Change handling time

What is handling time?

Handling time is the number of days taken by a seller to procure, pack, and ship a product after the order is received. ‘Ship by date’ for an order is defined based on handling time.

Can I set different handling times for different ASINs?

Yes, you can set different handling times for different ASINs.

What is default handling time?

Default handling time refers to the handling time set by default for offers where you leave the Handling Time field blank in the Manage Inventory page. The default handling time can be set by you to either 1 day or 2 days.

How can I update the default handling time?

To update the default handling time on Seller Central, follow the below steps:

1. Under Settings on Seller Central, click Shipping Settings.
2. On the Shipping Settings page, navigate to General Shipping Settings tab.
3. Scroll down to Handling Time and click Edit.
4. Select 1 Day or 2 Days and click Save.
5. You can also set the maximum number of seller fulfilled orders you can reliably ship every day. Write the number of capacity and click Save.
   Note: You can change your default handling time only once in a 24-hour window.

How do I change the handling time for an ASIN?

Go to the Manage Inventory page. Click Edit for any ASIN for which you wish to change the handling time. A product information page will open where you have the option to set a handling time for that ASIN. Handling time can be changed in bulk for all ASINs using a Listing Loader file.

Where can I get the Listing Loader file?

Follow these steps to download the Listing Loader file:

1. Log in to Seller Central.
2. Go to Inventory. Click Add Products via Upload.
3. Click Download an Inventory File tab.
4. From the list of inventory files, click Listing Loader.
5. Click Download Now.

How do I use Listing Loader?

1. Read through the instructions in the Data Definitions tab in the Listing Loader file.
2. In the Listings tab, fill all the required fields and the lead-time-to-ship field (One ASIN per row).
3. Save the file in text-tab-delimited format.
4. Upload it through Inventory > Add products via inventory > Upload your inventory file.

Why is setting the correct Default Handling Time important?

You can check the default handling time applicable on all your seller-fulfilled offers under the Settings tab of Shipping Settings page. The Estimated ship date for your seller fulfilled orders is calculated based on order date + handling time. For example, if the default handling time is 1 day, then estimated ship date for an order placed till 12 midnight will be the next day. If you don’t ship orders by the estimated ship date, your late shipment rate will increase and may result in order cancellation.

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 to reflect the most recent fulfillment capabilities.

We encourage you to regularly monitor and update your handling time recommendations. Setting accurate handling times will support the estimated delivery dates to customers.

To view and configure your recommended handling times:

1. On Seller Central, go to Inventory, and then click Manage Seller Fulfilled Products.
2. Select the Recommendations tab to view all the products that have recommended handling times.
   Note: If there are no recommendations, this may indicate that you don’t have any seller-fulfilled SKUs with a standard shipping option on the Manage Inventory page or your configured product specific handling times were aligned with your average actual handling times.
3. Click Update to accept the recommended handling time.
   Note: You may select multiple products to update the handling time in bulk.
4. Click Ignore to ignore the recommendation.
5. Check back on the first day of the next month to view updated handling time recommendations.