New Shipping Settings Automation tool helps with delivery time accuracy
The new Shipping Settings Automation tool is a powerful way to help you ensure accuracy in the delivery times you communicate to your buyers. You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region because the tool automatically calculates deliver time using:
- The location of your warehouse(s)
- The buyer’s address
- Up-to-date data from the carriers of your choice
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises: Shipping Settings Automation can help you dynamically calculate the zip code-level transit time from your warehouse to the buyer address by applying an accurate transit time for the shipping service you use. This can help increase the likelihood that your offer is featured in the listings.
- Increased sales: On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate, making their offers more attractive to customers.
- Simplified user experience: There’s no need to manually estimate transit times for each delivery region. Automate your transit times by specifying your ship-from location and shipping service with just a few clicks.
- Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive). With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
To start using Shipping Settings Automation, go to Shipping Settings in your existing shipping template, or create a new shipping template. To learn more, go to Shipping Settings Automation.
New Shipping Settings Automation tool helps with delivery time accuracy
The new Shipping Settings Automation tool is a powerful way to help you ensure accuracy in the delivery times you communicate to your buyers. You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region because the tool automatically calculates deliver time using:
- The location of your warehouse(s)
- The buyer’s address
- Up-to-date data from the carriers of your choice
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises: Shipping Settings Automation can help you dynamically calculate the zip code-level transit time from your warehouse to the buyer address by applying an accurate transit time for the shipping service you use. This can help increase the likelihood that your offer is featured in the listings.
- Increased sales: On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate, making their offers more attractive to customers.
- Simplified user experience: There’s no need to manually estimate transit times for each delivery region. Automate your transit times by specifying your ship-from location and shipping service with just a few clicks.
- Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive). With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
To start using Shipping Settings Automation, go to Shipping Settings in your existing shipping template, or create a new shipping template. To learn more, go to Shipping Settings Automation.
47 replies
Seller_KXyyMsShTPqMq
Hi there,
How can we use Shipping Settings Automation for a non-Prime shipping template, and exclude Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico? We sell products containing lithium ion batteries that cannot legally be shipped via air freight, so we have to ship to the continental 48 only.
Seller_9HLdIWjoBYt3z
It would be nice to remove any on-time delivery infractions when this is used and an order is shipped using the appropriate shipping service and shipped on time. It does not make a lot of sense to ding seller on-time delivery metrics when a package is delivered late and Amazon sets the delivery date. I think you would have much more user adoption if this were the case.
Seller_hA060q8nqygew
Everyone should use caution before believing this Amazon hype.
If you know what you’re doing, Amazon’s automation will do a WORSE job for you than setting your templates manually. This is especially true for those of us who ship USPS.
===> Amazon automation FAILS miserably at accurately predicting USPS delivery times.
Before you turn over this aspect of your business to Amazon’s “automation”, remember that their automation is also behind -
- BOTS falsely flagging things as pesticides that are not
- Seller Support’s inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Most Amazonians who post on these forums’ inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Every other bot-driven idiocy that wreaks havoc on seller’s accounts
- The latest debacle that cost many sellers Premium Shipping eligibility because Amazon inaccurately recorded on-time deliveries as not delivered, or delivered late
Ask yourself how much you trust Amazon’s technical ability to get this one right when they get so many other things wrong.
I looked at the automation when it first came out - and it is not new, as Amazon is claiming, it’s been around for several years.
To be fully transparent, I never allowed the automation to go live on my account. I rejected it right off the bat.
I ship by USPS almost exclusively and what the automation wanted to set for me was so wrong, I wouldn’t use it.
It may help you if -
- You don’t understand how to set your shipping templates yourself
- You don’t want to be bothered to learn how to set your shipping templates yourself and are willing to accept inferior performance by Amazon to save yourself this effort
- You are new and unsure how Amazon works or what shipping templates are all about
- You don’t mind not being in control of your own business
- You only ship by UPS/FedEx
You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region
Big deal. 
UPS and FedEx provide ground maps (where I assume Amazon pulls their data from), and USPS provides one for priority mail. “Manually calculating” these times involves looking at these maps and setting your templates to match. It takes maybe 10 minutes.
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises
This is not true. “Accurate” does NOT reflect what the system sets for USPS shippers. I’d call it accurate"ish" for UPS/FedEx. However, if you’re on top of your own data, you’ll exceed, or at a minimum - match, what the automation does for you.
Increased sales : On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate,
More false statements. IF you know what you’re doing as a seller (and most people do, once they leave the newbie stage), then automation does NOT make ‘more accurate’ delivery promises, nor does it result in ‘delivery promise time is typically faster’.
A key thing they’re not telling you is that delivery times influence your shipping options if you buy your labels through Buy Shipping. As a USPS shipper, I send most packages by first-class mail. Buy Shipping has always treated that as a 4-day service, meaning that my delivery promise has to show buyers a minimum 4-day delivery time or Amazon won’t let me buy a first-class label.
That is longer than delivery actually takes so Amazon forces me to show buyers a falsely long delivery time in order to get the label I want through their Buy Shipping system.
Even if the automation, or my manual settings, let me show buyers a shorter, more accurate delivery time, Buy Shipping would demand (unnecessarily) that I use Priority Mail or UPS/FedEx to get it delivered.
Amazon does not handle USPS shipping correctly. For USPS users, use extra caution before deciding to try out the shipping settings automation.
Simplified user experience
I disagree with this. Now that I know how to set my templates manually, I find the automation more complicated.
Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive)
I personally feel this is one of the dumbest statements of the whole sales pitch. Amazon claims, in their solitication email, that 53% of us overestimate our delivery promise.
Would those of you who do that please raise your hands???
Does anyone here want buyers to think it will take longer than necessary to get their items?
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention, they’d know how much we detest Amazon’s forced manipulation of our delivery promises when they pad them without our permission if we fall below the 97% on-time delivery metric they set for us.
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention during any holiday period, they’d know how much we detest their putting the stupid ‘May not arrive by Christmas’ flag on our offers when we know we can still delivery by Christmas.
I’m sure they got the ‘53% of sellers’ claim from the overseas sellers who are forced to overestimate the time it takes something to arrive from China because Amazon gives them no other option. Plus probably a few US sellers who overestimate out of fear of Amazon suspending them for not meeting Amazon’s metrics.
But none of us, of our own free will, want buyers to think delivery will take longer than it will.
With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
Baloney. * I * know how long my deliveries typically take. Amazon does not know that. They are applying generic, one-size-fits-all formulas to my business and telling me that will work better than my unique-to-my-exact-circumstances formulas that I use when I set my templates myself.
Seller_crHnt8DkniDej
Does anyone understand how this is supposed to improve (?) the system currently in place that estimates a delivery date when using Amazon shipping? By tweaking the estimated delivery dates (from the generic ones on the offerings page) once you get to the check-out page, after a buyer has already added the item to the cart?
I use Amazon shipping exclusively, except for the occasional hiccups when the system decides my book is something else that can only go by Fedex instead of by media mail at a fraction of the price, and I have never calculated shipping times myself. Maybe this really applies only to large items that have special shipping requirements, and not to media?
I am extremely leery of automating anything I don’t have to, especially in a way that seems likely to raise the bar on delighting those buyers. Thanks.
Seller_0lcPE7gkXNIAT
If you plan on using this, consider that beginning Monday the new USPS “slowdown” will go into effect and it will be nearly impossible to estimate times, especially for first class.
I received a first class package today that was mailed five days ago from Tallahassee, 15 miles away. And service is getting slower than that?
I am mailing a media mail package tomorrow to Oregon. I know that ground transit time will be at least 5 and as many as 15 days. Amazon is giving the customer an estimated delivery date of Monday. How do I explain that to them when it doesn’t show up? Does it sound like I want Amazon to automate my estimated delivery date?
Seller_MPJxkwiLkApUu
Never make promises lightly, especially in areas beyond your control.
The seller can only promise the shipped time, not the delivery time. The reason is simple, the carrier is not under the control of the seller.
Seller_4K7eqIN4GuF2E
Since when do we “communicate” to the buyers the delivery times? Isn’t that what Amazon does?
Amazon wants their customers (not ours, theirs) to believe they will get the order on a specific day so Amazon looks better. And when the package does not arrive in the new shortened estimated time Amazon will fault YOU.
When you mail a package using Amazon Shipping the Post Office estimates the delivery date - so there is NO REASON for us to change anything.
Just another way to eliminate 3P sellers.
Seller_Yb7NJ7U2EkuWi
So the same Amazon that gives away customer refunds so easily for missed delivery times is now going to set the delivery estimates? Ahhh, no thanks. But if you GUARANTEE the delivery estimates and won’t give away refunds at my expense, sign me up!
Seller_3IUx63Iv2xKwE
I was so excited to try this because it would give the customer a specific delivery day rather than a window of a few days, but Amazon wound up quoting my customers longer than it actually takes to be delivered. Sales took a slight dip so I switched it back.
Another frustrating aspect of this is that the automation didn’t seem to be able to differentiate transit time between a customer across town and a customer across the country… they’d both get the same quoted delivery date.
Now I just wish I’d stop getting spammed to “try this new feature to improve sales”.
New Shipping Settings Automation tool helps with delivery time accuracy
The new Shipping Settings Automation tool is a powerful way to help you ensure accuracy in the delivery times you communicate to your buyers. You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region because the tool automatically calculates deliver time using:
- The location of your warehouse(s)
- The buyer’s address
- Up-to-date data from the carriers of your choice
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises: Shipping Settings Automation can help you dynamically calculate the zip code-level transit time from your warehouse to the buyer address by applying an accurate transit time for the shipping service you use. This can help increase the likelihood that your offer is featured in the listings.
- Increased sales: On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate, making their offers more attractive to customers.
- Simplified user experience: There’s no need to manually estimate transit times for each delivery region. Automate your transit times by specifying your ship-from location and shipping service with just a few clicks.
- Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive). With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
To start using Shipping Settings Automation, go to Shipping Settings in your existing shipping template, or create a new shipping template. To learn more, go to Shipping Settings Automation.
New Shipping Settings Automation tool helps with delivery time accuracy
The new Shipping Settings Automation tool is a powerful way to help you ensure accuracy in the delivery times you communicate to your buyers. You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region because the tool automatically calculates deliver time using:
- The location of your warehouse(s)
- The buyer’s address
- Up-to-date data from the carriers of your choice
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises: Shipping Settings Automation can help you dynamically calculate the zip code-level transit time from your warehouse to the buyer address by applying an accurate transit time for the shipping service you use. This can help increase the likelihood that your offer is featured in the listings.
- Increased sales: On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate, making their offers more attractive to customers.
- Simplified user experience: There’s no need to manually estimate transit times for each delivery region. Automate your transit times by specifying your ship-from location and shipping service with just a few clicks.
- Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive). With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
To start using Shipping Settings Automation, go to Shipping Settings in your existing shipping template, or create a new shipping template. To learn more, go to Shipping Settings Automation.
New Shipping Settings Automation tool helps with delivery time accuracy
The new Shipping Settings Automation tool is a powerful way to help you ensure accuracy in the delivery times you communicate to your buyers. You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region because the tool automatically calculates deliver time using:
- The location of your warehouse(s)
- The buyer’s address
- Up-to-date data from the carriers of your choice
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises: Shipping Settings Automation can help you dynamically calculate the zip code-level transit time from your warehouse to the buyer address by applying an accurate transit time for the shipping service you use. This can help increase the likelihood that your offer is featured in the listings.
- Increased sales: On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate, making their offers more attractive to customers.
- Simplified user experience: There’s no need to manually estimate transit times for each delivery region. Automate your transit times by specifying your ship-from location and shipping service with just a few clicks.
- Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive). With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
To start using Shipping Settings Automation, go to Shipping Settings in your existing shipping template, or create a new shipping template. To learn more, go to Shipping Settings Automation.
47 replies
47 replies
Seller_KXyyMsShTPqMq
Hi there,
How can we use Shipping Settings Automation for a non-Prime shipping template, and exclude Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico? We sell products containing lithium ion batteries that cannot legally be shipped via air freight, so we have to ship to the continental 48 only.
Seller_9HLdIWjoBYt3z
It would be nice to remove any on-time delivery infractions when this is used and an order is shipped using the appropriate shipping service and shipped on time. It does not make a lot of sense to ding seller on-time delivery metrics when a package is delivered late and Amazon sets the delivery date. I think you would have much more user adoption if this were the case.
Seller_hA060q8nqygew
Everyone should use caution before believing this Amazon hype.
If you know what you’re doing, Amazon’s automation will do a WORSE job for you than setting your templates manually. This is especially true for those of us who ship USPS.
===> Amazon automation FAILS miserably at accurately predicting USPS delivery times.
Before you turn over this aspect of your business to Amazon’s “automation”, remember that their automation is also behind -
- BOTS falsely flagging things as pesticides that are not
- Seller Support’s inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Most Amazonians who post on these forums’ inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Every other bot-driven idiocy that wreaks havoc on seller’s accounts
- The latest debacle that cost many sellers Premium Shipping eligibility because Amazon inaccurately recorded on-time deliveries as not delivered, or delivered late
Ask yourself how much you trust Amazon’s technical ability to get this one right when they get so many other things wrong.
I looked at the automation when it first came out - and it is not new, as Amazon is claiming, it’s been around for several years.
To be fully transparent, I never allowed the automation to go live on my account. I rejected it right off the bat.
I ship by USPS almost exclusively and what the automation wanted to set for me was so wrong, I wouldn’t use it.
It may help you if -
- You don’t understand how to set your shipping templates yourself
- You don’t want to be bothered to learn how to set your shipping templates yourself and are willing to accept inferior performance by Amazon to save yourself this effort
- You are new and unsure how Amazon works or what shipping templates are all about
- You don’t mind not being in control of your own business
- You only ship by UPS/FedEx
You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region
Big deal. UPS and FedEx provide ground maps (where I assume Amazon pulls their data from), and USPS provides one for priority mail. “Manually calculating” these times involves looking at these maps and setting your templates to match. It takes maybe 10 minutes.
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises
This is not true. “Accurate” does NOT reflect what the system sets for USPS shippers. I’d call it accurate"ish" for UPS/FedEx. However, if you’re on top of your own data, you’ll exceed, or at a minimum - match, what the automation does for you.
Increased sales : On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate,
More false statements. IF you know what you’re doing as a seller (and most people do, once they leave the newbie stage), then automation does NOT make ‘more accurate’ delivery promises, nor does it result in ‘delivery promise time is typically faster’.
A key thing they’re not telling you is that delivery times influence your shipping options if you buy your labels through Buy Shipping. As a USPS shipper, I send most packages by first-class mail. Buy Shipping has always treated that as a 4-day service, meaning that my delivery promise has to show buyers a minimum 4-day delivery time or Amazon won’t let me buy a first-class label.
That is longer than delivery actually takes so Amazon forces me to show buyers a falsely long delivery time in order to get the label I want through their Buy Shipping system.
Even if the automation, or my manual settings, let me show buyers a shorter, more accurate delivery time, Buy Shipping would demand (unnecessarily) that I use Priority Mail or UPS/FedEx to get it delivered.
Amazon does not handle USPS shipping correctly. For USPS users, use extra caution before deciding to try out the shipping settings automation.
Simplified user experience
I disagree with this. Now that I know how to set my templates manually, I find the automation more complicated.
Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive)
I personally feel this is one of the dumbest statements of the whole sales pitch. Amazon claims, in their solitication email, that 53% of us overestimate our delivery promise.
Would those of you who do that please raise your hands???
Does anyone here want buyers to think it will take longer than necessary to get their items?
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention, they’d know how much we detest Amazon’s forced manipulation of our delivery promises when they pad them without our permission if we fall below the 97% on-time delivery metric they set for us.
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention during any holiday period, they’d know how much we detest their putting the stupid ‘May not arrive by Christmas’ flag on our offers when we know we can still delivery by Christmas.
I’m sure they got the ‘53% of sellers’ claim from the overseas sellers who are forced to overestimate the time it takes something to arrive from China because Amazon gives them no other option. Plus probably a few US sellers who overestimate out of fear of Amazon suspending them for not meeting Amazon’s metrics.
But none of us, of our own free will, want buyers to think delivery will take longer than it will.
With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
Baloney. * I * know how long my deliveries typically take. Amazon does not know that. They are applying generic, one-size-fits-all formulas to my business and telling me that will work better than my unique-to-my-exact-circumstances formulas that I use when I set my templates myself.
Seller_crHnt8DkniDej
Does anyone understand how this is supposed to improve (?) the system currently in place that estimates a delivery date when using Amazon shipping? By tweaking the estimated delivery dates (from the generic ones on the offerings page) once you get to the check-out page, after a buyer has already added the item to the cart?
I use Amazon shipping exclusively, except for the occasional hiccups when the system decides my book is something else that can only go by Fedex instead of by media mail at a fraction of the price, and I have never calculated shipping times myself. Maybe this really applies only to large items that have special shipping requirements, and not to media?
I am extremely leery of automating anything I don’t have to, especially in a way that seems likely to raise the bar on delighting those buyers. Thanks.
Seller_0lcPE7gkXNIAT
If you plan on using this, consider that beginning Monday the new USPS “slowdown” will go into effect and it will be nearly impossible to estimate times, especially for first class.
I received a first class package today that was mailed five days ago from Tallahassee, 15 miles away. And service is getting slower than that?
I am mailing a media mail package tomorrow to Oregon. I know that ground transit time will be at least 5 and as many as 15 days. Amazon is giving the customer an estimated delivery date of Monday. How do I explain that to them when it doesn’t show up? Does it sound like I want Amazon to automate my estimated delivery date?
Seller_MPJxkwiLkApUu
Never make promises lightly, especially in areas beyond your control.
The seller can only promise the shipped time, not the delivery time. The reason is simple, the carrier is not under the control of the seller.
Seller_4K7eqIN4GuF2E
Since when do we “communicate” to the buyers the delivery times? Isn’t that what Amazon does?
Amazon wants their customers (not ours, theirs) to believe they will get the order on a specific day so Amazon looks better. And when the package does not arrive in the new shortened estimated time Amazon will fault YOU.
When you mail a package using Amazon Shipping the Post Office estimates the delivery date - so there is NO REASON for us to change anything.
Just another way to eliminate 3P sellers.
Seller_Yb7NJ7U2EkuWi
So the same Amazon that gives away customer refunds so easily for missed delivery times is now going to set the delivery estimates? Ahhh, no thanks. But if you GUARANTEE the delivery estimates and won’t give away refunds at my expense, sign me up!
Seller_3IUx63Iv2xKwE
I was so excited to try this because it would give the customer a specific delivery day rather than a window of a few days, but Amazon wound up quoting my customers longer than it actually takes to be delivered. Sales took a slight dip so I switched it back.
Another frustrating aspect of this is that the automation didn’t seem to be able to differentiate transit time between a customer across town and a customer across the country… they’d both get the same quoted delivery date.
Now I just wish I’d stop getting spammed to “try this new feature to improve sales”.
Seller_KXyyMsShTPqMq
Hi there,
How can we use Shipping Settings Automation for a non-Prime shipping template, and exclude Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico? We sell products containing lithium ion batteries that cannot legally be shipped via air freight, so we have to ship to the continental 48 only.
Seller_KXyyMsShTPqMq
Hi there,
How can we use Shipping Settings Automation for a non-Prime shipping template, and exclude Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico? We sell products containing lithium ion batteries that cannot legally be shipped via air freight, so we have to ship to the continental 48 only.
Seller_9HLdIWjoBYt3z
It would be nice to remove any on-time delivery infractions when this is used and an order is shipped using the appropriate shipping service and shipped on time. It does not make a lot of sense to ding seller on-time delivery metrics when a package is delivered late and Amazon sets the delivery date. I think you would have much more user adoption if this were the case.
Seller_9HLdIWjoBYt3z
It would be nice to remove any on-time delivery infractions when this is used and an order is shipped using the appropriate shipping service and shipped on time. It does not make a lot of sense to ding seller on-time delivery metrics when a package is delivered late and Amazon sets the delivery date. I think you would have much more user adoption if this were the case.
Seller_hA060q8nqygew
Everyone should use caution before believing this Amazon hype.
If you know what you’re doing, Amazon’s automation will do a WORSE job for you than setting your templates manually. This is especially true for those of us who ship USPS.
===> Amazon automation FAILS miserably at accurately predicting USPS delivery times.
Before you turn over this aspect of your business to Amazon’s “automation”, remember that their automation is also behind -
- BOTS falsely flagging things as pesticides that are not
- Seller Support’s inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Most Amazonians who post on these forums’ inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Every other bot-driven idiocy that wreaks havoc on seller’s accounts
- The latest debacle that cost many sellers Premium Shipping eligibility because Amazon inaccurately recorded on-time deliveries as not delivered, or delivered late
Ask yourself how much you trust Amazon’s technical ability to get this one right when they get so many other things wrong.
I looked at the automation when it first came out - and it is not new, as Amazon is claiming, it’s been around for several years.
To be fully transparent, I never allowed the automation to go live on my account. I rejected it right off the bat.
I ship by USPS almost exclusively and what the automation wanted to set for me was so wrong, I wouldn’t use it.
It may help you if -
- You don’t understand how to set your shipping templates yourself
- You don’t want to be bothered to learn how to set your shipping templates yourself and are willing to accept inferior performance by Amazon to save yourself this effort
- You are new and unsure how Amazon works or what shipping templates are all about
- You don’t mind not being in control of your own business
- You only ship by UPS/FedEx
You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region
Big deal. UPS and FedEx provide ground maps (where I assume Amazon pulls their data from), and USPS provides one for priority mail. “Manually calculating” these times involves looking at these maps and setting your templates to match. It takes maybe 10 minutes.
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises
This is not true. “Accurate” does NOT reflect what the system sets for USPS shippers. I’d call it accurate"ish" for UPS/FedEx. However, if you’re on top of your own data, you’ll exceed, or at a minimum - match, what the automation does for you.
Increased sales : On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate,
More false statements. IF you know what you’re doing as a seller (and most people do, once they leave the newbie stage), then automation does NOT make ‘more accurate’ delivery promises, nor does it result in ‘delivery promise time is typically faster’.
A key thing they’re not telling you is that delivery times influence your shipping options if you buy your labels through Buy Shipping. As a USPS shipper, I send most packages by first-class mail. Buy Shipping has always treated that as a 4-day service, meaning that my delivery promise has to show buyers a minimum 4-day delivery time or Amazon won’t let me buy a first-class label.
That is longer than delivery actually takes so Amazon forces me to show buyers a falsely long delivery time in order to get the label I want through their Buy Shipping system.
Even if the automation, or my manual settings, let me show buyers a shorter, more accurate delivery time, Buy Shipping would demand (unnecessarily) that I use Priority Mail or UPS/FedEx to get it delivered.
Amazon does not handle USPS shipping correctly. For USPS users, use extra caution before deciding to try out the shipping settings automation.
Simplified user experience
I disagree with this. Now that I know how to set my templates manually, I find the automation more complicated.
Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive)
I personally feel this is one of the dumbest statements of the whole sales pitch. Amazon claims, in their solitication email, that 53% of us overestimate our delivery promise.
Would those of you who do that please raise your hands???
Does anyone here want buyers to think it will take longer than necessary to get their items?
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention, they’d know how much we detest Amazon’s forced manipulation of our delivery promises when they pad them without our permission if we fall below the 97% on-time delivery metric they set for us.
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention during any holiday period, they’d know how much we detest their putting the stupid ‘May not arrive by Christmas’ flag on our offers when we know we can still delivery by Christmas.
I’m sure they got the ‘53% of sellers’ claim from the overseas sellers who are forced to overestimate the time it takes something to arrive from China because Amazon gives them no other option. Plus probably a few US sellers who overestimate out of fear of Amazon suspending them for not meeting Amazon’s metrics.
But none of us, of our own free will, want buyers to think delivery will take longer than it will.
With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
Baloney. * I * know how long my deliveries typically take. Amazon does not know that. They are applying generic, one-size-fits-all formulas to my business and telling me that will work better than my unique-to-my-exact-circumstances formulas that I use when I set my templates myself.
Seller_hA060q8nqygew
Everyone should use caution before believing this Amazon hype.
If you know what you’re doing, Amazon’s automation will do a WORSE job for you than setting your templates manually. This is especially true for those of us who ship USPS.
===> Amazon automation FAILS miserably at accurately predicting USPS delivery times.
Before you turn over this aspect of your business to Amazon’s “automation”, remember that their automation is also behind -
- BOTS falsely flagging things as pesticides that are not
- Seller Support’s inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Most Amazonians who post on these forums’ inability to provide a response that matches your question
- Every other bot-driven idiocy that wreaks havoc on seller’s accounts
- The latest debacle that cost many sellers Premium Shipping eligibility because Amazon inaccurately recorded on-time deliveries as not delivered, or delivered late
Ask yourself how much you trust Amazon’s technical ability to get this one right when they get so many other things wrong.
I looked at the automation when it first came out - and it is not new, as Amazon is claiming, it’s been around for several years.
To be fully transparent, I never allowed the automation to go live on my account. I rejected it right off the bat.
I ship by USPS almost exclusively and what the automation wanted to set for me was so wrong, I wouldn’t use it.
It may help you if -
- You don’t understand how to set your shipping templates yourself
- You don’t want to be bothered to learn how to set your shipping templates yourself and are willing to accept inferior performance by Amazon to save yourself this effort
- You are new and unsure how Amazon works or what shipping templates are all about
- You don’t mind not being in control of your own business
- You only ship by UPS/FedEx
You no longer need to manually calculate shipping time to each region
Big deal. UPS and FedEx provide ground maps (where I assume Amazon pulls their data from), and USPS provides one for priority mail. “Manually calculating” these times involves looking at these maps and setting your templates to match. It takes maybe 10 minutes.
Benefits of using Shipping Settings Automation include the following:
- Accurate delivery promises
This is not true. “Accurate” does NOT reflect what the system sets for USPS shippers. I’d call it accurate"ish" for UPS/FedEx. However, if you’re on top of your own data, you’ll exceed, or at a minimum - match, what the automation does for you.
Increased sales : On average, sellers who use Shipping Settings Automation see their sales increase because their delivery promise time is typically faster as it becomes more accurate,
More false statements. IF you know what you’re doing as a seller (and most people do, once they leave the newbie stage), then automation does NOT make ‘more accurate’ delivery promises, nor does it result in ‘delivery promise time is typically faster’.
A key thing they’re not telling you is that delivery times influence your shipping options if you buy your labels through Buy Shipping. As a USPS shipper, I send most packages by first-class mail. Buy Shipping has always treated that as a 4-day service, meaning that my delivery promise has to show buyers a minimum 4-day delivery time or Amazon won’t let me buy a first-class label.
That is longer than delivery actually takes so Amazon forces me to show buyers a falsely long delivery time in order to get the label I want through their Buy Shipping system.
Even if the automation, or my manual settings, let me show buyers a shorter, more accurate delivery time, Buy Shipping would demand (unnecessarily) that I use Priority Mail or UPS/FedEx to get it delivered.
Amazon does not handle USPS shipping correctly. For USPS users, use extra caution before deciding to try out the shipping settings automation.
Simplified user experience
I disagree with this. Now that I know how to set my templates manually, I find the automation more complicated.
Less unnecessary “over-estimated” promises for deliveries (when your delivery promise to a customer is longer than it really takes their item(s) to arrive)
I personally feel this is one of the dumbest statements of the whole sales pitch. Amazon claims, in their solitication email, that 53% of us overestimate our delivery promise.
Would those of you who do that please raise your hands???
Does anyone here want buyers to think it will take longer than necessary to get their items?
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention, they’d know how much we detest Amazon’s forced manipulation of our delivery promises when they pad them without our permission if we fall below the 97% on-time delivery metric they set for us.
I’m sure, if Amazon were paying attention during any holiday period, they’d know how much we detest their putting the stupid ‘May not arrive by Christmas’ flag on our offers when we know we can still delivery by Christmas.
I’m sure they got the ‘53% of sellers’ claim from the overseas sellers who are forced to overestimate the time it takes something to arrive from China because Amazon gives them no other option. Plus probably a few US sellers who overestimate out of fear of Amazon suspending them for not meeting Amazon’s metrics.
But none of us, of our own free will, want buyers to think delivery will take longer than it will.
With the more granular and automated transit time settings, your delivery promise will be closer to your actual delivery speed.
Baloney. * I * know how long my deliveries typically take. Amazon does not know that. They are applying generic, one-size-fits-all formulas to my business and telling me that will work better than my unique-to-my-exact-circumstances formulas that I use when I set my templates myself.
Seller_crHnt8DkniDej
Does anyone understand how this is supposed to improve (?) the system currently in place that estimates a delivery date when using Amazon shipping? By tweaking the estimated delivery dates (from the generic ones on the offerings page) once you get to the check-out page, after a buyer has already added the item to the cart?
I use Amazon shipping exclusively, except for the occasional hiccups when the system decides my book is something else that can only go by Fedex instead of by media mail at a fraction of the price, and I have never calculated shipping times myself. Maybe this really applies only to large items that have special shipping requirements, and not to media?
I am extremely leery of automating anything I don’t have to, especially in a way that seems likely to raise the bar on delighting those buyers. Thanks.
Seller_crHnt8DkniDej
Does anyone understand how this is supposed to improve (?) the system currently in place that estimates a delivery date when using Amazon shipping? By tweaking the estimated delivery dates (from the generic ones on the offerings page) once you get to the check-out page, after a buyer has already added the item to the cart?
I use Amazon shipping exclusively, except for the occasional hiccups when the system decides my book is something else that can only go by Fedex instead of by media mail at a fraction of the price, and I have never calculated shipping times myself. Maybe this really applies only to large items that have special shipping requirements, and not to media?
I am extremely leery of automating anything I don’t have to, especially in a way that seems likely to raise the bar on delighting those buyers. Thanks.
Seller_0lcPE7gkXNIAT
If you plan on using this, consider that beginning Monday the new USPS “slowdown” will go into effect and it will be nearly impossible to estimate times, especially for first class.
I received a first class package today that was mailed five days ago from Tallahassee, 15 miles away. And service is getting slower than that?
I am mailing a media mail package tomorrow to Oregon. I know that ground transit time will be at least 5 and as many as 15 days. Amazon is giving the customer an estimated delivery date of Monday. How do I explain that to them when it doesn’t show up? Does it sound like I want Amazon to automate my estimated delivery date?
Seller_0lcPE7gkXNIAT
If you plan on using this, consider that beginning Monday the new USPS “slowdown” will go into effect and it will be nearly impossible to estimate times, especially for first class.
I received a first class package today that was mailed five days ago from Tallahassee, 15 miles away. And service is getting slower than that?
I am mailing a media mail package tomorrow to Oregon. I know that ground transit time will be at least 5 and as many as 15 days. Amazon is giving the customer an estimated delivery date of Monday. How do I explain that to them when it doesn’t show up? Does it sound like I want Amazon to automate my estimated delivery date?
Seller_MPJxkwiLkApUu
Never make promises lightly, especially in areas beyond your control.
The seller can only promise the shipped time, not the delivery time. The reason is simple, the carrier is not under the control of the seller.
Seller_MPJxkwiLkApUu
Never make promises lightly, especially in areas beyond your control.
The seller can only promise the shipped time, not the delivery time. The reason is simple, the carrier is not under the control of the seller.
Seller_4K7eqIN4GuF2E
Since when do we “communicate” to the buyers the delivery times? Isn’t that what Amazon does?
Amazon wants their customers (not ours, theirs) to believe they will get the order on a specific day so Amazon looks better. And when the package does not arrive in the new shortened estimated time Amazon will fault YOU.
When you mail a package using Amazon Shipping the Post Office estimates the delivery date - so there is NO REASON for us to change anything.
Just another way to eliminate 3P sellers.
Seller_4K7eqIN4GuF2E
Since when do we “communicate” to the buyers the delivery times? Isn’t that what Amazon does?
Amazon wants their customers (not ours, theirs) to believe they will get the order on a specific day so Amazon looks better. And when the package does not arrive in the new shortened estimated time Amazon will fault YOU.
When you mail a package using Amazon Shipping the Post Office estimates the delivery date - so there is NO REASON for us to change anything.
Just another way to eliminate 3P sellers.
Seller_Yb7NJ7U2EkuWi
So the same Amazon that gives away customer refunds so easily for missed delivery times is now going to set the delivery estimates? Ahhh, no thanks. But if you GUARANTEE the delivery estimates and won’t give away refunds at my expense, sign me up!
Seller_Yb7NJ7U2EkuWi
So the same Amazon that gives away customer refunds so easily for missed delivery times is now going to set the delivery estimates? Ahhh, no thanks. But if you GUARANTEE the delivery estimates and won’t give away refunds at my expense, sign me up!
Seller_3IUx63Iv2xKwE
I was so excited to try this because it would give the customer a specific delivery day rather than a window of a few days, but Amazon wound up quoting my customers longer than it actually takes to be delivered. Sales took a slight dip so I switched it back.
Another frustrating aspect of this is that the automation didn’t seem to be able to differentiate transit time between a customer across town and a customer across the country… they’d both get the same quoted delivery date.
Now I just wish I’d stop getting spammed to “try this new feature to improve sales”.
Seller_3IUx63Iv2xKwE
I was so excited to try this because it would give the customer a specific delivery day rather than a window of a few days, but Amazon wound up quoting my customers longer than it actually takes to be delivered. Sales took a slight dip so I switched it back.
Another frustrating aspect of this is that the automation didn’t seem to be able to differentiate transit time between a customer across town and a customer across the country… they’d both get the same quoted delivery date.
Now I just wish I’d stop getting spammed to “try this new feature to improve sales”.
