Last week, I created a SSA template using USPS Ground Advantage and attached it to all of my listings. Amazon is letting me purchase Ground Advantage with all protections checked green, but this is what shows on my orders:
Isn’t Ground Advantage a 2-4 day service?
What do I tell buyers when they say that their item is arriving late?
FYI: My handling time is set at 1-day.
It is 2 to 5 day service.
Amazon has calculated that the zone this is going to will be delivered in 2 days using USPS Ground Advantage.
If you have a 2 day handle time, then you would see the deliver by as a pair of dates (ie: 9/13 - 9/14).
Depending on the destination, even with 1 day handle time you might see a pair of dates but not always. With 1 day, a pair of estimated delivery dates would be more likely for a destination that is Zone 5 up to Zone 8.
As long as it is allowing the purchase of USPS Ground Advantage, then your SSA settings seem to be good.
Wait and see if it is late … we haven’t had an issue yet (knock on wood) … but, if it happened to us, we would refer them to Amazon as Amazon controlled the estimated shipping. There is verbage in Amazon stating as such (we will have to go find it and get back to you).
I normally use 2-day handling time, but I switched to one day last week because my handling time gap is more than 2 days. (2.2 days to 0.1 days) I plan on switching back to 2 day handling time some time about October 20th, right before the new rules kick in.
Switch it back now and set 2 day handle time on all listings asap.
After changing back, start shipping on the last day of the ship by date. What you are doing will most likely get you stuck at 1 day handle time.
FYI … for the US, the date is September 25, 2024. If you are out of the US and ship into the US, then the date is October 25, 2024.
This will kill my On-time delivery rate.
This is very difficult for me to do as I have never run my business that way. If I get my gap below 2-days before September 25th, won’t I be able to change my handling time to 2 days?
We have had several 3 day transits that we questioned but all have made it so far (nothing we get is close enough for 2 days as we are rural).
If you get changed by Amazon to AHT because of your handle time gap being above 2.0, then you will not be able to have 2 days. We were at 2.5 at the beginning of August and started shipping on the last ship by date and we are now down to 0.7 days.
Yes it is an adjustment, but it can be done. Once you are below 1.0, you can print labels at 12:00pm (noon) PST the day before the last ship by date and be ok. But right now you need to work on getting it down.
I agree w/ @Lost My Marbles about changing to 2-day shipping ASAP. You don’t want to be stuck w/ 1 day handling, no matter where you’re located!! With us, since we’re elderly w/ chronic diseases, it’s whether we can stir our aged stumps!! Sometimes we need a lie-in!!
40 days ago, our handling was 3-5 days, dependent on weight. We had a handling gap of 2.5 days (3.2 day promise and .7 actual-shipped mostly same day, w/ MANY expedited orders). That’s what AMAZON used to want sellers to do-deliver early and please buyers!!
Now, we’re at 2.9 days (actual), after changing 70% of orders to 2 day. Our handling is 1.5, so we’re at handling gap of 1.4 and we’re rarely expediting except the most expensive books or those few who pay the premium for faster delivery.
If we have 5 day handling, we’re shipping on the last day of the window. I hate it- and for a few days felt very guilty leaving parcels behind.
A 100% increase in handling time-and that’s supposed to be an excellence metric?? PHOOEY! What twerp in the C-Suite thought this was better for the buyer? Or does AMZ care about anything except their stock price?
I switched my listings back to 2 day handling time using a file upload of my whole catalog (over 1,000 listings), but I am finding listings that didn’t change back to 2-day handling time. I checked the actual file that I uploaded and the SKU’s are on the upload showing 2-day handling time. How is this possible?
We would create a separate file with those and resubmit after 24 hours. It’s like any other field that doesn’t update … it happens.
The problem with that is I have to search through each individual listing to find them. There are 2,000 listings in the upload.
Do they show up as 1 day handling time in the reports?
Which report shows handling time? I can’t find any reports that show the handling time column.
Do you still have this ?
If not, the instructions are right above your response in the above link.
We couldn’t find in any of the inventory reports available either.
Did you use the "Price & Quantity Template?
Here’s our report list…still
@Sundance can you verify for @TheOrangeCrush if the Category Listings Report has Handle Time for each ASIN?
Note: … our drop down selection is the same except we do NOT have the Category Listings Report (we would have to ask for it again).
Yes
Yes, and I just downloaded it.
It does.
Success!
Even after re-submitting, I’m still getting orders with one day handling time.
Also, I received an order with the following:
Purchase date: Sun, Sep 15, 2024, 6:39 AM PDT
Ship by: Tue, Sep 17, 2024 PDT to Wed, Sep 18, 2024 PDT
Which would indicate 2-day handling time.
Then I received this order of the same exact item 36 hours later:
Purchase date: Mon, Sep 16, 2024, 8:22 PM PDT
Ship by: Tue, Sep 17, 2024 PDT
Which would indicate 1-day handling time.
How is it possible to receive 2 orders of the same exact item 36 hours apart with the first order having 2-day handling time and the second order having 1-day handling time?
There is no way that I changed my handling time from 2-day to 1-day in that 36 hour time period. If anything, it would have been the other way around.
The magic of Amazon? 
This order must have been held in pending for 24 hours for the ship by dates to be pushed out one day.
Check the shipping template this item is associated with.
Do you have different warehouses that you ship from with different templates?
Is AHT turned on?
The first sale is what is commonly seen when an order is held in pending for one day and then released and had a 2 day handle time.
The second sale would have us checking our templates and AHT setting.
We do not have anything other than Standard Shipping with USPS Ground Advantage (less than 1lb) set up on our SSA shipping template and it has worked without error. Our handle time is set at item level to be 2 days and has also worked as planned.
Does this ASIN have different SKUs? If so, check handle time at item level for both.
Last thing … you were switching between 2 day to 1 day to 2 day handle time. If a customer put the item in their basket and started checkout but didn’t finish during the time you had it set to 1 day, then Amazon may have retained that 1 day handle time when the customer completed the order.
Re-verify AHT.
Re-verity the item level handle time.
Re-verify the shipping template the item is associated with.
If you don’t find anything, just be patient and wait to see if this was a one off type thing that could have been cause by the switching of handle time during the week.
