Overview

Amazon Seller Central provides sellers with a dedicated shipping settings interface to define the service levels, rates, and regional restrictions that apply to self-fulfilled orders. Properly configuring these settings is essential for accurate delivery promises, competitive Buy Box positioning, and maintaining a healthy seller account. Whether you ship a handful of products or thousands of SKUs, understanding how shipping configuration works will help you avoid costly errors and improve customer satisfaction.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Standard shipping is mandatory — Amazon requires all sellers to offer standard shipping as a baseline service level. You cannot opt out of this requirement, though you can customize the rates you charge within it.
• Additional service levels are optional — Expedited, two-day, and other premium shipping tiers can be enabled at your discretion, allowing you to compete for time-sensitive buyers.
• Default settings apply account-wide — The shipping configuration you define in your account-level settings serves as the default for all your listings unless overridden at the product level.
• Per-product overrides are available — You can customize shipping options for individual ASINs by editing their details in your inventory management section, giving you granular control over specific items.
• Bulk editing requires a Professional plan — Sellers on the Professional selling plan can update shipping settings for multiple offers simultaneously using a text file template, saving significant time for large catalogs.
• Regional restrictions can be configured — Sellers can specify which regions or states they will and will not ship to, which is important for items with shipping limitations such as hazardous materials or oversized goods.

How Shipping Settings Work

Amazon's shipping configuration operates on a layered system. At the top level, your account-wide shipping settings establish the default service levels, transit times, and rates for all merchant-fulfilled orders. These defaults are configured through the shipping settings page in Seller Central. When a buyer views your listing, the shipping options and estimated delivery dates they see are derived from these settings combined with the buyer's delivery address. Sellers should review these defaults regularly, especially when expanding into new product categories or geographic regions, to ensure delivery promises remain accurate and competitive.