TikTok Shop Late Dispatch Rate (LDR) — how it works and how to recover

Late Dispatch Rate (LDR) is the percentage of your orders in the last 7-day window that shipped after TikTok's deadline. The thresholds are documented in the Fulfillment Performance Policy:

• **Under 4%**: green, no impact.
• **4-10%**: warning. Visibility starts to throttle on TikTok For You feeds.
• **Over 10%**: enforcement. Listings de-ranked, fewer impressions, possible suspension if not corrected within 14 days.

What counts as "late dispatch"

The clock starts when the buyer places the order. You have 2 business days (some categories: 3) to scan the package with a recognized carrier. The dispatch event is recorded when the carrier first scans, not when you create the label.

The carrier-exception loophole

TikTok's policy explicitly excludes "carrier exception" orders from your LDR if you can prove a documented carrier-side issue:

• Postal service slowdowns published by USPS/FedEx/UPS for your origin ZIP
• Weather-related delays acknowledged by the carrier (hurricane, snowstorm)
• Carrier strike or labor action with public reporting

To claim a carrier exception, file an appeal within 7 days of the late-dispatch flag with: (1) the order ID, (2) a screenshot of the carrier's public delay announcement covering the affected date range, (3) tracking events showing the parcel was tendered to the carrier on time.

Recovery playbook if LDR is over 10%

You cannot directly "appeal" your LDR number — TikTok recalculates it daily. But you can appeal individual late orders out of the rolling 7-day window, which mechanically lowers your LDR.

Step 1: List every late order in the current window. Step 2: For each, identify if you have a carrier-exception case. Step 3: File appeals for the strongest cases first. Step 4: For the rest, focus on accelerating the next 7 days — every on-time dispatch drops your percentage.

Preventing it from happening again

• Move to 3PL fulfillment with same-day dispatch SLAs.
• Configure Seller Center to auto-mark "Shipped" only after the first carrier scan.
• Set up alerts for any order older than 18 hours without a tracking event.

If you need a carrier-exception appeal letter that cites the right policy section and structures your evidence correctly, AppealShop generates it in 5 minutes. $19 per appeal, free retry if the first one is rejected.