Amazon now requires ecommerce sellers who ship their own orders to keep their stated dispatch times in line with how quickly they actually ship. If sellers leave inaccurate settings unresolved after notification, Amazon can take over those settings for 180 days.
The requirements took effect on June 29, 2026, and apply to affected Professional sellers in the US. They cover handling time: the period from receiving an order to handing it to a carrier. This helps determine the delivery date shown to shoppers. Sellers can let Amazon calculate handling times from recent shipping history or manage settings for individual SKUs.
For sellers who manage these settings manually, Amazon reviews shipping performance over a 30-day period. A SKU can be flagged if orders consistently ship at least one day earlier than the stated handling time. Sellers have 30 days after official notification to correct the discrepancy. If it remains unresolved, Amazon can adjust the affected handling times for 180 days, during which sellers cannot change them. Amazon provides late shipment rate protection for the SKUs it updates.
Exemptions cover eligible custom, handmade, and perishable products, alongside qualifying less-than-truckload shipments.
For ecommerce sellers managing large catalogs, the rules limit flexibility to retain handling buffers when shipping history supports faster dispatch. Maintaining accurate settings means tracking performance at the SKU level.
Sellers should review Amazon’s Handling Time report, compare configured times with actual dispatch records, and check order handling capacity settings against warehouse throughput. Review exemptions before changing settings and assess whether automated handling times suit your operation.
Descartes Sellercloud™ can help sellers manage Amazon lead-time settings and monitor fulfillment against ship-by dates. This visibility can support regular reviews of whether stated handling times reflect actual dispatch performance across the catalog.
Book a Descartes demo to learn how our ecommerce solutions can help you coordinate warehouse operations and support reliable order dispatch.
