The Story: Valid Tracking, On-Time Delivery, Account Still Deactivated
An FBM seller downloaded the Valid Tracking Rate (VTR) report after their account was deactivated. The report made no sense at first. For two shipping methods, USPS Bound Printed Matter and Asendia, the line labeled "VTR criteria 1: Was the carrier used an Amazon approved carrier?" said NO. Both carriers appeared in the Seller Central carrier dropdown. Tracking numbers were entered. The tracking pages showed full scan histories and delivery on or before the promised date. The VTR percentage still dropped, the account was deactivated, and the first appeal was rejected.
If you are reading this with a rejection in your inbox, you have probably reread that report ten times already. You did the work, the buyer got the package, and a report you cannot easily interpret says you failed. At AppealsPro.ai, we see this pattern often. The fix is rarely "prove the package arrived." It is usually "prove the shipment data Amazon received was valid, and show what you changed so it stays valid."
Here is what the VTR criteria check, why a dropdown carrier can still fail "approved carrier," and how to build an appeal Amazon can act on. To see what your own notice requires, you can Analyze your notice free → before reading further.
The seller's appeal argued the right facts but, from the description, likely answered the wrong question. Amazon's VTR review checks the quality of tracking data submitted at shipment confirmation. It is not a delivery audit. An appeal that says "the buyer received it on time" speaks to a different metric, one that never failed.
When criterion 1 says the carrier was not approved, the reviewer expects to see:
- The exact carrier name and service entered on the confirmation for the failing orders.
- The reason that entry did not match an approved carrier in Amazon's system.
- The corrective action taken and how future confirmations will be validated.
A rejection typically means one of those elements was missing or unsupported by evidence. Amazon publishes its seller policies and Account Health guidance inside Seller Central, and the Valid Tracking Rate target is documented there. Check the current threshold for your marketplace and category, because Amazon can update it.
For related step-by-step guidance, see related seller case: OTDR Late.
The seller's question is fair: if both carriers are in the dropdown, why are they not approved? Shipment confirmation data suggests several plausible explanations. None can be confirmed from the story alone, which is why the report has to be examined line by line.
A dropdown carrier is not the same as a validated carrier for every service type. If orders were confirmed through a spreadsheet upload or a shipping software integration, the carrier field may have been filled with free text, an abbreviation, or the word "Other." Amazon's system then cannot match the tracking number to an approved carrier record, even though the same carrier shows in the manual dropdown.
USPS is an approved carrier, but USPS Bound Printed Matter is a specific mail class built for printed materials. Some mail classes do not include scan-based tracking by default, or they use number formats that do not validate the way Priority Mail or Ground Advantage numbers do. Confirm exactly what service level was purchased and whether the label carried a trackable number that scans at each step.
Asendia typically moves parcels across borders and hands them to a local carrier for delivery. The number you receive may be an Asendia reference while the delivery scans come from a different final-mile carrier. If the number was entered under one carrier name and the scan history belongs to another, validation can fail even though a tracking page somewhere shows delivery.
Carrier tracking numbers follow set patterns. A stray character, a missing prefix, or a number entered under the wrong carrier can fail a format check. Bulk uploads make this easy to miss.
If tracking was added or edited after the confirmation deadline, the order may be treated as having no valid tracking at the time that counts.
If any of these apply, the root cause is a data and process problem, and the appeal should say so plainly. Reviewers respond better to a specific, owned cause than to a statement that the report must be wrong. For a broader look at how Amazon handles these cases, see the account deactivation knowledge base.
For related step-by-step guidance, see related seller case: USPS Postage.
A useful Plan of Action for a VTR deactivation has three parts:
- Root cause: a specific, honest explanation of why the failing orders did not validate. For example, the carrier name was entered incorrectly through a bulk upload, or a consolidator service was used without matching the final carrier.
- Corrective actions: what you already changed, such as switching to a service with scan-based tracking and standardizing carrier names in your upload template.
- Preventive measures: how you will keep VTR above the required threshold, including a recurring check of the VTR report.
Deactivated sellers also tend to make a second mistake: they argue with the metric. An appeal that disputes the report without explaining the data trail gives the reviewer nothing to approve. An appeal that owns the cause and proves the fix gives them a reason to say yes. The same logic applies to other performance-metric cases, which you can compare in the order defect rate appeals guide.
For related step-by-step guidance, see related seller case: OnTrac VTR.
Ready to fight your suspension? Try AppealsPro.ai free, no credit card.
Use this sequence if your account was deactivated for low VTR and the report shows "approved carrier: NO" for shipments you believe were tracked correctly.
- Download the VTR report and sort failing orders by shipping method, carrier name entered, confirmation date, and upload batch. Look for a pattern. If every failing order shares the same service or the same batch, you have likely found your root cause.
- Compare each failing order's tracking number against the carrier's own tracking page. Note whether the scan history belongs to the carrier you entered or to a different final-mile carrier, and record the exact number format and service class on the label.
- Check how the carrier was entered. Open your shipping software, spreadsheet template, or API settings and confirm whether the carrier came from the dropdown or was typed in as free text. Write down exactly what was submitted for the failing orders.
- Fix the process before you appeal. Move to a service with scan-based tracking and standardize carrier names in your upload template. Add a rule to verify tracking numbers before confirmation. Amazon wants to see changes already in place, not promised.
- Draft a Plan of Action with root cause, corrective actions, and preventive measures. Attach screenshots of the corrected carrier settings and sample labels, along with the carrier tracking pages. Keep the language factual and free of blame.
- Submit through the appeal path shown in your notice, then track deadlines and any Amazon reply. If the reply is another rejection, read it for the specific gap and revise rather than resubmitting the same letter.
Order matters here. Many rejected appeals skip steps 3 and 4 and go straight to arguing the outcome. A reviewer cannot reinstate on the strength of delivery alone when the metric tests data validity.
The hardest part of this seller's situation was interpretation, not effort. Nobody explained what "Was carrier used an Amazon approved carrier" meant for their shipments, so they appealed against the wrong issue.
Paste your notice and report details into the Suspension Notice Decoder inside. It identifies the violation type and the evidence Amazon expects to see. In a VTR case, that tells you whether the reviewer is asking about carrier validation or tracking format, so you do not spend a submission on the wrong argument. Decoding is available on the free tier with unlimited notice analysis.
Once you know what the reviewer needs, the Appeal Letter Generator in AppealsPro.ai drafts a policy-specific Plan of Action built around the root cause, the corrective action, and a prevention plan. Letter formality adjusts to the severity of your violation, so a deactivation reads with the seriousness Amazon expects.
VTR cases also drag on. A first appeal is rejected, a second needs revised evidence, and then Amazon replies with a new question. Case Management in AppealsPro.ai keeps your messages and deadlines in one place, so a missed date does not turn a recoverable case into a permanent loss.
Every idle day has a price. Listings drop, inventory sits, ranking history erodes, and any cash held in the account stays tied up. Delay also raises the odds that a second weak appeal gets filed in a rush. Most sellers panic and resubmit within a day. Treat the first correct submission as the one that matters, and do not send another letter until you understand why the first one failed.
AppealsPro.ai has analyzed 10,000+ notices, and a frequent pattern in rejected appeals is a letter that answers a different question than the one the reviewer asked. Reading the notice correctly is half the work.
Based on AppealsPro.ai's review of published U.S. appeals-consultant pricing, single-case fees typically run $1,500 to $5,000+ depending on case complexity and consultant experience. AppealsPro.ai costs $79.99/mo. Many sellers also try to write the appeal themselves. Here is how the approaches generally compare.
| Approach | Typical Cost | Time to First Draft | Main Risk | Effort |
|---|
| DIY from scratch | Free, but costs your time | Hours to days | Answering the wrong question | High |
| Consultant | Typically $1,500 to $5,000+ per case | Days | High cost per case | Low to medium |
| AppealsPro.ai self-serve | Free analysis, then $79.99/mo for unlimited cases | Minutes | You still must supply true evidence | Medium |
The self-serve route does not guarantee reinstatement, and no honest provider can promise one. What it does is lower the cost of getting a precise, well-structured first submission in front of Amazon.
- Arguing delivery instead of data validity. On-time delivery is a different metric than valid tracking.
- Blaming the carrier. Saying a carrier is "integrated with Amazon" does not explain why your specific confirmations failed.
- Claiming the report is wrong without evidence. If the report is wrong, show order-level proof. If it is right, own the cause.
- Promising fixes you have not made. Reviewers look for changes already in place.
- Resubmitting the same letter. A rejection is information. Read it and change the argument.
Amazon scrutinizes other performance data the same way, and the FBM late shipment appeal guide covers a closely related workflow.
- A low VTR deactivation tests the validity of the tracking data you submitted, and delivery alone does not answer it.
- "Approved carrier: NO" can result from carrier name mismatches, service class issues, consolidator handoffs, or tracking number format errors, even when the carrier is in the dropdown.
- The Suspension Notice Decoder shows which criterion failed and what evidence the reviewer expects before you write a word.
- The Appeal Letter Generator builds a root cause, corrective action, and preventive measure structure with severity-appropriate formality.
- Case Management keeps rejections, revisions, and deadlines organized so you lose no time between submissions.
- Fix the process first, then appeal. A rejected appeal is feedback, so read it closely before you resubmit.
If you want this handled end to end, AppealsPro.ai turns your notice into a structured, evidence-backed appeal in minutes.
The dropdown lists carriers you can select, but the report validates what was actually submitted for each order. A mismatched carrier name, a free-text or "Other" entry from a bulk upload, an unrecognized service class, or a tracking number that fails format checks can each produce a "NO" for a listed carrier. Review the failing orders one at a time to find the pattern.
On-time delivery is a separate performance measure. VTR checks whether valid tracking information was provided and matched correctly. A parcel can arrive on time and still fail VTR if the submitted tracking data did not validate, so your appeal should address the data issue directly.
They can if the service level does not provide scan-based tracking that matches the carrier name you entered. Bound Printed Matter is a specialized mail class, and Asendia often hands parcels to another carrier for final delivery. Confirm the tracking format and which carrier produces the scans. While your account is under review, consider a service with clear, consistent tracking.
Read the rejection for the specific gap, then rework the root cause, corrective actions, and preventive measures with supporting evidence. Do not resend the same letter. Confirm any deadline in your notice and make sure your process changes are already in place before you resubmit.
Yes. The free tier includes unlimited notice analysis with no credit card required, so you can see the violation type and the evidence required before deciding on next steps.
If your account was deactivated for low Valid Tracking Rate, the path is clear. Decode what the report is actually testing and correct the data process. Then file a Plan of Action that speaks to the criterion that failed. Every idle day costs inventory velocity and revenue. Paste your notice into the free analyzer to get a clear read on what Amazon expects, and check the Amazon seller help pages for current policy wording.
Your account is on the line. AppealsPro.ai reads your notice free: Analyze your notice free →