Late Dispatch Rate Requirements

Key Points:

• The Late Dispatch Rate metric is used to assess how efficiently sellers dispatch orders.
• Seller Requirement: Sellers are recommended to maintain an LDR of less than or equal to 4%. If sellers' Late Dispatch Rate is greater than 10%, enforcement actions may be applied.
• You can check Late Dispatch Rate performance on your Fulfillment Performance page in Seller Center.

This document outlines the Late Dispatch Rate (LDR) requirements on TikTok Shop. LDR compliance is also subject to our Fulfillment Policy. Sellers must comply with both this document and the Fulfillment Policy when fulfilling orders on TikTok Shop.

Late Dispatch Rate

Late Dispatch Rate (LDR) represents the percentage of dispatched orders that were not scanned by carriers within the required dispatch SLA.
To meet your dispatch SLA, you must ensure your orders are picked up and scanned by carriers within 2 business days so that the order status changes to In Transit.
Per our Fulfillment Policy, sellers are recommended to maintain an LDR of less than or equal to 4%. If sellers' LDR is greater than 10%, enforcement actions may be applied.

How Late Dispatch Rate Impacts Your Shop

LDR is one of the core four metrics used to evaluate a shop's fulfillment performance and shop health. The four core performance metrics, based on TikTok Shop's Fulfillment Policy, are:

• Valid Tracking Rate (VTR)
• Late Dispatch Rate (LDR)
• On-Time Delivery Rate (OTDR)
• Seller-Fault Cancellation Rate (SFCR)

Maintaining a low LDR is a critical part of meeting customer expectations for order fulfillment timeliness. By meeting the dispatch SLA, orders are set up to not only meet platform policy requirements, but also customer experience expectations.

Late Dispatch Rate Violations

When a shop's LDR does not meet the SLA requirements in the Fulfillment Policy requirement of less than or equal to 10%, enforcement actions will be taken. Under the Seller Enforcement Policy, these violations can include, but are not limited to, Account Health Rating (AHR) point deductions, order volume limits, or extended settlement periods.
Additionally, the more LDR violations a shop gets, the more strict the enforcement actions imposed will become.

How Late Dispatch Rate Is Calculated

Example

Total number of orders dispatched by the shop within the dispatch SLA in the evaluation period (including FBT orders) = 200
Out of the above, the total number of non-FBT orders dispatched later than the dispatch SLA = 25
They would then use the formula above to calculate:

1. 25 / 200 = 0.125
2. 0.125 x 100 = 12.5

Late Dispatch Rate = 12.5%

Late Dispatch Rate Appeals

If you believe your LDR was not calculated correctly or reflects the wrong information, you can request an appeal. An LDR enforcement can be appealed based on the following rules:

• Each LDR enforcement can only be appealed twice.
• The initial appeal must be submitted within 30 days of the enforcement message. If the first appeal is unsuccessful, the second appeal must be submitted within 15 days of initial appeal rejection.
  

You will then need to prepare the required evidence (outlined below in the Appeal Requirements section) for each of the Order IDs that were flagged as late dispatch.

Appeal Scenarios

For LDR violations, TikTok Shop will only consider appeals for these reasons:

1. Orders were scanned by carriers on time: The carrier scanned the order within the dispatch timeframe, but Seller Center did not record it.
2. Logistics Service Provider liability: You used Seller Shipping. The order was late because:
   • The warehouse was slow to dispatch the order
   • The carrier was slow to do the first scan
3. Uncontrollable events: Orders were late because of events you could not prevent, such as:
   • Public emergencies
   • Natural disasters
   • Unexpected logistics disruptions
4. TikTok Shop technical issues: Order status updates were late because of Seller Center issues, including but not limited to:
   • Wrong dispatch deadlines shown in Seller Center
   • Order statuses not synced to Seller Center
5. Enterprise retail platform (ERP) or Independent service vendor (ISV) system issues: Order status was not updated on time because of problems with your system provider (for sellers using MCF, Shopify, Rithum, etc.).
6. Customer-related delays: Orders were late because of customer requests or wrong customer information, such as:
   • Wrong customer information
   • Customer asking for delayed shipment
   • Not being able to contact the customer

Appeal Requirements

Before you appeal, check which orders were marked as late dispatch. Provide the right documents for your appeal reason. The timestamp or date stated in the supporting documents must match when your orders were affected.

1. Appeal Reason: Orders were scanned by carriers on time

You must provide all of these supporting documents:

• At least one screenshot of the Order Details page and Tracking Results of the affected order. Dates of these order statuses must be clearly visible:
  • Time Created
  • Date of "Late Dispatch After"
  • Order packed and ready for dropoff at carrier's facility

Notes:

• Date of carrier scan must be earlier than the dispatch deadline stated in "Late Dispatch After".
  
• If you have more than 5 affected orders, show screenshots for at least 5 orders
• The order numbers in your screenshots must match the order numbers on the violation ticket

2. Appeal Reason: Logistics Service Provider liability

Provide one of these supporting documents:

• An official document or screenshot from the logistics service provider is required. The logistics service provider must acknowledge the issue and take responsibility for the delay in the document. It must clearly show:
  • Company name of the logistics service provider
  • Impact period
  • Reason for the delay
  • Number of affected orders
  • Tracking numbers of affected orders
  • Seal or signature of the logistics service provider
• Screenshots of your communication with the logistics service provider. It must show that you actively reported the problem to them. The logistics provider must acknowledge the issue and take responsibility for the delay in their response. It must clearly show:
  • Company name of the logistics provider
  • Impact period
  • Reason for the delay
  • Timestamps of conversation records
• A screenshot of the official statement issued by the service provider with a publicly accessible link to the statement for verification. It must clearly show:
  • Company name of the logistics provider
  • Impact period
  • Reason for the delay

3. Appeal Reason: Uncontrollable event

Provide the name and address of your shipping warehouse provider and one of these supporting documents:

• Official announcements (weather warnings, government notices, strike statements) showing dates and affected areas. The announcement must cover when and where your orders were affected
• Screenshots of shipment tracking showing where logistics were delayed by uncontrollable factors
• A statement from the logistics provider's official channel about the problem with a publicly accessible link to the statement for verification

4. Appeal Reason: TikTok Shop technical issues

Provide one of these supporting documents:

• A screenshot of system error message with a timestamp or date
• Screenshots of your communication with the TikTok Shop. It must show that you actively reported the problem to us. TikTok Shop must acknowledge the issue and take responsibility for the delay in our response. It must clearly show:
  • Name of customer representative from TikTok Shop
  • Impact period
  • Reason for the delay
  • Timestamps of conversation records
• A screenshot of the official statement issued by TikTok Shop with a publicly accessible link to the statement for verification. It must clearly show:
  • Statement was issued by TikTok Shop
  • Impact period
  • Reason for the delay

5. Appeal Reason: ERP or ISV technical issues

Provide one of these supporting documents:

• A screenshot of system error message with timestamp or date
• An official document or screenshot from the platform service provider is required. The platform service provider must acknowledge the issue and take responsibility for the delay in the document. It must clearly show:
  • Company name of the platform service provider
  • Impact period
  • Reason for the delay
  • Number of affected orders
  • Tracking numbers of affected orders
  • Seal or signature of the platform service provider

6. Appeal Reason: Customer-related delays

Provide one of these supporting documents:

• Screenshots of chat or email with the customer showing they were not responding or asked for delay.
• A screenshot showing invalid customer address or contact details and a screenshot showing the address cannot be found or that the content information is invalid.
• A screenshot showing wrong customer address or contact details that caused delivery to fail.

Note: These screenshots must include order IDs that match those in the violation record.

What should I do if I can't dispatch a product due to unexpected events, such as weather disruptions?

During widespread disruptions, the standard Service Level Agreements (SLA) in our Fulfillment Policy may be temporarily extended. TikTok Shop is unable to notify sellers in all instances, especially when extensions are localized to specific regions. You can check SLA extensions for your orders by following these steps:
Step 1: See the latest SLA for your order(s):

• Go to the Manage Orders page in Seller Center.
• Click on the To Ship tab. The dispatch deadline for each order is in the Shipping Method column.
  
• Alternatively, select an Order ID to view the Order Details. The dispatch SLA, auto-cancellation SLA, and deliver-by SLA should be visible.
  

Step 2: If you receive an enforcement action for orders delayed due to circumstances beyond your control, please submit an appeal.
You may be asked to include documentation that includes but is not limited to:

• your carrier or logistics service provider's delay notice (with the name, warehouse address, and impact period)
• proof of an attempted pick-up and/or drop-off,
• the impacted order IDs with an enforcement action

🔎 View steps to submit an appeal through your Account Health Rating page here.
You may also submit an appeal for violations, related to impacted orders, through the Shop Performance Score page.
🔎 Refer to our guide on How to Appeal Your Shop Performance Score (SPS) for detailed steps.
Orders that have not been impacted must follow the standard Fulfillment SLA in our Fulfillment Policy.

---

Become a Policy Pro! Check out our Late Dispatch Rate Best Practices and FAQs for tips to improve your LDR.