2025 Seller Fulfilled Prime & Premium Shipping Updates

Amazon reopened the Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program in October 2023 with several updates to the previous program. SFP allows you to sell and fulfill products with the Prime badge without using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

Seller Fulfilled Prime has strict shipping and performance metrics because Amazon customers have high expectations for items with Prime eligibility. Since many shoppers filter by Prime eligibility because they want fast, free delivery, SFP offers a way for sellers to increase their product visibility on the platform.

Amazon has announced updates to the SFP and Premium Shipping programs, effective June 29, 2025.

What’s Changing for SFP Trials?

The biggest change for sellers applying to the program is that Amazon is introducing SFP program trial limits. Sellers are required to complete a trial period before being eligible for the program. Amazon is now limiting the number of trial attempts to three per calendar year.

Your offers will be eligible to display the Prime badge after Amazon evaluates your performance to confirm that you’ve met all requirements for trial graduation. Amazon is also limiting trial period graduations to at least 30 days before major sales events like Prime Day and Cyber Monday and periods of heavy customer activities. The graduation restriction is in place to ensure that sellers are adequately prepared to manage SFP program requirements prior to busy periods.

After enrolling in the program, you can disable Prime offers at any time if you’re concerned about meeting requirements. When these offers are disabled, detail page views and orders won’t be incorporated into your SFP performance. You can re-enable Prime offers when you’re ready and products associated with your Prime shipping templates will be eligible for Prime.

Updates for Current SFP Sellers

Amazon is implementing a few changes for current SFP sellers:

• Minimum shipping requirements of at least 100 Prime packages each month. You must consistently ship Prime packages throughout the month.
• An exemption period to address any performance issues. If you get a second email notice regarding a performance issue, Amazon will exempt your SFP eligibility from being impacted as you work to resolve the issues. Your Prime status will be disabled during that time. You’ll also receive performance protection from SFP misses that happen because of major fulfillment network disruptions identified by Amazon.
• Restrictions for misclassified products. Amazon can block SFP orders, pause Prime eligibility, or revoke Prime status if you’re repeatedly misclassifying products.
• The new SFP appeals process gives you two weeks from the date a performance email is received to submit an appeal.

What’s Changing with Premium Shipping?

Amazon has updated performance requirements for Premium Shipping. The new minimum requirement for on-time delivery rate (OTDR) is being reduced to 93.5% from 97%. Performance monitoring will be evaluated over 7 days instead of the previous 30. You’ll receive two email notifications if you fail to meet the same requirement twice. If you have a third violation within four consecutive weeks, you’ll be removed from the program.

The new OTDR performance and eligibility requirements for Premium Shipping now align with SFP requirements. Note that SFP orders are excluded from Premium Shipping evaluations; these are handled separately.

Related Reading: Amazon Seller Metrics: What’s Critical for Account Health

OTDR Protection

You can get OTDR protection from late deliveries by enabling Shipping Settings Automation on your shipping template, purchasing shipping labels marked as “OTDR Protected” on Amazon Buy Shipping or Veeqo, and shipping on time. These tools are designed to set accurate delivery dates, reducing late deliveries and meeting or exceeding the minimum OTDR requirement.

If there is a major disruption event impacting all sellers shipping to a specific region (as determined by Amazon), late deliveries to that area will not impact your OTDR, regardless of whether you’re using the tools mentioned above.

Optimize Your Amazon Business

Although SFP and Premium Shipping aren’t the right fit for every Amazon seller, it’s helpful to pay attention to program requirements. Amazon famously values the customer experience, so understanding what it’s requiring for premium programs offers insight into what you can do to continue being successful on the platform. Shipping on time, meeting customer expectations, and ensuring you have enough inventory on hand to fulfill customer needs are key.

If you’re struggling to win the Buy Box on a regular basis or experiencing listing issues like search suppression, it’s time to optimize your Amazon business and improve your metrics for better account health and smoother operations.

SellerPulse by eComEngine is designed to help you monitor what matters most for your business, from FBA inventory planning to ad spend. You also get all the reputation management benefits of FeedbackFive, including the ability to send automated Amazon review requests. If you’re ready to optimize your Amazon business for better profitability and performance, explore SellerPulse with a free trial today!