The Non-Compliance Fee Schedule outlines the expected performance thresholds (rolling 30-calendar days) and the resulting compliance fees to be applied if said thresholds are not met. Please note that all NCCR disputes must be submitted within 60 days from either our initial payment to you or your first knowledge of the claim, whichever is earlier.

The key SLA Policies that define your performance can be reviewed here.

You can check your Performance Scorecard at any time by following the instructions here. To better understand your Performance Scorecard, you can review this resource.

Below are examples of how to understand your charge using the information present in the NCCR file. 

NCCR Reason Code:

Late Drop Ship – Late Upload

Review 'due on date' column - this is the date tracking was due to be uploaded according to your account shipping SLA. Review 'tracking received date' -this is the date tracking was uploaded to Commerce Interface. When tracking is received 1+ business day after the assigned due on date AND your rolling 30-day On Time Tracking Upload Rate is below 98%, NCCR fees will be applied. 

If you are regularly missing your contract shipping SLA and at risk of falling or are below the 98% threshold for On Time Tracking Upload, we recommend taking the below actions: 

  • Review current operations to better optimize pick and pack flow.

    • Fulfill by a first in, first out method so oldest orders are prioritized.

    • Automate order information flow via API or FTP.

  • Lower available inventory to sell on the site to manage order volume to better align with shipping capacity. Here is an article on managing inventory in Gateway.

Late Drop Ship – Late Movement

Review 'tracking received date' column - this is the date tracking was uploaded to Commerce Interface. Review 'shipped on date' - this is the date the first in transit scan was received from the carrier. When the first scan is received 1+ business day after the tracking received date AND your On Time Tracking Movement Rate is below 97%, NCCR fees will be applied. 

If you or your carrier(s) of choice are regularly missing your contract shipping SLA and at risk of falling or are below the 97% threshold for On Time Tracking Movement, we recommend taking the below actions:

  • Ensure tracking is only uploaded the same day the carrier picks up

  • Provide examples of delayed scans to your local carrier rep to investigate the source of these delays and steps to avoid these issues in the future.

  • Utilize multiple carriers to spread out shipments and prevent delays in processing during spikes in order volume. 

Cancellations & Refunds

  • ‘Product Never Shipped’ & ‘Product Never Shipped - Dead Tracking’ - an order was cancelled/refunded prior to ship confirmation AND your rolling 30-day cancellation/refund rate is above 0.50%.

  • 'Product received - but wrong item shipped', 'missing_quantity_or_empty_package', 'Product received - but damaged in transit', & 'Product received - outside shipping window' - an order is refunded due to error in fulfillment AND your rolling refund rate is above 0.50%

If your refund/cancellation rates are at risk or above the 0.50% threshold, we recommend taking the below actions:

  • Increase the frequency of inventory updates in Gateway to prevent discrepancies resulting in order cancellations

    • It’s also best practice to include an inventory buffer into what you load to Groupon to account for any issues

    • Here is an article on how to manage your inventory in Gateway.

  • Merchants are responsible for addressing and resolving customer issues related to fulfillment errors. See all our Customer Support articles on how best to resolve customer issues and avoid cancellations/refunds.

Customer to Merchant Ticket Escalation

All customer tickets must receive a response within 1 business day of being submitted by a customer to ensure any pending issues are addressed and resolved as soon as possible. Any ticket that does not receive a response within this timeframe is automatically escalated to Groupon CS to handle. ALL ticket escalations will have NCCR fees applied. 

We recommend taking the below actions to provide the best customer experience possible and avoid NCCR fees:

Negative Customer Satisfaction Response

It is important to remember that in a Marketplace, these are your customers. Your prompt, professional, and satisfactory handling of customer tickets will increase the likelihood of customers returning to purchase from your deals again. After tickets have been resolved, customers have the opportunity to leave a ‘Good/Bad’ rating on the service received. When customer contact tickets to the merchant result in negative Customer Satisfaction survey response AND your rolling 30-day Customer Satisfaction score is below 50% (on 5+ responses), NCCR fees will be applied.

   Product Delivered Late

In a competitive online environment, it is critical customers receive their orders in a timely manner. As stated in section 1.8 of the Marketplace Merchant Agreement, an order is to be delivered within 6 calendar days of order placement (unless otherwise defined in your contract). When an order is delivered 10+ days after order placement AND your rolling 30-day average order to delivery for 15% or more of orders is 10+ days, NCCR fees will be applied.


 Wrong Tracking Number Needing Correction or Invalid Tracking


Tracking information, including tracking number, carrier code, and shipped quantity, should be uploaded correctly to every order the first time. If incorrect tracking information is uploaded to an order in CI, this will need to be manually corrected by a Groupon agent. If tracking information shows delivered to an incorrect address or shipped before the order was placed, this is considered invalid. All instances of tracking correction and invalid tracking will have NCCR fees applied.



Non-Compliance with Groupon's Anti-Misrepresentation and Anti-Manipulation Policy


Any failure of a merchant to comply with Groupon’s Anti-Misrepresentation and Anti-Manipulation Policy will result in a $500 per instance fee. Examples of merchant non-compliance include, but are not limited to, a merchant intentionally categorizing a product wrongly or leaving a rating/review for its own products.


Excessive Chargebacks 


An additional chargeback fee or a higher chargeback rate may be applied in instances where a merchant has continued excessive chargebacks, such as 10+ day Cycle Time for two consecutive months. The rate of all NCCR fees will be increased or an additional fee will be applied until the account has made necessary improvements.


Requesting Customer Personal Details 


Any instance of a merchant requesting customer personal details, including but not limited to, requesting via ticket a customer's phone number, email address, or online payment service information (such as Paypal or Venmo) will result in a fee. 

  • $50 for the first instance
  • $100 per instance thereafter