Amazon’s selling partners can no longer use a default handling time of two days. The company has automatically halved the timeframe, to the surprise of many sellers. From now on, they must manually set longer handling times in Seller Central, on a per-item basis.
Sellers are complaining that Amazon made this change, which took effect on September 30, without asking for consent. Many only discovered the update later.
Default now 1 day or 0 days
Amazon sellers can now only choose a default handling time of one day or zero days; a two-day default option no longer exists, according to German news outlet OnlineHändlerNews. Amazon automatically adjusted the setting for affected selling partners. To avoid damaging their account health, they must either speed up operations or make manual adjustments.
Selling partners must work faster or adjust manually
An Amazon employee explained on the seller forum: “Effective September 30, 2025, 2-day default handling time is no longer available. This change is to help make your offers more appealing to customers through faster delivery.” Accounts of sellers who previously used a two-day default handling time have been automatically updated, the employee confirmed. “To maintain your current 2-day handling times, you will need to configure them at the SKU level.”
Even faster
According to the British news platform ChannelX, some selected sellers have been informed that their handling time will automatically be reduced from one day to zero days as of October 27. This means they will have to process orders placed up to 11 a.m. on the same day. “We will make this change on your behalf”, Amazon wrote in an email to the sellers concerned.
‘We will make this change on your behalf’
The company is likely referring to the conversion boost sellers can expect from faster delivery after accelerated ecommerce fulfillment. Last year, Amazon delivered more than one billion products within a single day in the United Kingdom.
Partners key for Amazon
It is not the first time Amazon’s selling partners have complained about the company’s unilateral actions. In Germany and the United Kingdom, where Amazon reported revenues of 39.6 billion euros and 36.7 billion euros respectively last year, sellers play a crucial role.
