Changes to Prime logo criteria

As a result of the agreement between Amazon and the European Commission, the criteria for Prime eligibility for all sellers of Amazon marketplaces Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Belgium will change from 21.06.2023.

Amazon marketplaces Italy and Great Britain are excluded from the changes. The Italian competition authority had already imposed measures on Amazon in November 2021 after accusing the Group of abusing its dominant market position - Great Britain is no longer part of the European Economic Area.

Which seller can get a Prime logo?

With the changes in the eligibility criteria for Prime, it will also be possible for more self-delivered sellers to receive the Prime logo in the future. In addition to items that Amazon sells itself, only sellers have received the Prime logo for their items who have sent their items through Amazon (FBA; shipped by Amazon) or have participated in the Prime by Seller shipping program, which requires a successfully completed test phase. Sellers were then able to ship orders from their own warehouse, but only through logistics partners specified by Amazon — this was a major nuisance for many sellers in the past.

This restriction will no longer apply in future. Sellers who want to qualify for a Prime logo are free to choose their logistics partners as long as Amazon provides shipment tracking information and certain performance criteria are met.

What criteria must be met to get Prime status?

For offers to be eligible for Prime in the future, they must:

1. Be available nationwide

2. Can be ordered with free shipping

3. can be returned free of charge (exceptions apply in terms of product weight and cross-border shipments)

4. valid shipment tracking numbers (rate of at least 99%)

5. Cancellation rate (max 0.5%)

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An offer that meets the first three points can receive the Prime logo if certain delivery promise requirements are also met. These requirements are checked once an hour. The basis for calculating the threshold for the delivery promise is the detailed page views or the delivery promise that customers can see there.

The delivery promise targets are based on the percentage of how often customers must be guaranteed specific time windows for delivery when viewing a page of an offer.

In principle, all Prime-eligible offers receive the Prime logo, which belong to the 90% of detail page views with the shortest delivery promise. This means that anyone who falls below the slowest 10% does not receive a Prime logo, but only guarantees free shipping for Prime members.

The targets for the delivery promise are calculated depending on the type of product range or product category, which are determined by the dimensions and the product price, and are also dependent on whether the delivery takes place domestically or across borders. A distinction is made between standard, price hit, extra size and oversize.

For the standard product category, for domestic deliveries, for example, 70% of page views by customers must guarantee a delivery promise of less than four days. Less than two days for 35% and less than one day for 5%. Based on these targets, a timely delivery rate is calculated to decide whether to award the Prime logo. The on-time delivery rate is the percentage of units that were attempted to be delivered on or before the announced delivery date. The minimum requirement is 90% in all product categories.

Delivery promise targets on Amazon marketplaces Germany, France and Spain:

Less than 1 day -> 5%

Less than 2 days -> 35%

Less than 4 days -> 70%

Delivery promise targets on Amazon marketplaces in the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden:

Less than 1 day -> 5%

Less than 2 days -> 35%

Less than 4 days -> 70%

For sellers who were eligible for Prime before 21/06/2023, when shipped by Amazon and Prime by sellers, Prime eligibility is extended to the categories in which they currently offer Prime.

Further upper and lower limits for delivery speeds

There are further upper and lower limits for the Prime logo to create standard time windows for delivery speed regardless of percentage distribution (90:10). This means that a Prime logo is never awarded at a slower delivery speed than the upper limit, even if the delivery speed is still faster than that of the slowest 10%. Not even for items with a delivery speed that is equal to or faster than the lower limit.

France Germany

Lower limit: 3 days Lower limit: 3 days

Limit: 7 days Limit: 7 days

Spain Poland

Lower limit: 3 days Lower limit: 3 days

Limit: 9 days Limit: 7 days

The Netherlands Sweden

Lower limit: 3 days Lower limit: 3 days

Limit: 9 days Limit: 7 days

belgium

Lower limit: 3 days

Limit: 7 days

As a result of the changes in Prime permissions, every seller will be able to self-deliver the Prime logo in the future if the minimum requirements are met. This should make self-delivery even more attractive for sellers in the future and relieve Amazon's FBA warehouses.

However, the most important question remains to be clarified — what rating does the Prime logo get for self-delivery compared to FBA or normal FBM shipping.

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