What are Amazon UK's 2026 handling time and delivery changes?
Four dated changes to merchant-fulfilled selling on Amazon.co.uk, two already in force and two ahead of you. What each one does, what to check in Seller Central, and what it does to your costs.
The short answer
Amazon has tightened merchant-fulfilled requirements on Amazon.co.uk through 2026 in four separate steps. Two have already happened: the account-level default handling time lost its 2-day option on 15 July 2026, and from 1 September 2026 Amazon switches Automated Handling Time on for any SKU that has been promising slower than it actually ships. Two are ahead: a 90% business hour delivery rate is monitored from 30 September 2026 and enforced from 30 October 2026, with listing deactivations possible.
None of this asks you to ship faster than you already do. It removes the padding between what you promise and what you deliver.
The dates, in order
| Date | What changes | Who it affects |
|---|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | EU customs reform compliance for cross-border shipments | Sellers shipping into the EU |
| 15 July 2026 | Account-level default handling time offers 0 and 1 day only; 2-day defaults moved to 1 day | All merchant-fulfilled |
| 1 September 2026 | Automated Handling Time enabled on SKUs promising slower than they ship | All merchant-fulfilled |
| 30 September 2026 | 90% business hour delivery rate monitored in Account Health | Sellers delivering to Amazon Business customers |
| 30 October 2026 | Enforcement of that rate begins; listings may be deactivated | The same |
All five come from Amazon's "Update to FBM requirements for Amazon.co.uk" announcement in the Seller Forums.
The 1 July item is narrower than the rest and only matters if you ship cross-border: Amazon asks sellers to comply with EU customs reform, and for consignments under €150 sent under IOSS to use an approved courier and to provide Amazon's IOSS number along with the ASIN details. If everything you sell ships within the UK, the four handling-time and delivery dates are the ones that concern you.
Handling time: what changed and what to check
From 15 July 2026, the account-level default handling time on Amazon.co.uk offers only 0-day and 1-day options. Accounts that were set to 2 days were moved to 1 day automatically. A longer handling time can still be set per SKU — the change is to the account default, not to your ability to describe a slower product.
From 1 September 2026, Amazon enables Automated Handling Time on a SKU when its stated handling time has been at least one day longer than actual performance for more than 30 days. Automated Handling Time sets the handling time from how long you usually take to hand that product to the carrier, so a SKU claiming three days while shipping in one starts promising one.
Three things to check now:
- Your account default. If it silently moved from 2 days to 1, every SKU relying on the default now promises a day sooner than it did in June. Confirm the shipping template and handling time you are actually publishing.
- SKUs where the padding was deliberate. A supplier-dropshipped line, a made-to-order item or anything you only pack on certain days needs its handling time set at SKU level with a reason you would still defend in December.
- Whether the promise now matches reality. Automated Handling Time only tightens a promise you were not using. If your dispatch really does take two days, the fix is the dispatch, not the setting.
The business hour delivery rate
This is the new one, and it is easy to miss because it only concerns Amazon Business orders. Amazon requires a business hour delivery rate of 90% or higher: the share of your merchant-fulfilled shipments to Amazon Business customers that arrive during the recipient's operating hours. Monitoring starts 30 September 2026 in the Account Health dashboard, and enforcement — up to listing deactivation — from 30 October 2026.
What to do about it depends on whether you sell to businesses at all. If you do, the lever is the carrier and service you choose, not your packing speed: a residential-oriented service that delivers at 7pm scores badly against an office that closes at 5pm. Check the metric as soon as it appears rather than waiting for the enforcement date, because a month of history is what you will be judged on.
The on-time delivery policy underneath it
All of the above sits on top of the on-time delivery rate policy already in force. The requirement is a minimum 90% OTDR without promise extensions for merchant-fulfilled orders — that is, measured against the promise you made rather than against any extension Amazon added for weather or carrier disruption. The metric went live on the Account Health dashboard on 16 September 2025, warnings followed on 16 October 2025, and enforcement began on 2 February 2026, narrowed from 28 February 2026 to act on the specific listings contributing most to a low rate rather than the whole catalogue.
One more change belongs in the same picture: from 19 January 2026, the maximum domestic transit time available in standard UK mainland shipping templates fell from five days to four, excluding non-mainland and remote areas. If a template was quietly relying on five, it is not any more.
The exemption worth knowing about
Amazon's announcement says orders that use Automated Handling Time, Shipping Settings Automation and Amazon Buy Shipping together are excluded from the business hour delivery rate requirement. The OTDR policy has a comparable carve-out: using all three, or a 0- or 1-day handling time with Shipping Settings Automation and Buy Shipping, removes the negative OTDR impact.
That is a real offer and it is worth taking seriously, with one honest caveat: each of those tools hands a decision to Amazon. Automated Handling Time sets your promise, Shipping Settings Automation sets transit times from observed carrier performance, and Buy Shipping constrains which services you use and what they cost. The exemption is bought with control, and whether that trade is worth it depends on how good your own carrier arrangements are.
What it means for your prices
A faster promise is an operational commitment, and commitments cost money — earlier collections, a premium service, a later cut-off worked by someone. If the answer to a tighter handling time is a more expensive shipping service, then your cost per unit has changed, and the floor underneath your prices should change with it.
That is a small, unglamorous piece of work with a real payoff: re-derive the minimum price for the affected SKUs from the new cost rather than absorbing the difference quietly. Our guide to setting a minimum price has the arithmetic, and the free FBA calculator will do it a line at a time.
To be clear about the boundary: handling time, shipping templates, Buy Shipping and Account Health are Seller Central settings, and Eve does not manage or change any of them. Where Eve fits is afterwards — keeping the cost of goods and the price floors on those listings honest once your delivery costs have moved.
Common questions
Why did Amazon change my handling time to 1 day?
Two changes can cause it. From 15 July 2026 the account-level default on Amazon.co.uk offers only 0 and 1 day, and accounts set to 2 days were moved to 1. From 1 September 2026, Automated Handling Time is enabled on a SKU whose stated handling time has been at least a day longer than its actual performance for more than 30 days.
Can I still set a longer handling time on one product?
Yes. Amazon's announcement says handling time can still be adjusted at SKU level. The 0 and 1 day restriction applies to the account-level default.
What is the business hour delivery rate?
The percentage of your merchant-fulfilled shipments to Amazon Business customers that are delivered during the recipient's operating hours. Amazon requires 90% or higher, monitored in Account Health from 30 September 2026 and enforced from 30 October 2026.
Does any of this affect FBA?
No. Handling time, on-time delivery rate and the business hour delivery rate all measure orders you fulfil yourself. FBA orders are delivered by Amazon and are outside these metrics.
Sources and scope
Checked 10 September 2026. The 2026 dates, the handling-time rules, the business hour delivery rate and the three-tool exemption come from Amazon's "Update to FBM requirements for Amazon.co.uk". The on-time delivery rate policy, its dates and the transit-time reduction come from Amazon's on-time delivery policy and shipping settings update, with the item-level enforcement date corroborated by trade coverage rather than read on a policy page. Amazon's detailed help pages sit behind a Seller Central login, so screen labels may differ from the wording here; check the announcement and your own Account Health dashboard before acting. The interpretation of what to check, and the point about pricing, are ours rather than Amazon's.