Handling time update

[Picks_by_Nisha]

Well, I just got hit with the Automated Handling Time bug. Turned it off, but I no longer have the ability to set 2 day as my default.

So the solution is to manually change every single one of my offers (based on the time it takes to load each one, should be able to do this in probably no more than a week, if I spend 6 hours/day without taking a break), or learn an entirely new process of ways to modify skus.

Why on earth does anyone think this is better than having a way to select 2-day as default? Why should I have to do so much more work? And why, if 5% late shipping is enough to ding your account, do they use 85% as the threshold to “upgrade” you?

I’ll point out that I got no notification of this. Only reason I noticed was that orders that came in early today were “ship by Monday”, later orders were “Ship by Friday”. not a problem at the moment, but if I had already headed out of town, counting on my business to run the way I set it up, I’d be screwed.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

@Picks_by_Nisha

learn an entirely new process of ways to modify skus.

Excel category specific template upload …
Once you learn it, it will save you time.

[Picks_by_Nisha]

@Lost_My_Marbles

Once you learn it, it will save you time.

Yes, once I learn it, it will save time over going back and modifying thousands of skus manually. But learning it isn’t easy (the instructions are NOT easy to follow). Found what I thought would be a useful video on YouTube, but all of the menus have changed to the point that I can’t find anything that he’s doing.
And learning how to do this will be of no benefit other than doing this update. So a lot of wasted time.

BUT, after trying to figure it out for a while, I decided to just set my Max Order to 1 so that at least only one order would be late if I had a problem, I see that it now states my default handling time is back to 2 days; an option I didn’t have when I turned of the automatic.

Guess I’ll see what happens.

[Chimanimani]

We need another to comment, who has done this recently.

Maybe there is a specific template (like the change price) that can handle just a few fields.

I remember in the past when I tried to update the handling time in the “master template” ( the one that has ALL fields for your category), that you could not just update that the handling time only, WITHOUT ALSO UPDATING THE STOCK QTY AMOUNT as well.

What I had to do, was first download the stock report, then update the template with those amounts, and then the handling time change (and required fields), then partial update.

anyone?

[Picks_by_Nisha]

I just got a brilliant idea. My nephew is a good coder; maybe I’ll suggest he write a program that will update your handling time to whatever you want, and maybe even check it every hour or so to set it back how you want it whenever Amazon decides to change things for you (without permission nor notification).
Maybe he could sell the service for $1/month or so; make a fortune.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

You are correct …
The required fields have to be completed along with the field you are updating using the partial update.

If we had hundreds or thousands of SKUs, we would break them into a few templates so that we could do like items together and not try to take on all of them at one time.

Once the master group templates are compiled the first time, the process isn’t as hard.

[LR72]

I just got hit with it too.

The Price & Inventory template/spreadsheet has handling-time, so this is likely the simplest way to do it. From earlier testing, however, you do need to include more data than just sku & handling-time for it to work. I think you need price, but quantity might work also - I need to test it when I get a chance.

[doilyboutique444]

I hear ya…but it’s NOT that hard.

The proper spreadsheet has already been identified.

From there, download a report that gives you all the skus.

That makes it totally easier.

Then I think honestly, the only column you have to fill out is handling time.

Put in say 3, enter, 3, enter…and keep going.

OR when you get about 20 rows done, clip, copy, paste them all the way down.

SAVE it.

I have three spreadsheets “ready to go” all the time. One with NORMAL handling time (some are1 day, some are 4 day). Second one is 4 days for all ASINS. Third one is for 7 days. Those three seem to cover me. Fourth one could be ZERO for all ASINS, for Inventory, but Amazon does vacation mode to cover that.

When I have or had an emergency come up, they came in super handy. When I travel on vacation over a long weekend, that 7 day option comes in handy.

Walmart – just throwing it out there – does not have a vacation mode…so I need a similar file to zero out ALL the inventory levels. AND one to put all the inventory levels back to normal. YES you can take days off here and there, but once you mark more than 10, it won’t let you. SO, Walmart handles it differently. (Once you mark off the 10 federal holidays…you get “no additional” days off…so I’m still playing around with it over there but that’s another thread).

Etsy, you can do the same with a few clicks in the shipping settings.

Ebay same there in the business policies. But Amazon, uses spreadsheets to make it easy…

[oneida_books]

We’ve discussed this many times before. Here’s one thread and a recent post of mine - ❗ FBM ALERT: Amazon removing 2 day default handling time option - #149 by oneida_books

[Sundance]

Price & Quantity is pretty Simple (Get it here)

Plus you can get your info from an inventory report then copy & paste it into the P&Q Template

We save as a Tab Delimited Text File from excel and Upload

Note: This template does allow to update “JUST PRICES” if you leave blank the “Quantity” & “Lead-time-to” columns.
But to update the “lead-time-to-ship” you do need to fill in “Quantity” column as well

*Inconsistencies with Amazon reports & templates with naming conventions “Handling-Time” = “Lead-Time-To-Ship”

[Dogtamer]

@Sundance

…
*Inconsistencies with Amazon reports & templates with naming conventions “Handling-Time” = “Lead-Time-To-Ship”

As we all know - you better than many of us, given the never-ending rampage of Amabots Gone Wild in your category of specialization - if it weren’t for the constant & ever-broadening inconsistencies, Amazon would have no consistency at all.

[Picks_by_Nisha]

Frustrating that the upload is to be Tab Delimited, but the download is in a format that my version of Excel won’t handle (yes, I know it’s an old version; no, I don’t want to have to subscribe to Micrsosoft’s monthly subscription just to be able to read this).

There are alternatives; I guess I’ll get around to using them. But frustrating to be put to so much effort when just leaving things alone would have worked fine.

And if I understand correctly, I’ll have to do this on a regular basis if I don’t get in the habit of specifying handling time when I create the listing (granted, a habit I can get into, although unlike some of the other annoying fields, it won’t stop me if I forget to enter).

Bottom line is: Why can’t Amazon just let things be, and let us run our business as we see fit?

ETA: Thankfully, I got back to 2-day last night. Had two orders come in after I went to bed, but before 3:00EST, so show as Thursday orders; mail had been picked up before I got up. So if it was still on one day, I’d have to make a special trip to the PO to drop them off. On the days when the carrier gets here early (unpredictable, as we have various subs on the route), One Day handling can turn into 6 hour handling; all of that time being what is to me, the middle of the night.
Fingers crossed the 2 day default sticks.

[Sundance]

@Picks_by_Nisha

but the download is in a format that my version of Excel won’t handle

I can open it on Excel 2003, 2007 & 2010 so what version are you on?

Note: you don’t have to download it.
You can type in the column headers using the image from above so it matches exactly

Sku
Price
minimum-seller-allowed-price
maximum-seller-allowed-price
quantity
leadtime-to-ship

Then save as a Tab-Delimited Text File

ALSO!!! - I suggest for those trying this the first time to do 1 sku first to see if it works as you wanted before doing ALL SKUS.
Better Safe than sorry

[Dogtamer]

@Picks_by_Nisha

…
There are alternatives; I guess I’ll get around to using them.
…

Pro Tip: if you’re determined not to use 1Soft’s more-robust solutions, I’d advise using the LibreOffice fork rather than the OpenOffice original (I wouldn’t advise using anything other than those two, for a variety of reasons) - and run whatever alternative you decide upon as a ‘portable’ rather than an ‘installed’ iteration.

[Sundance]

@Dogtamer

Pro Tip:
I love pro tips

[Picks_by_Nisha]

I have Office 2000.

Works for everything (except this one thing) that I ever need to use it for.

I’m on a fairly new laptop, so haven’t gotten around to adding Open/LibreOffice yet, which will handle the new formats; but I don’t like it quite as much as using Excel for the few things that I use a spreadsheet for.

And if I don’t download it, where does the SKU info come from? I have no interest in filling in a blank form from scratch. For that matter, if I download that, is it just a blank form with headers? Or does it already have all of my inventory populated; blank form is useless.

[Lost_My_Marbles]

Ok … no email … no notice … we just checked and saw this …

The edit page shows it was changed on 2/28/2024

When you turn off AHT, the default two day option is not allowed … only one day …

When saved … back to original default setting …

Item level was left alone …

Note …

When we turned off AHT, the pop up asked us why we wanted to turn it off and it was showing that only 7 ASINs were being controlled by AHT. Grant it … we want 2 day Handle Time but we want it to be at item level so we can be flexible in the future if we have products that don’t need 2 day or need more than 2 day.

Reminder … check again tomorrow …

Edit kicker

Last night orders were only showing 1 day

[Sundance]

@Picks_by_Nisha

where does the SKU info come from? I have no interest in filling in a blank form from scratch.

See above.

[Picks_by_Nisha]

This was the way mine looked, until a couple of hours later; then it reverted back to 2 days default.
Maybe you’ll be lucky and get the same result.

Although I’ve never used SKU level; default 2 day was always perfect for me.

[Picks_by_Nisha]

That makes sense, but gee, what a PITA.

Plus looks like a good way for someone not paying attention to roach their entire catalog. All because Amazon wants to do away with one simple setting, that no seller wants them to do.

sigh.