see here for detailed discussion ad nauseum

It’s 2-day SHIPPING, not 2nd day delivery. It will be shipped in two days. And that shipping range is only for business days. So if you order late in the afternoon on a Saturday on a long weekend the item will not be shipped until Tuesday… Then it takes a couple of days to be delivered. Or if you order late Saturday on a normal weekend and the item is on the other side of the country it will take five or six days.

They usually do better, but their acceptable limit is two days to ship.

I am always amazed amused when I see this comment/mindset.

Seller-fulfilled prime isn’t even close to the same standard as Amazon-fulfilled prime.

SFP is very rarely actually a 2-day delivery. The sellers that only offer sfp on wed-Fri are working on a “blistering” 4-5 day turn-around.

lol wow

The truth is that Prime delivery is whatever it says on any particular catalog page.

Generally, that is delivery within two days (excluding Sundays) if you order early enough in the day. (But I do sometimes see “Free delivery in 3-5 days” messages.)

I just opened 10 listings at random offering Prime shipping by Amazon. All of them advertised “FREE delivery by Saturday” if I ordered in the next few hours.

Sorry, @RedWing, but I think you are wrong on this one.

Maybe you could point out the “written requirements”?

It also says this on the Prime Delivery information page (bold added):

FREE Two-Day Shipping
Over 100 million items that arrive two business days after they ship

Unlimited shipping, no minimum order threshold
Available in areas across the US
Learn more

I’m not saying that there aren’t a lot of exceptions, but generally the expectation of Prime has been that you get the item within 2 days.

I was given a $5 refund when I asked customer service why I purchased an item with Prime that was stated to be in stock and the promised delivery date I was forced to agree to was 7 days later. "Forced, because I wanted the item and they were the only seller. Had there been a 3p MF seller, I would have used them and probably gotten the item sooner.

I would never have paid for a Prime membership if all it meant was that once it eventually shipped, it would arrive 2 business days after that. No, it clearly explained that delivery would be 2 days later. Not shipment, delivery. I get the difference and paid membership for that difference.

The things I’ve been buying that I am getting promises of delivery 7 days out are stated to be in stock and would go in a standard bubble envelope by First class mail. And if there were 3p MF sellers, I would most likely get the item quicker through them even if they were at the opposite coast.

When trying to figure out actual Prime shipping item arrival times these days you have to look at each listing and see what the guarantee is. Depending on the time of day and actual stock available items will either have “Want it by date? Order with in XX amount of time and choose two-day shipping.” Listings that says that guarantee will actually arrive in by that date. If there is no guarantee sentence and it just says “Free Two-Day Shipping” or “Prime 4-5 Days” then the item will not actually arrive in two days. Free two day shipping items mean the item is out of stock and will ship via a 2 day shipping option once Amazon gets it in stock and is available to ship it. Prime 4-5 days is when an item is in stock however takes an extended time to fulfill (Small & Light program items usually have this banner which is why you are seeing it more commonly as the program becomes more popular).

Amazon is trying to offer more items under the prime badge while still saving money on parcel shipping and not actually shipping everything for delivery within 2 days of your order.

Amazon can’t afford to hire more packing slaves at low wages to get your package mailed out same day. Just give them all your money and be quiet