How long delivery really takes
Honest timings, why they vary, and how to set a buyer's expectations.
The number we show you, not a guess
Every product carries a delivery window pulled from the supplier for the country you're selling into, shown before you import — not a category-wide estimate, not a rounded-off marketing number. It's one of two figures, alongside margin, that decides whether an item is worth listing at all. If the estimate comes back slower than our own cutoff, the product never reaches your catalogue in the first place — not shown with a warning attached, simply absent.
Today, live stock ships from China, and the typical window on tracked delivery is 6–11 days. That is not a floor and not a ceiling. It is the real range, and the exact figure for any one product sits somewhere inside it depending on the item and where it's headed.
Why it varies
Three things move the number: distance, the shipping method the supplier actually uses for that item, and customs. A small, light parcel on a tracked service clears all three quickly. Something heavy, oversized, or anything that needs a signature on delivery does not — carriers handle it differently, and customs is more likely to hold it up.
The shaded band is the real range live stock sits in today. The line at fifteen is where we stop showing you anything at all — a product estimated slower than that isn't a hidden gem you're missing, it's simply not one you'll ever see, because a listing nobody wants to wait for isn't worth the cancellation risk.
Say it on the listing
Put the real window in your listing and most of what could go wrong simply doesn't. Hide it, guess at it, or round it down, and the same order goes a different way:
| What the listing says | What tends to happen |
|---|---|
| Nothing about delivery | Buyer messages on day four asking where it is |
| "Fast dispatch!" with no window given | The buyer's own guess is shorter than reality; the disappointment lands on you |
| The real window, stated plainly | The buyer plans around it; most never chase you at all |
The delivery time itself is rarely the problem. The surprise is. Put the window we already show you into the listing, and a message on day four, a negative on day nine and a case on day twelve mostly stop happening.
Choosing on delivery, not just margin
Two products that make identical profit on paper are not identical products. Worked example, round numbers, not a real listing:
| Product | Cost | Sell price | Your profit | Delivery window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product A | £8.00 | £14.99 | £6.99 | 6–9 days |
| Product B | £8.00 | £14.99 | £6.99 | 12–15 days |
Same cost, same price, same profit on paper. The difference shows up after the sale: Product B sits closer to the cutoff, is more likely to draw a message, and any cancellation or refund on it comes straight out of the profit line above it. Delivery isn't a footnote to the margin — it's part of it.
Every product in the catalogue shows its own honest window before you import it, not a rounded-up guess. Start free and see it for yourself.
The free plan takes no card. Import a few products and see the real numbers on them.
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