Shipping Templates, Labels and Delivery Promises

This page explains how shipping works in Seller Center: reusable templates, buying and printing labels, delivery promises, carriers, your return address, and delivery exceptions. This page summarizes the Shipping Policy, which governs.

Templates are the system

Shipping (/seller/shipping) opens on Shipping templates (/seller/shipping/templates), because shipping on this platform is template-first. A shipping template is a reusable preset of rates and services that you attach to listings: create it once, configure it, and apply it across your catalog. Setting shipping per listing by hand lets a catalog drift out of sync; a small set of templates keeps it consistent.

To build your template set

1. Identify your real shipping profiles: for example small parcel ground, small parcel expedited, and oversized.
2. Create one template per profile, with the rates and services that profile actually uses.
3. Name each template so its purpose is plain ("Ground under 5 lbs" is clearer than "Template 1").
4. Attach the correct template to each listing, and audit the attachments quarterly.

Labels

Shipping → Labels (/seller/shipping/labels) is where you buy and print shipping labels. The label is the moment an order becomes a parcel, and three mistakes cost real money

1. Wrong weight. An under-declared weight is caught by the carrier and billed back as an adjustment, usually at a worse rate than declaring correctly. Weigh the packed parcel, not the product.
2. Wrong service. The service on the label must match the delivery promise the buyer saw. Downgrading the service after purchase to save money breaks that promise.
3. Label created, parcel never handed over. A label is not a shipment. Until the carrier scans the parcel, the order is unshipped and the late-shipment clock is running (see Orders, Acknowledgment and Shipping).

Delivery promises

Shipping → Delivery promises (/seller/shipping/delivery-promises) shows what the buyer is told at checkout. The promise is computed from your handling time plus the transit time of the service. Set your handling time honestly and the promises follow; set it aspirationally and the metrics expose the gap (see Performance and Account Health).

Carriers, return address, and exceptions

• Carriers (/seller/shipping/carriers): your carrier accounts and service selections.
• Return address (/seller/shipping/return-address): where returns and undeliverable parcels go. Set it deliberately and update it the week you move; a stale return address sends returned parcels somewhere you cannot retrieve them.
• Exceptions (/seller/shipping/exceptions): delivery exceptions on your shipments: address problems, failed delivery attempts, parcels held in transit. Check this view daily. An exception caught on day one is a reshipment; an exception caught on day seven is a chargeback.
• Performance (/seller/shipping/performance): your shipping metrics: on-time rate, valid tracking rate, and exception rate. Review it weekly.

Shipping under Fulfillment by Pawz Shop

If you use Fulfillment by Pawz Shop, the Company handles the parcel, but you remain responsible for getting accurate, well-packed inventory to the warehouse (see Inventory Management) and for the delivery promise the buyer sees. The program changes who executes the shipment, not who is accountable for the promise. The program is governed by the Fulfillment by Pawz Shop: Program Terms (Fulfillment by Pawz Shop — Program Terms).

If something goes wrong

• Template attached to the wrong listings: audit which listings use which template, correct the attachments, and re-check after any bulk catalog change.
• Delivery promise missed: determine whether the cause was handling time (your operations: fix the input) or transit time (the carrier: consider a different service).
• Return address out of date: update it immediately and check Exceptions for parcels already routed to the old address.
• Exception ignored: the buyer notices before you do. Work the Exceptions view daily.

Related documents: the Tracking Policy, the Packaging Policy, and the fulfillment and shipping obligations in the Selling Terms of Service.