So, despite having no Amazon “zones” for shipping transit times within the USA as the carriers actually use to define their services, I am still a little confused.
“Expedited Shipping” is described by Amazon as “2 to 4-Day”, but what USPS, UPS or FedEx service will actually provide this?
“Two-Day Delivery Order by 2:00 p.m.” has the notation “Ground Advantage Light (< 1lb), USPS Priority Mail®” But “ground advantage” does not assure any such 2-day delivery. Only “Priority Mail Express” seems to offer anything like a clear 2-day commitment. Normal “Priority Mail” offers only a 3-day commitment, which the USPS phrases as “1, 2, or 3-day”.
So, what are we supposed to DO when an order comes in and someone has paid extra for “Expedited”, and claims that Amazon made them a firm commitment on our behalf, WITHOUT TELLING US that the package would be there in “3 days” from the date of order, when we have a 2-day “handling time” set? What are we to do, other than let it skip our own internal queue, and buy the ground shipping, eliminating handling time, but not paying for priority mail express shipping?
I keep things as simple as possible since I have the attention span of a confused gnat most days.
I do NOT offer 2 day shipping but it would seem that ‘overnight’ or ‘next day delivery’ would be needed for any of those orders. That is why I will never offer it. Amazon puts enough pressure on sellers as it is and I figure any buyers that are in that big of a hurry should go get whatever it is in an actual STORE locally! They are way too ‘needy’ and demanding for me to deal with.
For “Expedited” I just go to Priority mail.
The key for me is what the expected DELIVERY date is on the order. I still have 2 day handling so an order that came in late yesterday shows this:
Ship by date: Tue, Aug 6, 2024 PDT
Deliver by date: Mon, Aug 12, 2024 PDT
It’s going to PA and I could drive it there by tomorrow!
Nope … it use to but not any more. USPS has it at 2 to 4 days … and from our experience, it has been more on the 4 days than 2 days. It is about the same as Ground Advantage.
We were offering Expedited and have not had Amazon change anything. It all has to do with the shipping template settings. We have 2 day handle time and 2-4 day transit on the shipping template for Expedited. We haven’t had any issues.
If you are not on a professional account or have Automated Handle Time turned on or have Shipping Setting Automation turned on, then you are at the mercy of Amazon.
Note
We will be turning off Expedited as Amazon attempts to move everyone to AHT and SSA. In addition, we do not do 2 day, 1 day or same day. Everything is standard. We may enable Economy depending on the Amazon move with AHT and SSA.
Expedited shipping is just a term on Amazon, without a corresponding specific service from any specific carrier.
Its service, carrier, cost, and timeline will vary on a per-order basis.
Essentially, what you’ve promised the Buyer who pays for “expedited shipping” is that you will make an extra effort to ship out ASAP and use the extra money they have paid to get the order to them faster than free/standard shipping by whatever service/carrier will accomplish that.
We have always offered it, “Expedited Shipping” since we started.
Our handling time ranges from 2-3 days for the most part. What we do is when the order comes in it goes to the top of the list. Much of our FBus (FBM) is manufacture on demand, needing the two days. Our Custom products need 3 days. We may need a week or more for handmade items, but they are not that common.
By flagging the order as “Expedited” we do it first, before all others. This gets it out sooner. We used to use Priority for all Expedited Shipments, that worked for us.
We saw there were faster ways, UPS ground arrives in our region in one day. By shipping 1 or 2 days early we consider that expedited.
About a year ago we added a sticker, “Expedited Shipment” to all Expedited orders. We print one type for all our brands, and one for our store. Each package gets two stickers, we feel it makes the customer feel special.
In most cases we now spend less on Expedited shipping than we did when we always used priority.
As far as one and two day, Amazon shut us down since we charge to much. For us what we charged was fair. To make our products on demand and ship one or two day we need to be compensated for the extra work.
At one time we did SFP, we loved the game, but felt compensated since we got the prime badge. The rules changed and we walked away.
There is no way to maintain 2 Day eligibility long term using 2nd day air.
A few packages will get delayed and you’ll fall under the 97% delivery promise and lose the ability. We ship all 2 Day orders using NEXT DAY just to have a cushion.
Go to Shipping Settings
Click Edit on the Shipping Template that you are using
Uncheck the box in front of Expedited Shipping if it is checked
Remember to Save the template (at bottom of page)
Do you have Prime Delivery checked?
Do you have Seller Fulfilled Prime products?
Do you have Shipping Setting Automation turned on?
Are you have a Professional account or Individual?
There is something that you have enabled or setting that is requiring 2 Day for it to be greyed out.
OK, after multiple attempts at “edit template”, all showing 2-day shipping checked and greyed-out, I suddenly opened up the template, and saw that I could uncheck that box, and stop Amazon from promising 2-day delivery when no shipping service offered an actual “2nd day” service except UPS, and their prices vary with distance, which Amazon can’t grock.
