Effective Date: February 24, 2025
The e-commerce landscape is ever-evolving, and efficient order fulfillment is crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and competitive advantage. To help sellers manage their workload effectively, an automatic minimum threshold for order handling capacity will be implemented in Seller Central starting February 24, 2025. This update ensures that sellers can handle orders at a sustainable rate while maintaining accurate delivery promises to customers.
Understanding Order Handling Capacity
Order handling capacity is a feature in Seller Central that allows sellers to set a daily limit on the number of orders they can process. This feature prevents sellers from overcommitting, ensuring that they can fulfill all orders on time and maintain high customer service standards.
What Is Changing?
With the new automatic minimum thresholds:
- Conservative Estimates Based on Historical Data: Seller Central will automatically set a minimum threshold based on the average daily order volume over the past 30 days.
- Weekly Recalibration: The system will update the minimum threshold every week to reflect recent trends in order volume.
- Automatic Adjustments: If a seller’s order volume drops below the minimum threshold, the system will lower the limit accordingly.
- Seller Flexibility: Sellers can manually set a higher limit in Order Handling Settings if they anticipate handling more orders than the automatic threshold suggests.
Benefits of the New Automatic Minimum Threshold
1. More Accurate Delivery Promises
By setting realistic limits, sellers can avoid promising faster shipping than they can manage. Once the handling capacity limit is reached, customers will see an extended delivery promise, giving sellers an additional day for processing.
2. Reduced Late Shipment Rate
With automatic adjustments, sellers are less likely to miss delivery deadlines. The system ensures that the number of orders accepted aligns with the seller’s ability to fulfill them on time.
3. Improved Customer Satisfaction
Shoppers will receive more reliable shipping estimates, reducing the chances of complaints due to delays in delivery.
4. Operational Efficiency
Automating the order handling capacity reduces manual workload and enables sellers to focus on improving operations rather than constantly adjusting order limits.
How the System Works
- Seller Averages 50 Orders/Day: The system will set a minimum threshold based on this average.
- Order Volume Increases: Sellers can manually raise the limit to accommodate growth.
- Order Volume Drops to 30 Orders/Day: The system will adjust the threshold accordingly in the next weekly update.
Exceptions and Limitations
- Only Applies to Standard and Free Economy Shipping: The automatic minimum threshold does not impact Premium Shipping or Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) orders.
- Manual Adjustments Allowed: Sellers can increase the limit at any time but cannot lower it below the system-determined minimum.
How to Modify Your Order Handling Capacity
Sellers can adjust their handling capacity in Seller Central by navigating to:
- Settings → Shipping Settings
- Order Handling Capacity
- Modify Daily Order Limit (if increasing the threshold)
Final Thoughts
The introduction of an automatic minimum threshold for order handling capacity is a significant step toward improving order fulfillment efficiency. Sellers will benefit from better workload management, improved delivery accuracy, and a lower risk of late shipments. By leveraging this feature, sellers can enhance customer experience while ensuring sustainable business operations.
