PO (Purchase Order) On-Time Accuracy

PO (Purchase Order) On-Time Accuracy is the Amazon Vendor Central chargeback category that measures whether a vendor ships or delivers confirmed units within the ship or delivery window named on the purchase order.

What it is

The window comes from the PO itself, and the date Amazon checks your freight against depends on who pays for the shipping:

• Collect (We-Pay) shipments: Amazon measures against the Freight Ready Date (FRD).
• Prepaid (They-Pay) shipments: Amazon measures against the Carrier Requested Delivery Date (CRDD).

SPS Commerce names two sub-triggers inside the category, NotOnTime and NotFilled. The measurement only counts units you have confirmed, and Hinge Commerce reports that confirmation is due within 24 hours of receiving the PO. The Purchase Order (PO) entry covers how confirmation works.

Amazon keeps its own chargeback terms behind the Vendor Central login, so the figures below come from third-party compliance firms (Hinge Commerce and SPS Commerce). Check them against the terms in your own vendor agreement.

Penalty and waiver

Hinge Commerce reports three charges, each a percentage of the cost of goods sold (COGS) on the affected units:

1. 3% of COGS for confirmed units that arrive outside the ship or delivery window.
2. 3% of COGS for a reduction in confirmed quantity made more than 5 days into the ship or delivery window.
3. 10% of COGS for confirmed shipments that Amazon auto-cancels because they were not delivered by the PO cancellation date.

Hinge Commerce also reports that the chargeback is waived while your trailing 4-week average on-time rate is above 90%.

Where it lives in Vendor Central

PO On-Time Accuracy deductions appear with the other compliance categories in the Chargebacks section of Reports, then Operational Performance, under Non-Compliance Performance. The Chargebacks entry walks through that screen and what each chargeback status means.

Why it matters to a vendor

Because of the waiver, the number to watch is your trailing 4-week on-time rate. A single late truck costs nothing while that rate stays above 90%, but once it drops below, every late unit costs 3% of COGS. Track the rate week by week so you can see a slow week pulling it toward 90% and fix the cause before it crosses.

If a confirmed quantity has to change, make the change inside the first 5 days of the window. And don’t let a confirmed shipment run past the cancellation date, because that’s the 10% charge.

This chargeback is separate from a Shortage Claim, which is an invoice deduction. To contest a PO On-Time Accuracy charge, follow the reconciliation steps and filing window in the Amazon chargebacks dispute guide.

Related terms

• Chargebacks: the full set of compliance deduction families this category belongs to.
• Purchase Order (PO): the order and confirmation step that sets the window this metric measures against.
• Amazon chargebacks dispute guide: how to reconcile and dispute a charge.
• Glossary index: the rest of the Vendor Central terms and InsightLeap metrics.