Shipping Settings Automation

Shipping Settings Automation can help you quickly create shipping templates with accurate delivery regions and transit times to each delivery region. Amazon will help you dynamically calculate transit times by applying accurate transit times of the shipping service you use. Amazon will periodically refresh your shipping templates to reflect the latest delivery speed of shipping services so that you will always have accurate shipping settings without manually maintaining shipping templates by yourself.

Shipping Settings Automation supports:

• Transit time automation for domestic Self-fulfilled Standard Shipping.
• Shipping region automation for domestic Self-fulfilled One-Day Delivery and Two-Day Delivery.
• Shipping region automation for domestic Seller Fulfilled Prime One-Day Delivery and Two-Day Delivery.

Shipping Settings Automation for Self-fulfilled Products

To enable Shipping Settings Automation for Self-fulfilled products, perform the following steps:

1. From the Settings drop-down menu on the top right of Seller Central, click Shipping Settings.
2. On the Shipping Templates
   • If you want to create a new shipping template to enable Shipping Settings Automation, click Create New Shipping Template, enter the Shipping Template Name (for example, "My Self-fulfilled Shipping") and choose from either a Per Item/Weight-Based or Price banded rate model as your shipping rates.
   • Or, if you want to upgrade an existing shipping template to enable Shipping Settings Automation, choose the existing shipping template then click Edit Template on the right side of screen.
3. Click on the toggle button to enable Shipping Settings Automation.
4. Select your Ship-from location(s), and click Next.
5. Select “I want to automate my Self-fulfilled (non-Prime) shipping settings” and click Next.
6. To enable transit time automation for Standard Shipping, perform following steps on the Standard Shipping Automation Preferences page:
   
   1. Select the carriers and shipping services you use in the Carrier Preferences section.
   2. Manage your Standard Shipping Regions by clicking Edit in the Region Preferences section.
   3. Click Next.
7. To enable shipping region automation for non-Prime One-Day Delivery and Two-Day Delivery, select the carriers and shipping services you use in the Carrier Preferences section on the Premium Shipping Automation Preferences page. Click Next.
8. Review your shipping settings automation preferences and click Confirm.
9. Review and edit shipping fee for your shipping regions.
10. Click Save template.
11. Assign your Self-fulfilled SKUs to the shipping template.

Shipping Settings Automation for Seller Fulfilled Prime Products

To enable Shipping Settings Automation for Seller Fulfilled Prime products, perform the following steps:

1. From the Settings drop-down menu on the top right of Seller Central, click Shipping Settings.
2. On the Shipping Templates,
   • If you want to create a new Prime shipping template to enable Shipping Settings Automation, click Create New Shipping Template, enter the Shipping Template Name (for example, "My Prime Shipping") and choose from either a Per Item/Weight-Based or Price banded rate model as your shipping rates.
   • Or, if you want to upgrade an existing Prime shipping template to enable Shipping Settings Automation, choose the existing Prime shipping template then click Edit Template on the right side of the screen.
3. Click on the toggle button to enable Shipping Settings Automation.
4. Select your Ship-from location(s), and click Next.
5. Select “I want to automate my Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping settings” and click Next.
   Note: This option is available only if you are eligible for Prime.
6. Select the carrier and shipping services for Prime Two-Day and One-Day delivery based on the shipping services coverage. One-Day delivery is optional.
7. Select delivery zone limit if applicable. This is a proxy for shipping cost. For example, if you select zone 8 for UPS ground for Two Day Delivery, the automated Prime shipping regions will be limited to where UPS can deliver in two days from your selected ship from location within the scope of UPS ground zone 8. Leave Amazon’s default value if you do not have shipping zone restrictions. Click Next.
8. Review Prime Shipping Settings Automation coverage and click Confirm.
9. Review and edit shipping fee for non-Prime customers.
10. Click Save template.
11. Assign your Prime SKUs to the Prime shipping template.

Shipping Settings Automation FAQ

What is the benefit of Shipping Settings Automation?

Customers like to purchase products that arrive quickly, but offering accurate transit times to different delivery regions requires sellers to accurately calculate and track the delivery capabilities of the shipping services they use, which may be hard for sellers to do by themselves. We know many sellers choose to set longer than expected transit times for standard shipping deliveries, or limit fast delivery regions than what they can offer at same cost, leading to unnecessarily long promises that look less attractive to customers.

Shipping Settings Automation can help you significantly simplify the delivery region and transit time calculation process, with just a few clicks, by telling us, where you ship from and what shipping service you use. Amazon will then calculate the accurate transit time to different delivery regions using the most recent shipping service delivery capabilities data. You no longer need to do complex calculations or track shipping service delivery performance by yourself, and your delivery promises will be more accurate.

What are the order fulfillment requirements for domestic Standard Shipping automation orders?

You are expected to use the shipping services you enabled in the Shipping Settings Automation template to fulfill your orders and ensure that your shipments meet the customer delivery promise. You can also use Buy Shipping to select any shipping service that can meet customer promises. We will monitor your delivery performance and may add extra time to your delivery promise to protect customers if your on-time delivery rate fails to meet our requirement.

How does Amazon automate my Self-fulfilled Standard Shipping transit times?

Amazon tracks shipping service delivery performance and can help you automatically set up-to-date transit times of the carriers you use from your ship-from location to the customer location.

How does Amazon automate Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping regions?

Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping eligible regions are auto-calculated based on where a shipment can reach within one day and two days using your Shipping Settings Automation preferences including your ship-from location(s), your shipping service, and your delivery zone limits (only available for Prime region automation). Amazon also helps you adjust the shipping regions periodically based on the latest shipping service delivery performance to ensure maximum possible Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping coverage with high on-time delivery.

How many ship-from locations can I select?

You can select up to 10 ship-from locations. Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping regions will be a set of union (or sum) of all regions that the selected shipping services can deliver from each ship-from location for Two-Day and One-Day Delivery orders.

What carriers/ship methods should I select?

Shipping Settings Automation allows you to select shipping services per shipping option, including Self-fulfilled Standard Shipping, Self-fulfilled Premium Shipping and Seller Fulfilled Prime.You should select the shipping services that you are using for these shipping options. All the displayed shipping services in the Shipping Settings Automation preference selector are eligible for selection.

Can I select multiple carriers/shipping services?

Yes. Please select all shipping services that you intend to use. Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping regions will be set as a union (or sum) of all regions that the selected shipping services can deliver.

If I enabled multiple shipping services to automate Self-fulfilled Standard Shipping transit times, which shipping service will be used for the customer promise if multiple shipping services can all deliver to a customer location?

For Self-fulfilled Standard Shipping, we will choose the shipping service with the longest transit time to avoid potential increase to your ship cost. For example, if the transit times for the two shipping services you enabled offer 2-3 business days and 3-5 business days respectively to same customer location, we will choose the shipping service with 3-5 business days. In case multiple ship methods have same longest transit time, we will choose the one with shortest possible transit time. If the transit times for the two shipping services you enabled offer 2-4 business days and 3-4 business days respectively to same customer location, we will choose the shipping service with 2-4 business days.

If I changed ship-from location or my shipping services, can I update my automated shipping settings?

You can update your automated shipping settings at any time. Select the shipping template and click Edit Template. In the shipping template edit page, click Edit Information on the right side of the Shipping Settings Automation toggle button, then you can update your ship from locations and shipping services. After you click Confirm, Amazon will refresh your automated shipping settings based on your updated Shipping Settings Automation preferences.

What are Delivery zone limits for Prime Region Automation?

Delivery zone limits allow you to control Prime regions more precisely . If a shipping service’s eligible 2-day coverage spans across multiple zones, and consequently results in different shipping costs, you can control Prime shipping costs by limiting the Prime regions using delivery zone. You can leave the Amazon default value if they do not need to restrict Prime shipping regions by zone. You can verify the shipping costs by zones on the carriers’ websites (UPS, FedEx, USPS). The Prime badge will only be visible to customers in the regions within the delivery zone limit that can be reached in 1 or 2 days by your shipping service from your shipping location(s).

How are the coverage percentages determined for Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping?

Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping coverage is calculated as the percentage of continental US population that are within the Prime or non-Prime Premium Shipping regions covered by your selected shipping services from your ship-from location.

How do I know when my transit time or shipping regions are changed?

Whenever Amazon updates Prime region or transit times for automated shipping templates, Amazon will create a new version of the shipping template. You can review the changes in shipping template revision history.

Why is the Prime coverage determined by Amazon smaller than what I usually get?

We enable a region as Prime when the selected carrier can deliver on-time to all zip codes in that region. If we find that some of the zip codes in that region cannot be delivered on time, we may turn off that region as Prime to protect the customer experience. However, as delivery speeds of shipping services improve, a non-Prime region may be upgraded to a Prime region.

What happens if I can’t buy the designated shipping services in Buy Shipping?

You should be able to use the designated shipping services in Buy Shipping if you:

1. Purchase the shipping label on-time and before the pick-up time for the shipping service; or
2. Select a shipping location in Buy Shipping that was also defined on your automated shipping template.

If for any reason you fulfilled all requirements and still were not able to purchase your preferred shipping service in Buy Shipping, you may buy the shipping label outside of Buy Shipping but ensure that the selected shipping service can deliver the products on time. For on time delivered Prime orders, we will automatically ensure that such orders are not counted towards your Buy Shipping eligibility metrics and remove them from your defect report. It may take up to 4 business days from the date of the order for the change to reflect on your account. If you continue to see these orders on your defect report after 4 business days of receiving the order, you can contact us.

This only applies to Prime orders tied to automated shipping templates.