Is Amazon's new FBA delivery window useful? Here comes the official reply!

In the announcement, Amazon wrote: “We know that it’s important for sellers that Amazon’s logistics centers can process receipts and shipments faster. Therefore, we are launching a new “Send to Amazon” requirement to help us get your products into inventory faster.”

“When you create a shipment, we ask you to provide an ‘FBA shipment delivery window,’ which is the approximate date you expect your shipment to arrive at our fulfillment center.”

Although this feature has been launched for some time, many sellers still have many questions about it. So Amazon recently held a seller Q&A meeting to answer questions about this new feature.

So, a seller left a message asking Amazon to give a detailed explanation of what exactly has changed in the new delivery window compared to the previous one. In response to this question, an Amazon spokesperson responded:

“Delivery windows are a new requirement for the Send to Amazon shipment creation process. When sellers create a shipment with a non-Amazon-partnered carrier, we ask them to provide a ‘delivery window,’ which is an estimated date range within which the seller can be sure the shipment will be delivered to our fulfillment center. ”

“Given the uncontrollable nature of shipping lead times, we request a date range. The delivery window for domestic shipping is 7 days and for international shipping is 14 days. This window provides Amazon with an expected arrival time for sellers’ shipments so that Amazon can better manage the goods and get them into the warehouse faster.”

Another seller posted:

“It seems like the purpose of the delivery window is to help Amazon prepare to receive the shipment. We currently use an Amazon-partnered carrier, but the inventory is booked one month after the shipment has been delivered by UPS. I wonder if switching to a non-Amazon-partnered carrier with a delivery window would speed up the process of getting the shipment into the warehouse?”

In response, Amazon said: "The answer is no. Because when you use an Amazon-partnered carrier, we don't need a delivery window, we can get information directly from the carrier about when the shipment will arrive. Although we are always working to reduce the time of warehousing, choosing a non-partnered carrier or a partnered carrier will not affect your warehousing speed."

From this reply, we can guess that the new FBA delivery window may not have any substantial impact on the speed at which sellers’ goods enter the warehouse. Ultimately, Amazon still needs to improve the high-pressure operation capabilities of its warehouses and try to avoid the risk of warehouse explosions.

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