How to use Premium Shipping to boost your Amazon sales

In this blog, Cole Sadler from the Strategic MFN Optimization team at Amazon shares his tips on how to use Premium Shipping to your advantage. Cole supports 3P sellers in maximizing their sales potential. Prior to Amazon, Cole spent 5 years at FedEx, building his understanding of the challenges and opportunities for merchants handling their own fulfillment.

Here’s something a lot of sellers don’t realise: You don’t need FBA to offer 1–2 day delivery. You don’t even need to offer it nationwide.

With Premium Shipping, you can use Amazon’s Shipping Settings Automation (SSA) to figure out exactly where your ground carriers can get packages to customers in 1–2 days. That means you only promise speed where it’s realistic—and profitable.

A lot of sellers are still promising 4–8 day delivery windows. But the reality is, many of them can offer 1–2 day shipping regionally—without paying for air. Sellers in the tri-state area are typically well-positioned to reach much of the population in 2 days using ground shipping. You’ve just got to be smart about your delivery promises.

And the impact of this? Big. Amazon’s data shows that every day you reduce your delivery promise you can lift sales by 5% on average —up to 15% if you reduce it by 3 days. That sort of year-on-year growth goes a long way when you’re growing a business.

It’s also easier to remain enrolled in Premium Shipping now. The on-time delivery requirement for Premium Shipping has dropped from 97% to 93.5%. And if you’re using Amazon Buy Shipping through Veeqo for on-Amazon orders, Amazon protects you when carriers slip up. So if you shipped on time but the carrier delivered late, you’re still covered for on-Amazon orders. [1] [2]

This isn’t about overpromising. It’s about being strategic. Use SSA and Amazon Buy Shipping through Veeqo to only offer premium speeds where it makes sense. That way, you protect your margins, keep your performance metrics safe, and unlock growth.

Tip: Start small. Turn on SSA in your templates, pick your carriers, and let Veeqo’s rate shopping find the cheapest option that still meets the promise. Sellers who do this see real results—without breaking the bank, or even breaking a sweat.

[1] OTDR protection. As compared to claims received for orders shipped on-time outside Veeqo. To be eligible for OTDR protection you must: 1) Purchase an ‘OTDR protected’ shipping label on Veeqo, 2) Ship on time, which will be considered at the moment of the carrier's 1st scan, not when you confirm shipment, and 3) Have SSA enabled on your shipping template for your Premium shipping orders.

[2] A-to-z claim protection. To be eligible for A-to-z claim protection you must: 1) Purchase a ‘Claims protected’ shipping label on Veeqo, 2) Ship on time, which will be considered at the moment of the carrier's 1st scan, not when you confirm shipment, and 3) Respond to any customer inquiry in buyer-seller messages within 48 hours.