Processing times and “dispatch” dates help buyers know when you’ll dispatch items in your shop. Buyers can see the processing time for an item on the listing page under Delivery & returns. The “dispatch by” date appears on the receipt after the buyer purchases an item.
For eligible listings, customers may see the estimated delivery date instead of the processing time.
Processing times and “dispatch by" dates are determined using business days and don’t include weekends, but may include public holidays. If a “dispatch by" date falls on a public holiday, you can update the date once per order.
What is the processing time for an item?
The processing time is how much time you need to get an order ready to dispatch. The processing time helps set expectations with buyers before purchasing an item, and accurate processing times help you reliably deliver your orders.
If an order is custom, this will include the amount of time it takes to create the custom item. If an order is already made, the processing time is the amount of time you need to package the item and bring it to the delivery service.
The processing time also affects when the buyer can open a case about an order and when they can leave a review.
What is the “dispatch by” date?
The “dispatch by” date is the date that you commit to dispatch an order to the buyer. This is the date at the end of the longest processing time for an order.
For example: your processing time for an item is 3-5 days. A buyer orders the item on 1st September. The “dispatch by” date for this order is 6th September.
If you don't set a processing time
If you don’t specify a processing time for an item, the buyer won’t see a "dispatch by" date during the checkout process. If the buyer places an order for multiple items and one doesn't have a processing time, then the whole order won't show a "dispatch by" date, even if other items in the order do have processing times.
How to set the processing time for an item
To set the processing time for a delivery profile:
- Sign in to Etsy.com.
- Visit your Shop Manager.
- Go to Settings.
- Go to Delivery settings.
- Go to Delivery profiles.
- Select Add profile or select a delivery profile you want to update.
- Fill out the delivery profile.
- Select your Processing time from the dropdown. You can choose a processing time between from 1 business day and 10 weeks.
- Select Create profile.
Next, you can choose this delivery profile for your listings:
- In Shop Manager, select Listings.
- Find the listing you want to change, or create a new listing..
- Find the gear icon and choose Edit.
- Scroll down to the Delivery section.
- Select the delivery profile with the correct processing time.
- Choose Publish.
You can edit the processing time for an item using these same steps.
How to update the “dispatch by” date for an order
You can edit the “dispatch by" date once, as long as the original "dispatch by" date hasn't passed, and the buyer has agreed to the new date.
To update the “dispatch by” date for an existing order:
- Sign in to Etsy.com.
- Go to your Shop Manager.
- Select Orders & Delivery.
- Find the transaction you want to change.
- Choose the … (ellipsis) icon.
- Choose Update dispatch by date.
- Select your new dispatch by date. The new date must be within three weeks of the original “dispatch by” date.
- Add a note to the buyer explaining the new dispatch by date.
- Choose Update & notify buyer.