Hello,
By April 2027, all parcel shipping templates for Fulfilled by Merchant offers will be updated with automated transit times for standard shipping to provide more accurate delivery promises to customers.
Currently, when you manually set transit times that are faster than actual carrier delivery speeds, it results in late deliveries and can negatively impact your account health. Automated transit times use data on your warehouse location, real-time carrier performance, and known network disruptions to calculate delivery dates. On average, automated transit times are 30% more accurate than seller-set transit times, which means fewer late deliveries and potentially increased sales.
This update doesn’t affect shipping options for Seller Fulfilled Prime, Premium Shipping, freight shipping templates, or shipping templates with Shipping Settings Automation enabled.
How to prepare
While we’ll calculate transit times, you control the inputs we use to set delivery dates. We recommend the following actions:
- Verify your ship-from locations and shipping preferences are accurately set in your locations tab. If you have multiple locations with varying inventory, enroll in multi-location inventory so that delivery dates are calculated based on the closest stocked warehouse to each customer.
- When you confirm shipments, provide the ship-from location and shipping service used. This will be used to help set accurate delivery dates on future orders. If you purchase shipping labels on Amazon Buy Shipping, this is done automatically.
You’ll receive an email 14 days before your shipping templates are updated to automated transit times.
To review the inputs used for your delivery dates, download your order reports to view the history of what inputs we used on every order.
For more information, go to Shipping Settings Automation.
The Amazon Services team
I have no idea what this means or how it impacts me (don’t think it does), but I hate the idea of even more micromanagement and tinkering with anything having to do with shipping. They’ve already made it an ever-narrowing minefield of issues that are entirely self-generated from their end to the point of impossibility.
I just got this as well and it is literally hurting my head trying to make sense of this bs. Are they trying to force same day shipping on everyone now?
Basically, if you aren’t already using SSA, they are going to remove your ability to pick your own transit times.
I hate this line so much. Basically, some sellers did not properly set up their shipping templates, resulting in negative outcomes. Therefore, Amazon is taking away everyone’s ability to set up their shipping templates.
We are already using Autmated Handling Time (AHT) and Shipping Setting Automation (SSA). What is the the meaning of “automated transit times” and how is that different from AHT and SSA?
Since you are using SSA, this will not impact you at all.
So does this SSA BS mean I’m going to get same day shipping forced on me?
No.
This doesn’t change your shipping times at all. It only impacts your transit times, or how long from shipping to delivery. Currently, without SSA active, sellers can choose a transit time for their templates. After this change, no longer.
Getting closer and closer to Amazon just forcing everyone to use their own labels or FBA.
I “Automated transit times use data on your warehouse location, real-time carrier performance, and known network disruptions to calculate delivery dates.”
Calling BS on the bolded part.
More … and more … automation from Amazon.
In the future I imagine I’ll be able to use Alexa to list and manage my account … in any language.
And nothing could possibly go wrong with that.
Basically, this is Shipping Settings Automation without any “benefit” of being in the Shipping Settings Automation program.
Typically right now, our shipping transit times using Shipping Setting Automation is 5 to 6 days with most of our stuff going to Zone 5, 6, & 7. When we compare that to what USPS says, it is usually 1 day longer than the USPS estimate. Our average order is delivered 1 to 2 days faster than the time given by Shipping Settings Automation.
Bottom line … to us … it appears that Amazon is actually moving everyone to a version of Shipping Settings Automation much like they moved everyone to DD+7 payout.
We have AHT (with 2 day handle time on all items) enabled and SSA enabled. We haven’t had a problem with the AHT in a while and ship strictly to the 2 day handle time schedule. SSA has been reasonably accurate and, on the few times we have had a late delivery, it is usually a day late and we do not get a metric hit.
SSA works so enabling it now might save some headaches that this Amazon change creates (we all know how smooth Amazon changes are).
SSA Lite, but yes. And as in all things Amazon, I expect more automation to come. How dare I try to run my own business. The gall.
I tried using Siri but she told me where to go…
what about Portuguese, for our Brazilian members?
Am I even allowed to make that joke?
basically they will be forcing SSA and AHT for everyone