Modify handling time

It is important for customers to know when they can expect their products. We provide the estimated delivery time to customers on the offer listing and checkout pages. This is the estimated time between when the customer places the order until the order is delivered.

Total delivery time = Handling time + Transit time (+ any holidays and weekends)

Handling time: Handling time, also known as production time or lead time to ship, is the time between the buyer placing the order and you handing over the order to the delivery service. Handling time is part of the delivery time calculation displayed on the offer listing and checkout page. You can change your default handling time and also customize your handling time at SKU or ASIN level.

Transit time: The time between you handing over the order to your carrier until its delivery to the buyer’s address. You can modify the transit times for your SKUs or ASINs by editing your shipping templates.

In Seller Central, you can configure your handling time either by setting an account-level default handling time or by setting ASIN-specific handling times for specific products. ASIN-specific handling time overrides the account level handling time for that ASIN.

Default handling time

Default handling time refers to the handling time set at an account level. This applies to all your products by default unless you specifically change the handling time for your SKUs or ASINs. The default handling time is in shipping settings, under General shipping settings.

For same-day handling, to avoid late shipments, all orders received by the order cut-off time must be shipped and confirmed during the day the order was received. All orders received after the order cut-off time must be shipped and confirmed by the next business day the order was received.

Note: The default cut-off time is 2 p.m. local time, but you can edit it in your shipping settings.

Important: The estimated ship date for your seller-fulfilled orders is calculated based on order date plus handling time. For example, if you offer same-day handling with an order cut-off time of 12 p.m. and receive an order at 11 a.m., you have to ship it the same day. If you receive an order at 4 p.m., you can ship it the next business day. If you do not ship your orders by the estimated ship date, your late shipment rate will increase. We will automatically cancel your order if seven days have passed after the estimated ship date and you have not yet shipped and confirmed the shipped order.

Note: For new professional sellers, the default handling time is one day.

Change default handling time:

To change your default handling time, follow the steps below:

From the Settings drop-down menu on the top right, click Shipping settings.
Under General shipping settings, locate the Handling time section, and click Edit.
Choose your default handling time as Same-day (0 day), 1 day or 2 days, and click Save.

Note: Optionally, you can enter your Order handling capacity to set a limit on the number of orders you can handle in a day. When you receive more orders than you can manage, one additional day is added to your handling time for all orders above the capacity you set. This prevents your late shipment rate from being affected negatively.

Note: You can change your default handling time only once in a 24-hour window. The change can take up to 24 hours to be effective.

Offer-level handling time

Offer-level handling time refers to the handling time that you can set for specific SKUs or ASINs. You can set customized handling time for a specific product separately as well as in bulk by overriding your default handling time for selected products.

Change offer-level handling time:

In order to change handling time for each SKU or ASIN separately, follow the steps below:

In Seller Central, click Inventory, and then Manage inventory.
Identify the SKU or ASIN for which you want to change the handling time, and click Edit on the right.
Navigate to Handling time under the Offer tab and update the handling time for that ASIN.
Click Save and finish.

You can modify the handling time in bulk at offer level in three ways: by using an Inventory Loader, Listing Loader, or Price and Quantity file:

On the Inventory file templates page, navigate to the General templates section and download your Inventory Loader, Listing Loader, or Price and Quantity file.
Read through the instructions in the Data definitions tab.
In the Listings tab, fill all the required fields and the handling-time field (one SKU or ASIN per row).
Save the file in text-tab-delimited format.
Upload the file through Catalogue > Add products via upload > Upload your inventory file.

Note: If you leave the handling-time field empty, the handling time for that offer will be set to your account level default handling time.

Note: Your offer will update on Amazon within 15 minutes. In case of maximum load on our systems, updates can take up to 24 hours for offer information and 48 hours for product information.

Why is setting faster and accurate handling time important?

Customers love faster deliveries and are more likely to buy products that have shorter estimated delivery times. Setting shorter and more accurate handling times provides customers with more accurate estimated delivery dates.

How does handling time impact my account performance?

The importance of confirming the shipment of orders by the expected ship-date is especially important when your handling time is set to same-day. To prevent late shipments, hence a possible account deactivation, you have to ensure that all orders received by the order cut-off time are shipped the same day. For more information, see Late shipment rate.

How can I set my handling time to same-day?

You can set your handling time to same-day either as your account default setting or only for certain products. For more information, go to Same-day handling.

Do these handling time settings affect premium shipping orders?

No, they don't. Orders that are within the scope of premium shipping services, such as same-day delivery, next-day delivery, and two-day delivery, and received before the order cut-off time must be shipped during the same day.

Product-level handling time recommendations

Amazon generates handling time recommendations for a product based on your overall delivery performance, your actual delivery performance for that product, and delivery performance of similar products on Amazon. The recommendations are refreshed monthly and are based on the prior month's handling time historical performance to reflect the most recent fulfillment capabilities.

We encourage you to regularly monitor and update your handling times recommendations. Setting more accurate handling times will enable providing customers with more accurate estimated delivery dates.

To view and configure your recommended handling times, follow the steps below:

Go to Manage seller-fulfilled products.
Under the Recommendations tab, you can view all the products that have recommended handling times.
Note: If there are no recommendations on this page, it could be because you don’t have any seller-fulfilled SKUs with standard shipping option on Manage inventory or your configured product-specific handling times were aligned with your average actual handling times.
Click Update to accept the recommended handling time. Your handling time will be updated for that product. You can select multiple products to update handling time in bulk. If you don’t want to follow the recommendation, click Ignore.
Check back on the first day of the next month to view updated handling time recommendations.

For more information on modifying handling time, go to Frequently asked questions.

Modify handling time

Frequently Asked Questions

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