Understanding estimated delivery dates

The estimated delivery dates feature lets you offer your customers an accurate timeframe for when their order will arrive. You can use the Shippit APIs to calculate delivery estimates, which you can then include on your product pages or at checkout. By providing this information earlier in the buying journey, your customers know exactly when their order will arrive, improving the customer experience and reducing enquiries about shipping times.

How do estimated delivery dates work?

Powered by Shippit Intelligence, Shippit's estimated delivery dates are AI-trained on real delivery patterns, giving them up to 85% accuracy on the same day, and up to 90% accuracy within a range. 

The origin postcode and destination postcode are the only mandatory inputs, so you can get started quickly. With just these two postcodes, Shippit determines an estimate based on default values and the carriers and services available to that route.

For even more accurate estimates, you will need to provide additional data, such as the exact carrier and service levels, your order preparation time, your store operating hours, and carrier pickup days and times.

Regardless of how much information you provide, Shippit uses a range of internal platform data to calculate how different carriers perform on that particular lane, at different service levels, and takes into account the time of year and your individual settings to produce a highly accurate estimate.

Understand the delivery estimate response

When you request an estimated delivery date, Shippit’s API returns an estimate for each service level you've asked for. Each estimate includes a delivery window and a confidence level, which helps determine how it's displayed to your customers - as a specific date, a date range, or a broader promise.

Each estimate contains the following information:

• Service level: The service the estimate applies to. Valid values are standard, express, and priority.

• Earliest and latest: The earliest and latest estimated delivery dates, which together form the delivery window. When confidence is low, the fallback will show standard carrier estimates (e.g. “3-5 business days”).

• Confidence: A confidence level for the estimate, so you can decide how to present it. For example, you might choose to show a firm date for high-confidence estimates and a wider window for lower-confidence ones.

• Display: A ready-to-use, human-friendly string you can show directly to your customers.

For more information about the full request and response schema, see the Shippit Developer Centre.

Use estimated delivery dates with other Shippit solutions

The estimated delivery dates endpoint is useful when you want to show delivery estimates on product pages, category listings, or at checkout. You can also combine it with other Shippit solutions to give your customers even more information.

Quote API

The Shippit Quote API is now powered by the same estimated delivery dates engine, so the delivery estimates returned by the Quote API use the same AI-precise data as the dedicated estimated delivery dates endpoint. This means you no longer need to combine two endpoints to display accurate delivery times alongside pricing.

When you request a quote, you get carrier service levels, a quoted cost for each service, and a highly accurate delivery estimate in a single response. This makes it easier to show your customers both the cost and the expected delivery date for each option at checkout. For more information about getting a quote in your Shippit account, see the Get a quote article.

Tracking and notifications

Shippit's AI-precise estimated delivery dates also enhance your tracking and notification updates. If you have estimated delivery dates enabled on your account, your tracking URL and tracking notifications are automatically updated to reflect the same predictive delivery dates throughout every stage of delivery. For more information about branding your tracking experience, see the Brand your tracking page and notifications article.

Troubleshooting

This section contains information about some common issues you might encounter with estimated delivery dates. If you can't find an answer to your question here, check the Shippit developer centre, get in touch with us using the chat in your Shippit account, or reach out to Shippit support.

Estimated delivery dates aren't being shown, or they seem inaccurate

If you or your customers are experiencing issues with estimated delivery dates, here are a few things to check:

• Check the postcodes. Ensure that both the origin and destination postcodes are valid and correct. An incorrect postcode is the most common reason for an error.

• Confirm your authentication. You need a valid authentication token to access the estimated delivery dates API. If the token is incorrect or has expired, no estimates are returned.

• Verify the request format. The information sent to our API must be in the correct format. If you have recently made changes to your website or shipping settings, ask your developer to confirm that the format of the API request is still correct.

• Review your preparation time and operating hours. If your estimates seem too fast or too slow, check that your preparation time, pickup days, and store operating hours are accurate.

• No estimates returned. If no estimates are being returned for a specific postcode, it could be that none of our carrier partners service that particular route. You can check this by trying to book a shipment to the same postcode directly in the Shippit application.