Estimated Delivery Time (EDT) Seller Configuration Process

Section 1: What is Handling Time & Estimated Delivery Time?

• The time-frame within which an order is expected to be delivered to the customer's address once the order is placed. This is expressed as a range of date on the Product Display Page. EDT and the corresponding date range associated with an order is derived by adding the Handling Time and Shipping Time.

• The number of business days required for a seller to fully process an order and hand it over to the logistics service providers.

• The number of days an LSP is estimated to take to deliver an order to the associated address.

• EDT(Estimated Delivery Time) = Handling time + Shipping time.
• Configuring an accurate EDT provides transparency for customers and helps increase accountability for Sellers. For both "TikTok Shipping" and "Seller Shipping" orders, you will need to configure the handling time and select a shipping service in the Seller Center.

• TikTok Shop monitors the end-to-end delivery performance for all shops using Seller Shipping. Sellers must uphold a delivery performance meeting specified thresholds outlined below to qualify for the respective shipping options.
  • Delivery performance requirements by delivery option
  • Express
    • Starting March 14, 2025, shoppers should receive their orders within 3 business days of placing them, and sellers are required to maintain a 95% on-time delivery rate for Express orders shipped within this timeframe.
    • Commonly used services under this shipping speed include USPS Priority Mail Express, USPS Priority Mail, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Early, UPS 2nd Day Air AM, UPS 2nd Day Air, UPS 3 Day Select, FedEx 2day AM, FedEx 2day, FedEx Express Saver, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight & FedEx First Overnight
    • If sellers using Seller Shipping don’t meet the Express shipping requirements, they won’t be able to subscribe to the option the following week. However, this does not restrict them from utilizing a faster shipping service. TikTok Shop will notify sellers if they don’t meet the performance standards.
    • Sellers who lose their Express delivery option can re-subscribe if they meet the goal of at least 30% of all orders being delivered within 3 business days the next week. They’ll get a performance notification from the previous week and an alert when the Express option becomes available again.
  • Standard & Economy
    • Shoppers should receive their orders within 6 business days of placing them.
    • Commonly used services under this shipping speed include USPS Ground Advantage, USPS First Class Mail, UPS Ground, FedEx Ground & FedEx Home Delivery

• What is an Estimated Delivery Time?
• What is Handling Time?
• What is Shipping Time?
• How are Estimated Delivery Times Calculated?
• What are the requirements for a seller?

Best Practices

• Proactively review your performance and service eligibility on your Shipping Templates or Shipping Options page

• Select the appropriate shipping label for the shipping service that was selected by the buyer
• Utilize trusted carriers and shipping services
• Encourage your team to process and ship faster to improve the overall buyer experience
• If you disqualify for Express shipping one week, make sure to re-subscribe if you are able to achieve the lead time requirement in the following calendar week

Section 2: How to Configure EDT

Please note that the screenshots below are from testing accounts and are for reference only, the actual interface may differ.

• Sellers have the flexibility to adjust their handling time in the "Fulfillment Settings" section of the Seller Center. They can choose to manually set a default handling time or allow TikTok Shop to set it automatically. Handling time is used to calculate the estimated delivery time for all Seller Fulfilled Shipments.
  • Sellers will be notified to update the handling time for orders that haven't been dispatched or shipped within the initially set handling time.
  • For sellers who were onboarded after September 13th 2023 & sellers who were on default handling time setting, the handling time will be automatically set by TikTok Shop based on historical performance as the default setting.

• How do I set my handling time?

• Please go to Orders-> Shipping Template page and choose the appropriate shipping method for your store. We have both "TikTok Shipping" and "Seller Shipping" options available. The shipping method you choose will also provide the approximate shipping time.

• How do I set my shipping time?

Section 3: How can I check the EDT on my Product Detail Page?

• On the customer's end, total delivery time will show up on the Product Detail Page (PDP) based on seller handling time plus shipping time of that particular shipping service.

• Sellers who fulfilled certain amounts of orders, with satisfactory dispatch performance in the recent months (e.g. low Late Dispatch Rate and Seller Fault Cancellation rate) would be eligible to have their dispatch performance displayed on PDP.

• The dispatch performance is calculated based on seller's average handling time over the designated delivery time.
  • By providing this information, we help customers identify sellers who are fast and reliable in processing orders, thereby improving high quality sellers' conversion.

Section 4: How to Handle Delays

• Make Sure You're Communicating with Your Customers
  • After you've set up the handling time, if you are experiencing delays, you're allowed to extend handling time only once, and up to a total of 7 business days. You also have the option to select "unknown", as long as the order meets one of the conditions below:
    • Orders haven't been changed to "Transit to Ship" Status (i.e. have not yet been picked up by the carrier)
    • Orders have already exceeded the original handling time

Step 1: Platform ReminderFirst, a reminder from TikTok Shop will be sent to you before handling time becomes overdue
Step 2: Email Buyers to Notify of the DelayOnce handling time becomes overdue, you will see a "Send email" option, where you can inform buyers of any delays by sending the customers an email.
Click "Send email", then choose the new handling time in the email template provided by TikTok Shop. You can either extend the processing time only once, and up to a total of 7 business days, or choose time "unknown".
The rest of the email content will be automatically populated by TikTok Shop in the template. After the new processing time has been selected, click" Send". Customer Side Email Display: Please note that the new EDT information will be removed from the order detail page and will only be communicated in the email itself.
You can extend the processing time to max 7 business days. However, orders that are not shipped within the timeframe outlined in the seller guidelines (usually 3 business days) will be considered late dispatch, and orders that are not shipped within auto-cancellation guidelines (usually 7 business days) will be cancelled automatically. A late dispatch rate above 4% may result in warning, order volume limit, or other account limitations.

• Actions Customers Can Take When Order is Delayed
  • When an order is delayed compared to the original EDT, we also have a set of rules to protect our customers. Below are 3 main scenarios:

Scenario 1: You have communicated the delays with your customer

• After you email the customer about the EDT delay, in the Buyer-facing Order Center of TikTok app, the EDT information will be removed from the order details page. The new EDT will only be communicated to the customer by email.

For example, the order detail page below no longer has EDT information.
If you extended the handling time already but have yet to ship the order, once the buyer clicks "cancel order", TikTok will automatically approve the cancellation request.

• If you selected "Extend Handling Time" already and the order is in transit, but the order is not delivered within the original EDT, once the buyer clicks "request refund", TikTok will automatically approve the refund request.

Scenario 2: You have not communicated the delays with your customer

• In the Buyer-facing Order Center of the TikTok app, EDT in Order Center/Order List /Order Details Page will remain the same and will not be removed.
• If the order hasn't exceeded EDT and hasn't been delivered yet, the customer can not request a refund, but they can request a return. Please note that you must review the return request within 48 hours.

• If the Order has exceeded Estimated Delivery Time, but has not yet been delivered, customers can request a refund and it will be automatically approved by the platform.

Scenario 3: Order hasn't been delivered within the designated delivery time

Regardless of whether you (the seller) have extended the handling time or not, the platform will take specific actions for certain cases.
For example, if an order isn’t delivered within the designated delivery time, TikTok Shop will notify the customer of the delay, and they may choose to request a refund.

FAQ

1. From an EDT perspective, are the Delivery Performance requirements measured from an E2E standpoint or is it monitored at the order handling and time-in-transit level?

Currently, we are only focused on measuring E2E SLA, but sellers must still maintain our order handling SLA.

2. How will sellers be notified if they are not meeting the delivery performance requirements and will be downgraded?

A notification to sellers will happen via the Seller Center homepage popup, order page, shipping template page and via email.The message will be clear to the seller that they are ineligible due to not meeting the lead time requirements. It will have clear indication of the necessary requirements and encourage sellers to ship faster to regain eligibility. The notification will also guide the seller to review their performance.

3. How far in advance will a seller receive the notice?

Sellers will be notified on the 1st business day of the week, based on the previous calendar week's performance. Sellers will have an additional 2 business days to validate shipping template setting. The downgrade will be executed the following business day.

5. What sellers are impacted by the new end-to-end delivery performance system in place for sellers that cannot meet the requirements?

Sellers using Seller Shipping

6. Do we guarantee the estimated delivery time to buyers?

We do not explicitly guarantee this to buyers.

7. What happens if a seller doesn't achieve the EDT?

If the Order has exceeded Estimated Delivery Time, but has not yet been delivered, customers can request a refund and it will be automatically approved by the platform. If an order hasn't been delivered within the designated delivery time after the original EDT, the platform will cancel the order automatically.