Overview

Amazon's Premium Shipping program enables eligible merchant-fulfilled sellers to offer one-day and two-day delivery promises directly to customers. This program allows sellers who handle their own fulfillment to compete more effectively with FBA offers by displaying fast shipping badges on their listings, potentially increasing visibility and conversion rates.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Eligibility is performance-based — Sellers must meet specific performance metrics before they can enroll, including on-time delivery rates, tracking upload rates, and cancellation thresholds.
• Two speed tiers available — The program supports both one-day and two-day shipping promises, and sellers can choose which tiers to enable based on their fulfillment capabilities.
• Shipping templates drive enrollment — Premium Shipping is activated through your existing shipping templates in Seller Central, not through a separate application process.
• Regional configuration — Sellers select which geographic regions they can reliably serve at each speed tier and set corresponding shipping rates.
• Rate flexibility — You can configure shipping fees using price band structures or flat rates depending on your shipping template model.

Eligibility and Performance Requirements

Before enrolling in Premium Shipping, sellers must demonstrate consistent fulfillment performance. Amazon evaluates metrics including your on-time delivery rate, valid tracking rate, and seller-initiated cancellation rate over a trailing period. Sellers who fall below these thresholds after enrollment may have their Premium Shipping privileges suspended until performance improves. It is important to only enable Premium Shipping in regions where you can consistently meet the promised delivery windows, as missed promises negatively impact your account health metrics and customer experience scores.

How to Set Up Premium Shipping

The enrollment process takes place within Seller Central's shipping settings. Navigate to the Settings dropdown menu in the top right corner of Seller Central and select Shipping Settings. From the templates list, choose an existing shipping template you want to enable for Premium Shipping, or create a new shipping template. The exact steps differ slightly depending on which shipping model you use, but the core process involves enabling the Premium Shipping checkbox for either one-day or two-day delivery within your template. You then select the regions where you want to offer that speed tier and configure your shipping rates — either by setting price band and shipping price combinations or by entering a flat shipping fee for regular customers. After configuring your rates, save the template to activate Premium Shipping for the products assigned to it.