Which Shipping Method Should I Choose?

Shipping during the holiday season can be rough. You may not be sure which shipping method to choose, or you may be anxious to see your items get checked into Amazon as your products are selling faster than you can replenish them.

During Q4 (and any time your products urgently need to be received at Amazon), we recommend Small Parcel rather than LTL (palletized).

Small Parcel: 

• Travels faster – usually takes only a few business days to reach destination
• Is checked in faster
• And is therefore available to ship faster
• The only “con” is that it can be more expensive, but the benefits usually outweigh this. 

LTL, also known as Less than a Truckload:

• Travels slower – can take 1-2 weeks to reach destination – this is NON-Holiday times. In Q4 it takes even longer.
• Not priority for check-in at Amazon, so it will wait behind small parcel
• Therefore not available as quickly to ship to your customers
• Many LTL shipments get assigned to Amazon Freight, who does not always pick up the next business day. We have noticed a lot of the carriers have not been picking up as frequently, and we/you are having to chase them down. We cannot open a case with Amazon for you when this happens as we are not the owner of the Seller Central Account.  
• LTL also may not always be an option as Amazon now likes to see how things are packaged before deciding which facilities they will send them to, which means that shipments may be split so many ways, there is not really an option for LTL. 

Of course if your shipment is not urgent and you’re still interested in shipping LTL, that’s not a problem. We will happily assist you with your LTL shipment if requested. It’s your business, your choice. 

Another thing to keep in mind – Amazon is now doing a rebate thing where they’ll say, send “delayed” and get a rebate of X, or choose “faster” and get a rebate of Y. We may ask your preference in cases where the disparity between the two is quite large. 

If you are an OA or Wholesale Client, we’ve added a new feature to EPIC. Now, when you submit a preshipment, you can choose your preferred shipping method. This means the team can complete your shipment more efficiently, and questions from your Account Manager will be minimized.