Since June 29, 2026, Amazon requires seller-fulfilled SKUs to have accurate handling times, with a few exclusions covered below. Amazon defines accurate as your actual handling time consistently matching the handling time you configured (Amazon announcement, May 27, 2026). You can comply in one of two ways: turn on Automated Handling Time and let Amazon set the number, or keep setting it yourself and keep it honest.
What Amazon checks
Handling time is the number of days between an order coming in and you shipping it. Amazon uses it to set the delivery date the shopper sees, so a padded setting produces a later promise than you actually need (Amazon, May 27, 2026).
Amazon says over 87% of seller-fulfilled orders in the US are handled within one day, and that many sellers set longer SKU-level handling times than they need (Amazon, May 27, 2026). So if you pack the morning after an order comes in but your SKUs say two or three days, those SKUs are the ones the rule is aimed at.
The rule does not apply to custom, handmade, or Heavy & Bulky less-than-truckload shipments (Amazon, May 27, 2026).
Automated Handling Time or manual settings?
Automated Handling Time (AHT). Amazon sets each SKU's handling time from your recent shipping history and gives you late shipment rate (LSR) protection, and Amazon marks it as the recommended way to comply (Amazon, May 27, 2026). The trade-off is that you stop choosing the number: it follows your recent history, so if you usually ship the next day, that is roughly what your listings will promise.
Manual SKU-level handling time. You keep setting the number, and Amazon monitors each SKU over 30 days to check that it matches how fast you actually ship (Amazon, May 27, 2026). This only works if you check your settings against your real ship times on a regular schedule.
For a one- or two-person shop shipping on a steady schedule, AHT is the simpler choice. It removes a setting you would otherwise have to audit, and it comes with LSR protection. Manual settings make sense when you want to keep control of the promise and are willing to recheck it regularly.
What happens when a SKU gets flagged
Under manual settings, a SKU that consistently ships at least one day faster than its stated handling time gets flagged, and you have 30 days to update it (Amazon, May 27, 2026). If you don't, Amazon starts managing that SKU's handling time for you and gives it 180 days of LSR protection (Amazon, May 27, 2026). The protection helps, but from then on Amazon picks the handling time on that listing, not you.
A quick audit for your listings
- Compare each SKU's configured handling time with how fast you actually shipped it over the last month. Look for SKUs that leave a day or more faster than they say.
- Update those SKU-level overrides, or switch the account to AHT. You'll find both in Seller Central's Shipping settings, under Handling time.
- Check whether any SKU falls under the custom, handmade, or Heavy & Bulky LTL exclusion before you change it.
- Confirm shipment and upload tracking on the day the package leaves, so your recorded ship date matches the real one.
A note on Premium Shipping
You may see a 93.5% on-time delivery figure mentioned alongside this rule. It is older and separate. Amazon's July 2025 Premium Shipping announcement lists a 93.5% or higher on-time delivery rate as one of the program's requirements (Amazon, July 2025). It is not part of the June 2026 handling-time change.
The FBA side of the math
If you're weighing FBM against FBA, FBA fees went up this year too. Starting April 17, 2026, Amazon added a 3.5% fuel and logistics-related surcharge to US FBA fulfillment fees, about $0.17 per unit on average (Amazon announcement, April 2, 2026). Amazon hasn't tied that surcharge to the handling-time rule. Our reading is simply that both changes are worth putting into the same cost comparison. Our Amazon FBA vs FBM breakdown walks through it.
When handing FBM to a 3PL makes sense
If packing orders yourself is what makes your handling time hard to pin down, a 3PL with a fixed cutoff can help. At Simpl Fulfillment, orders received before 12pm CT ship the same day from our warehouse in Austin, TX, by UPS, USPS, or FedEx. Tracking numbers sync back to your Amazon orders automatically. A fixed same-day cutoff gives you a short, known ship speed to base your Seller Central handling time on. You still choose the setting (or turn on AHT), but it's easier to state accurately.
Pricing starts at $7/order, including postage, packaging, up to 3 picks, and packing. There is a $750/month minimum, billed pay-the-difference: if a month's orders bill under $750, you pay only the gap. That's about 100 shipments a month at the lightest weight (0.5 lb or under). Heavier shipments cost more each, so fewer of them reach $750. If you ship well below that, keeping fulfillment in-house for now is the honest call; because the minimum is pay-the-difference, starting early only costs you the gap. The pricing page has the details.
To see how we handle Amazon seller-fulfilled orders, visit our Amazon FBM fulfillment page.