Understanding Amazon’s Delivery Date Based Reserve (DDBR) Policy — And Why Your Metrics Might Look Off
- Cameron Meneer
- May 15
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 5
Have you ever looked at your recent Amazon sales or revenue and thought, "Where did all my money go?" You’re not alone — and the answer might come down to how (and when) Amazon pays you.
This post breaks down Amazon’s Delivery Date Based Reserve (DDBR) policy, explains why your payouts may be delayed, and shows you how to view deferred transactions — plus how Sellozo’s new Event/Order toggle on the Dashboard and ProductVu graphs can help you get clearer data when DDBR is in effect.
What Is a Deferred Transaction?
A deferred transaction on Amazon is a sale where the payout is temporarily held and paid at a later date. This doesn’t mean something is wrong — it just means Amazon hasn’t released those funds yet based on certain policies.
There are two primary reasons for deferred transactions:
1. Delivery Date Based Reserve (DDBR)
Under the DDBR policy, Amazon holds funds for 7–8 days after delivery is confirmed to cover possible refunds, claims, or chargebacks.
This means your:
Total revenue
Total profit
Total margin
Amazon fees
Refunds
And other metrics
...may appear lower or delayed for the past 7–8 days up to two weeks, even in tools like Sellozo.
2. Invoiced Orders (Amazon Business Customers)
When you sell to Amazon Business customers, Amazon allows them to pay by invoice. This means:
Payment isn’t collected at checkout.
You don’t get paid until the business customer settles their invoice, typically 30 to 45 days from the order date.
These transactions are also subject to DDBR, but usually the invoice due date is longer than the reserve period.
Where Can You View Deferred Transactions?
The DDBR policy does not affect every account equally — it depends on factors like your region, sales volume, and other internal Amazon processing criteria.
To check whether this is impacting your account, look at the graph at the top of your Sellozo dashboard. Focus on the comparison between Ordered Product Sales and Total Revenue over the past 7–14 days.
If you notice a significant gap between these two numbers — where Ordered Product Sales are higher than Total Revenue — it’s a strong indicator that Amazon is deferring some of your payouts while it finalizes transaction data.
This discrepancy typically resolves itself once Amazon completes processing, and your revenue figures will update accordingly.
Please note: This delay is caused by Amazon’s internal reporting systems and is outside of Sellozo’s control. While we surface the data as it becomes available, we rely on Amazon’s feed — and when their data is delayed, it will reflect accordingly in Sellozo.
Use the Event/Order Toggle for Clearer Data
We’ve added an Event/Order toggle to the Trends/Compare graphs on both the Dashboard and ProductVu screens — just like what’s available in Financial Reports.
By default, the toggle is set to 'Order', but when you switch to 'Event', the graph updates to reflect when events actually occurred, not just when Amazon reconciled them.
Why this matters if you’re impacted by DDBR:
Order view shows when revenue is finalized (after delivery + reserve period)
Event view shows the actual activity date — giving you a more immediate and accurate understanding of what’s happening now
✅ This gives you a clearer picture of your recent sales and ad performance, even when Amazon’s reporting is delayed.You can better analyze when orders are placed vs when they’re reconciled, and make smarter decisions in real time.
👉 Learn more in our July 2025 Release Notes.
When Will You Get Paid?
Your deferred transaction status will change from 'Deferred' to 'Released' when:
The item has been delivered, and the DDBR hold period has passed, or
The business customer pays their invoice
Once marked 'Released', the transaction will be included in your next payout cycle.
How Sellozo Supports You Through This
At Sellozo, we do our best to surface the most accurate and up-to-date data available from Amazon:
Ordered Product Sales are typically still accurate, even during DDBR holds
Revenue, Profit, and Margin may appear low until Amazon finalizes transactions
The Event/Order toggle gives you flexible visibility into your trends, depending on how and when you want to analyze data
If your account is impacted by DDBR, we recommend:
Looking back at older date ranges for finalized data
Using Event view in Dashboard or ProductVu for fresher, more immediate insights
Final Tips
Don’t panic if your recent sales data seems off — it's likely DDBR at work
Use older date ranges when analyzing trends or performance
Use the Event/Order toggle in Dashboard or ProductVu to better interpret near-term financial data
Visit your Deferred Transactions dashboard to check expected payout dates
Sellozo will automatically update your metrics once Amazon releases the data
Questions? We're Here for You.
Have more questions about your sales data or how Amazon’s policies affect your performance tracking? Reach out to your Sellozo account manager or our support team anytime — we’re always ready to help.
