Amazon Prime delivery and eBay handling time: lining up the two dates

How do Amazon Prime delivery and eBay handling time relate?

Amazon Prime delivery and eBay handling time measure two different things, and confusing them is one of the most common causes of late deliveries. eBay's handling time, also called dispatch time, is the number of working days you take to send an item after the buyer pays. The estimated delivery date eBay shows a buyer is that handling time plus the carrier's transit time. An Amazon delivery estimate, Prime or not, is a date for one offer, delivered to one address, as shown at one moment.

If you price from Amazon and your eBay listing promises a date, the two have to line up. A listing that promises delivery faster than the supply chain behind it can deliver will produce late deliveries, and late deliveries count against you.

Why does the rule on sourcing come first?

Lining up dates matters for any seller with an outside supplier, but sourcing from a retailer has a rule of its own. eBay permits dropshipping where you fulfil orders directly from a wholesale supplier. Listing an item on eBay and then buying it from another retailer or marketplace that ships directly to your buyer is not allowed under eBay's drop shipping policy.

The same policy says you are responsible for safe delivery within the time frame stated in your listing and for your buyer's satisfaction. Whatever your supply chain, the date on your listing is your promise, not Amazon's.

What does an Amazon delivery estimate really tell you?

The delivery line in Amazon's buy box gives a date or a range, sometimes with a cut-off time to order by. It is useful, but it is narrow.

• It is for one offer. If the buy box moves to a different seller, the date can change completely.
• It is for one address. The date is calculated for the "Deliver to" postcode shown on the page. A different postcode can give a different date.
• It is for one moment. The cut-off for next-day delivery passes during the day, and a date shown this morning can be a day later this afternoon.
• It depends on stock. When stock runs low, the date can move back or a later dispatch date can appear.
• It can depend on membership. Some delivery speeds are shown only to Prime members, and delivery charges can differ for non-members.

So a single next-day Prime estimate does not mean the product always arrives next day. It means that offer, to that address, ordered at that time, was expected next day.

Reading cut-off times and weekend dates

Many Amazon delivery lines include an order-by time, such as order within a few hours for delivery tomorrow. That cut-off is part of the estimate. If you read a product in the morning and an order arrives on eBay in the evening, the date you read no longer applies. Weekends and bank holidays shift dates as well: an estimate read on a Friday can jump to the following Tuesday. Store the time with each reading so you know which cut-off it belonged to, and plan your handling time around the dates that apply later in the day, not the best morning case.

How does eBay decide a delivery was late?

eBay's seller performance policy explains how late deliveries are counted in the UK. With tracking, an item is late if the delivery scan is after the latest estimated delivery date and there is no carrier scan within the dispatch time. Late delivery rate has no minimum for Above Standard, but Top Rated sellers must have no more than 5 late deliveries or 3% of transactions.

Two things follow. First, the latest estimated delivery date on your listing is the line you must not cross. Second, the dispatch time matters on its own: a carrier scan within your handling time protects you even if the carrier is then slow.

How do you choose a handling time from Amazon delivery estimates?

The goal is a handling time that covers the slower, realistic case, not the best case.

1. Record the delivery estimate with every reading. Store the date shown, the time you read it and the offer type.
2. Look at the spread. Over a couple of weeks, note the fastest and slowest estimates you saw for each product.
3. Take the slower end. Set your handling time so that a delivery at the slower end of the usual range still meets your listing's latest date.
4. Allow for working days. Handling time counts working days, while Amazon's estimate is a calendar date that may include weekends.
5. Allow for your own steps. Any time you need to process an order, add a tracking number or deal with a query sits inside your handling time too.
6. Review after events. Delivery estimates often stretch during busy seasons. Recheck your times before and after them.

What does lining up the dates look like in practice?

Use this table as a planning guide. The exact handling time is your decision, based on the dates you actually see for each product.

A hypothetical example

Example: suppose you track a phone case for two weeks. On ten days the buy box showed next-day Prime delivery from Amazon's stock. On four days, after Amazon's stock ran low, it showed a seller-dispatched offer arriving in four to five days. If your listing promises one working day of handling plus a short transit time, those four days are four days on which any order would have been at risk of arriving late. A longer handling time on that listing, or setting quantity to zero whenever the slower offer is in the buy box, would have avoided the risk.

How can you keep dates lined up automatically?

Dates move as often as prices, so the same tracking that keeps your prices right can keep your dates right.

• Read the delivery estimate with every price reading. One reading, all the fields.
• Compare it with the listing's promise. If the estimate is now later than your listing can absorb, act before the next sale.
• Hold or zero the listing. Setting quantity to zero until a faster offer returns is better than taking an order you may deliver late.
• Re-read after each sale. The next buyer deserves a fresh check, not this morning's date.

Dropizon's extension reads the delivery estimate along with price, stock and seller from the live buy box, at the postcode you choose, and the how it works page explains how those readings feed repricing and stock decisions. The guide to FBA vs FBM offers explains why a change of seller so often moves the date.

When a date is going to slip

Sometimes a delay only becomes clear after the sale. When that happens, tell the buyer early, give an honest new date and offer the options eBay's process allows. Buyers who hear about a delay from you, before the expected date, are far more likely to wait than buyers who find out when nothing arrives. Then look at why the date slipped: if it was a change of offer or a stock problem, tighten your checks on that product so the next order is not affected.

A dispatch planning checklist

• Know the difference: handling time is your dispatch time; the eBay delivery date adds transit time.
• Read every Amazon delivery estimate at your chosen postcode and record it.
• Set handling time from the slower realistic estimate for each product, in working days.
• Get tracking on every order and upload it promptly, so a carrier scan falls inside your dispatch time.
• Zero any listing whose only offer cannot meet the listing's latest delivery date.
• Review handling times before and after busy seasons.
• Read eBay's drop shipping policy and make sure your sourcing model meets it.