWiki and Amazowl both describe three distinct failure types under PO On-Time Accuracy:
- NotOnTime: The freight ready date (collect) or carrier requested delivery date (prepaid) falls after the PO’s ship or delivery window closes.
- NotFilled: The supplier never shipped some or all of the confirmed units.
- DownConfirmed: Per Amazowl, the supplier cut its confirmed unit count five or more days after the PO window opened. Cut it earlier, and it’s a normal order adjustment. Cut it later, and Amazon bills it like a late shipment.
Amazowl puts the penalty at 3% of product cost for a NotOnTime or DownConfirmed chargeback, and 10% for NotFilled. Consulterce reports a wider 3-10% of COGS range for North America but doesn’t break out the sub-types. The two numbers are close enough to read as the same program described at different levels of detail, not a real disagreement.
This is Amazon’s version of the on-time measurement every major retailer runs. It’s worth comparing directly against Walmart’s OTIF fine. The OTIF calculator already estimates costs against that fine.
Amazon PO On-Time Accuracy vs. Walmart OTIF
| Amazon PO On-Time Accuracy | Walmart OTIF | |
|---|---|---|
| Measured against | Each individual PO’s ship/delivery window | Aggregate on-time and in-full rate across a measurement period |
| Prepaid basis | Carrier Requested Delivery Date (CRDD) | Must Arrive By Date (MABD) |
| Collect basis | Freight Ready Date (FRD) | Collect-ready staging for pickup |
| Reported penalty | 3% of product cost (10% for unfilled) | 3% of cost of goods on non-compliant cases |
| Waiver mechanic | Trailing four-week on-time rate above 90%, per Amazowl | None documented; blended rate applies every period |
| Where documented | Vendor-education sources describing Vendor Central | Trade press reporting on the gated Retail Link portal |
The two programs share a headline number, 3%, and not much else. Amazon evaluates and charges per PO. Walmart blends everything into one rate per period; there’s no per-shipment chargeback to point at. A supplier selling into both retailers runs two different on-time disciplines at once. It’s not one shared standard with two logos on it.
Most PO On-Time Accuracy misses trace back to the same root cause as a late EDI 856 ASN: a confirmation or shipment event that ran on the sales order’s timeline instead of the warehouse’s real capacity. Confirm a quantity your team can’t hit by the window, and a normal fulfillment cycle turns into a chargeback.
Amazon gives suppliers 30 days from the chargeback notification to dispute in Vendor Central. That’s the same window that applies to the ASN Accuracy chargeback. The deduction code hub covers the other retailer chargeback types this one gets compared against.
How much is this code costing you a year?
The calculator takes your shipment volume and deduction rate and returns an annual exposure figure. No email required.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between PO On-Time Accuracy and ASN Accuracy chargebacks?
- PO On-Time Accuracy measures two things: whether your shipment arrives inside the PO's ship or delivery window, and whether you shipped the full confirmed quantity. ASN Accuracy measures something different: whether your Advance Ship Notice matches what the fulfillment center actually receives. A shipment can be on time and still fail ASN Accuracy if the ASN data is wrong, and the reverse can happen too. See the ASN Accuracy chargeback entry for the sibling program.
- How much does an Amazon PO On-Time Accuracy chargeback cost?
- Amazowl puts it at 3% of product cost for late shipments or reduced units, rising to 10% for units never shipped. Consulterce reports a broader 3-10% range for North America. Both sources agree on the 3% baseline. They disagree only on how high the range runs.
- Can an Amazon PO On-Time Accuracy chargeback be waived?
- Per Amazowl, Amazon waives the chargeback for a week when a supplier's trailing four-week average on-time rate is above 90%. This isn't confirmed against Amazon's own documentation. Treat the 90% figure as vendor-reported, not official policy.
- How does Amazon's PO On-Time Accuracy compare to Walmart's OTIF program?
- Both measure on-time shipping performance, but the mechanics differ. Amazon evaluates each PO against its own ship/delivery window and charges per confirmed unit. Walmart's OTIF is a blended scorecard rate measured against an aggregate threshold over a period, not a per-PO charge. See the comparison table below.
- How long do I have to dispute this chargeback?
- You get 30 days from the chargeback notification in Vendor Central. That's the same general window Amazon uses for other chargeback types. None of the vendor sources describe a different window specific to PO On-Time Accuracy.
Sources and verification
- SupplierWiki / SPS Commerce — What Are Amazon's Compliance Chargebacks? : SECONDARY. Deduction-management vendor content. Names the NotOnTime and NotFilled sub-types and the CRDD (prepaid) / FRD (collect) measurement basis. Distinguishes PO On-Time Accuracy from ASN Accuracy explicitly.
- Amazowl — Chargebacks: PO On-Time Accuracy (Vendor Central course) : SECONDARY. Independent vendor-education source. Most detailed on penalty structure: names a third sub-type (DownConfirmed), gives the 3% / 10% fee split, the five-day DownConfirmed grace period, and the 90% trailing four-week waiver threshold.
- Consulterce — The Complete Guide to Amazon Chargebacks in 2026 : SECONDARY. Independent vendor source. Corroborates the on-time-window mechanic. Reports a broader 3-9% (EU/UK) to 3-10% (North America) of COGS fee range. Does not break out sub-types or the waiver threshold. Figures diverge from Amazowl's exact 3%/10% split, noted as a disagreement in this entry's FAQ.