We’re not different - not as far as shipping templates go. I can change mine to 5-8 days.
In Texas (my state) I have the variety:
I assume yours (Marilyn) is different because you’re using SFP?
Hmmm. I will have to explore this deeper. Yes, I am thinking it is SFP that is the problem. I remember having an awful time setting up SFP because the AMZ shipping template kept limiting my options. They wanted me to have mail from Michigan to Chicago as next day.
I will have to explore this deeper.
I can confirm - SFP has entirely different requirements. I did SFP for a long time, not as a handmade seller though.
With SFP, you have no choice about what you can offer, you must offer what Amazon says must be offered. And how in the world are you still able to be SFP at this point? I wonder if the rules for that are different for handmade too? If they are, then I want to be in handmade. LOL…
I’m kidding. I did SFP for a long time and turned it off before Amazon changed the rules. I’m still eligible only because I turned it off before trying to meet the new stricter ‘views’ requirements that no one can meet. So I’m super curious how you’re able to meet them, or if there are more lax rules for handmade SFP. Maybe @Image could enlighten us as they would probably know.
Edit: Once you click the box to enable Prime on a given template, then Amazon restricts the options you can choose. Unclick it and you control your settings again, but don’t get the Prime badge on your listings.
Yes, that is my bottom line. I want the Prime badge so buyers will see me. Since I am a small Handmade seller, I want to hold onto the Prime badge as long as I can.
Since I am a small Handmade seller, I want to hold onto the Prime badge as long as I can.
How do you manage to do that? How do you afford to ship nationwide in 2-days? You said you only ship first-class, but first-class doesn’t ever meet the 2-day delivery required for SFP and Amazon won’t allow you to use it. It’s UPS 2-day air at a minimum, maybe priority mail on very rare occasions.
AMZ has loosened up on the 2-day shipping and sometimes it works out to 3-4 days. I make midnight trips to the PO if I need to LOL.
Fun fact: Handmade had a fun loophole awhile back (prob 2 years ago - maybe 3?) where they let us piggyback on ‘Small and Light’ with a 4 day delivery time. No idea why or how, but it was wonderful - that prime badge on everything! But all good things must come to an end and they took it away. Whomp whomp.
Not much else is different - only fee waiver, brand waiver & sole ownership of all listings I think? It was very different at first - no variations, no bullets. Not sure why they ever set it up with an entirely different template originally.
When we did SFP, and we are still approved to do it. Amazon Handmade was treated the same way. When COVID hit prior to the new Seller Fulfilled prime rules, we stopped, hit the big off button.
Then while we were turned off, they changed the game. 100% of the US required to arrive in two days, and shipments same day before the afternoon deadline. A percentage must arrive in one day, make an error and customer keeps the item for free. (they always had that rule)
Every day of the week you must ship, ship same day, (before the deadline) and the package must arrive on time in two days. I forget the split 30% need to arrive one day? Just never followed up to see all the requirements. We still qualify, I hope one day the rules change, we could go back.
After all Amazon can not meet the same strict requirements on it’s own FBA Prime commitments.
With the new rules, I feel you could only do this with a group of distributed warehouses around the country. All with product ready to ship, and all arriving within 2 day ground of every corner in the nation.
I originally avoided SFP, because I thought that is what you needed to have all along. After much study, and even Amazon reps telling us how to trick the system, we started SFP. We did very well at it and loved the challenge.
The main trick, and it does not mater any longer, have shipping templates turning off and on SFP for parts of the country depending on the day and hour of the week.
We also did SFP small and light, in both handmade and commercial the rules were lax. We still could beat Amazon and it’s S&L FBA program. We knew that since we used it at one time, but shut it off since they were so slow.
We turned off SFP S&L when they removed the Prime Badge. No sense pushing our shipments so hard, without benefits.
Marilyn, if you want to give it a try then go for it. Roxy is the best in the book on the program. We worked with her and others behind the scenes (PM’s) when we were all doing it.
I loved the thrill of victory, and the anticipated agony of defeat when we did SFP.
My favorite part of training to be a pilot was when the instructor or check pilot would shut of (simulated) the engine and make me land with no option out. In seaplane training, a flying boat, my first time out we were just off the runway at 500 feet and he shut us down. No place to go but the nearby lake. Damn I love that stuff.
That said, I am not turning SFP on, to much risk.
Wait wait wait… what?? I see @Image replying. I have lots of questions. SFP has always been concrete in enforcing their rules. I don’t know what you mean when you say ‘loosening up’ on 2-day shipping.
There must be different SFP rules for handmade sellers because what you’re saying doesn’t wash at all with non-handmade SFP unless something has changed dramatically.
I like staying on top of the rules so you’ve just thrown me for a loop. 
Lots of questions forthcoming!
OK, so as far as you know, there’s no different rules for handmade sellers?
Because @ickynicks is saying she ships only with first-class mail, which Buy Shipping will never ever offer to any destination, and since SFP requires you to buy your label through Buy Shipping, I can’t figure out how these two can possibly work together:
- I only ship with first-class mail
- I use SFP
Help me understand?
Edit: This doesn’t even factor in the whole views nonsense, because she can’t possibly be taking Next Day Prime orders and shipping them with first-class
I have used priority mail and priority express on occasion.
Let me go back to the rules of SFP as I know them, and maybe you can tell me what doesn’t currently apply to you? Maybe they’ve changed something and I’m not yet aware?
- SFP always required you to buy your shipping label through Amazon Buy Shipping. Since FC is never offered on orders that are Next Day or 2-day, I don’t understand how you can ship those and meet the SFP requirements? You could do it with ‘standard’ orders, but not any that have the Prime badge.
- In the most recent rules change to SFP, you now have to (to summarize things) offer Next Day delivery to a good portion of the country, along with 2-day to everyone. Even if you were allowed to buy your shipping labels off site, first-class mail never delivers overnight, so I don’t know how you could possibly make this work
Those are the two biggest things I can’t understand.
I have used priority mail and priority express on occasion.
Buy Shipping never presents Priority Mail as a Next Day option either, and as I recall, the fastest they ever showed Express Mail as was also 2 days. Neither of these would meet the next day delivery requirement. When I did SFP (when you were allowed to offer it only to specific regions), it was a regular occurrence to get stuck with a $54+ label as the only one Amazon would offer. 
Don’t get me wrong. I’m impressed that you still have it, and it’s great that you’re able to keep it. I’m just confused about how, since it seems impossible for any average seller to be able to meet the new rules.
Oh, now this is interesting. @Image, were you aware??
From November 7th??!! Did they give everyone a free pass for the holidays and we weren’t aware?
@ickynicks, what do your metrics show here?
I’ve had my SFP flip switched to off for years, so I have no data. 
I wonder if you have another shipping template other than the ‘Standard Shipping’ one you showed up above. For example, I have a template called FREE and I have an SFP template that looks like the one you have in your screenshot (the template name is cut off at the top).
My listings only use the FREE (non-SFP) template.
If you edit one of your listings, under ‘Offer’ - are they using the one you showed up above? This is a fun mystery to solve!
EDIT: Nope, I took a look and your listings do all say Prime. They also say delivery by Wednesday, Feb 8th, which is 2 day shipping. But also 2-3 days production time, so that would overlap that delivery date. You’ve clearly found some fun loophole - interesting!
No but again, I have not looked at SFP since the first few days of COVID, except to see that the new SFP rules following that event, in my opinion could not be met by our company.
We reset to 1-2 day shipping as our default, no SFP, on some custom products we go 3 day shipping, most go out on day two. Of note we do a lot of First Class shipping as long as we are under 16 ounces. But this is with a 1-2 day shipping commitment.
Until they go back to the way it was, thus emulating Amazon’s poor performance, we will not be looking to go back. Nor will we study the risk and rewards of going back.
Our team can make more profit developing new products.
I wonder if you have another shipping template other than the ‘Standard Shipping’ one you showed up above.
Not sure if you’re aware, but all shipping templates are the same. It’s only the settings inside them that differentiate one from another. People (not necessarily you) often think that they are different, because Amazon starts you off with ones that are configured differently. It confuses nearly everybody.
Back in the old days, when @Image and I both did Prime, you could offer it only to specific regions (not nationwide) and there was no requirement to offer Next Day at all. We were able to work the system to let us use first-class mail by enabling Prime on Wednesdays after our cut-off time, and disabling it once we were done shipping on Saturdays.
Back then, Amazon didn’t count Saturday as a workday for Prime, so over the weekend, you got an extra ‘free’ transit day. By forcing Prime sellers to ship on Sat or Sun now, they’ve eliminated that, and by forcing a certain percentage of views to see next day delivery, they’ve taken FC out of the equation entirely.
It was way better back when you could offer 2-day delivery and let it take 4 days to get there.
No but again, I have not looked at SFP since the first few days of COVID, except to see that the new SFP rules following that event, in my opinion could not be met by our company.
Yes, I remember that. But that big box seems to say ‘we’re not enforcing the rules anymore’, which intrigues me. Especially if they haven’t been enforcing the rules since early in November, due to a ‘technical glitch’.
It would take a lot to get me to go back, because I’m firmly convinced that SFP only offers more headaches, and may actually hurt sales. I was seeing more sales without it than with it, which is what prompted my original decision to turn it off.
Yes, this I knew 
I had two - actually three - templates all set up with different settings and used them on different products, mainly to use the SFP only on certain things. I used my Free or Default (just the names) on most listings, and the one with SFP settings on others.
But yeah, I can see how people get confused. The backend UI is terrible for such a tech-heavy company.
A true statement for just about everything they do.
The (insert random thing) is terrible for such a tech-heavy company.
I remember helping a lot of people when they first switched over to shipping templates, because Amazon started them off with names like ‘Migrated Book Template’ and ‘Regional Prime Ground’ and people thought one could only be used for books, and one only for ground shipments for Prime. 