How to correctly dispatch parcels with orders — a guide for sellers

1. Cut-off times for dispatching parcels with carriers

A cut-off time is the time by which you need to dispatch parcels, so that they start their journey on the same day. This means that you need to hand the parcel over to the courier by this hour at the latest.

If you fail to dispatch the parcels by the cut-off time indicated by the carrier, the courier may not pick up the parcels until the next day. As a result, you may not dispatch the parcels by the time declared in the offer and lose points in the On-time dispatch and Fast dispatch metrics. This will also reduce your delivery efficiency, which we take into account when we display the same-day dispatch time in offers.

What cut-off times selected carriers have

The cut-off times vary depending on the carrier and the location you dispatch parcels from. You can see the cut-off times for selected carriers here. If the carrier you are interested in is not on that list — contact them directly.

The cut-off times do not apply to fixed pickups — if the carrier collects parcels from you according to an individual agreement, the times agreed upon are applicable.

How to gain points for sales quality

• Choose carriers that pick up parcels late in the day. This increases the chance for your parcels to start their journey on the same day.
• Use the application form to change the courier pick-up times. There, you can request a change of the pick-up times you have agreed upon with the carrier. If the carrier accepts your request, you will gain more time to prepare the parcels. You can use the form to put in a request with: DPD, InPost, DHL, One Courier, and UPS.

• If you do not prepare all the parcels before the courier arrives or the courier does not come despite the scheduled pick-up time, you can:

  • deliver the parcels to the sorting office yourself
  • place them in a parcel locker
  • bring them to a pick-up point.

If the parcels get scanned the next day by 8 a.m. — we consider them dispatched on the same day. Learn more.

2. Dispatch time declaration in an offer

You declare the dispatch time while listing an offer. Based on that declaration, we evaluate if:

• you managed to dispatch the order from that offer within the declared time
• we can grant you points in the On-time dispatch and Fast dispatch metrics.

How we calculate the time for a timely dispatch

Offers with dispatch time immediately or within 24 hours — with the same-day dispatch time set for at least one delivery option

In the case of those offers, the time for dispatch depends both on the day and time the order was placed and the delivery option selected by the buyer.

• If the buyer places an order and pays for it before the same-day dispatch time, and chooses delivery with the carrier you have the same-day dispatch time set for — you need to dispatch that order by 11:59:59 p.m. on the day the buyer placed an order and paid for it. If you do this, we will grant you points in the On-time dispatch and Fast dispatch metrics.

• If the buyer places an order and pays for it after the same-day dispatch time, and selects delivery with the carrier you have the same-day dispatch time set for — in most cases, you need to dispatch such orders by 11:59:59 p.m. on the first working day following the day the buyer placed it and paid for it. The situation when you have the same-day dispatch time set for Saturday and Sunday is an exception. In such a case, you need to dispatch orders placed on Saturday after the same-day dispatch time before 11:59:59 p.m. on Sunday. Once you do this, we will grant you points in the On-time dispatch metric. However, we will only grant you points in the Fast dispatch metric if you dispatch the order on the same day the buyer placed it and paid for it.

• If the buyer places an order and pays for it at any time, and chooses delivery with the carrier you do not have the same-day dispatch time set for — you need to dispatch that order by 11:59:59 p.m. on the first working day following the day the buyer placed it and paid for it. If you do this, we will grant you points in the On-time dispatch metric. However, we will only grant you points in the Fast dispatch metric if you dispatch the order on the same day the buyer placed it and paid for it.

Example: In your offers, you declare dispatch within 24 hours. You enable two delivery options in them: Allegro One Courier and Allegro DPD Courier. You have set 2 p.m. as the same-day dispatch time for DPD.

• The buyer makes a purchase on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m. and selects the Allegro DPD Courier delivery option. You need to dispatch that order by the end of the day on Tuesday.
• The buyer makes a purchase on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. and selects the Allegro DPD Courier delivery option. You need to dispatch that order by the end of the day on Wednesday.
• The buyer makes a purchase on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. and selects the Allegro One Courier delivery option. You need to dispatch that order by the end of the day on Wednesday.

Offers with dispatch time immediately or within 24 hours — with no same-day dispatch time set

You need to dispatch orders from those offers by 11:59:59 p.m. on the first working day following the day the buyer placed the order and paid for it. If you dispatch the parcels within that time, we will grant you points in the On-time dispatch metric. However, we will only grant you points in the Fast dispatch metric if you dispatch the order on the same day the buyer placed it and paid for it.

Example 1: The customer makes a purchase at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday. They buy a product in an offer where you declare dispatch within 24 hours. You need to dispatch that order by 11:59:59 p.m. on Wednesday.

Example 2: The customer makes a purchase at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. They buy a product in an offer where you declare dispatch within 24 hours. You need to dispatch that order by 11:59:59 p.m. on Monday.

Offers with dispatch time within 2 days

You need to dispatch orders from those offers by 11:59:59 p.m. on the second working day following the day the buyer placed the order and paid for it. If you dispatch the parcels within that time, we will grant you points in the On-time dispatch metric. We will not grant you points in the Fast dispatch metric — even if you dispatch the parcels on the day of the purchase. We only grant points in that metric for dispatching orders from the offers where you declared dispatch immediately or within 24 hours.

Example 1: The customer makes a purchase at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. They buy a product in an offer where you declare dispatch within 2 days. You need to dispatch that order by 11:59:59 p.m. on Friday.

Example 2: The customer makes a purchase at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. They buy a product in an offer where you declare dispatch within 2 days. You need to dispatch that order by 11:59:59 p.m. on Tuesday.

We extend the time accordingly for offers with longer dispatch time.

Additional information

• For orders that include products from different offers, you need to dispatch that order by the latest dispatch date declared in one of these offers.
• For orders that consist of several parcels, we consider the moment the first one was scanned to be the dispatch time.
• Once you edit the dispatch time declared in your offer, we will verify whether you dispatch orders according to it.
• For pre-sale purchases, we calculate the dispatch time from the moment you declare as the start of the dispatch. We do not take the date of purchase into account. Learn more.

How to gain points for sales quality

• Ensure that you declare achievable dispatch times in your offers. If you know you will not be able to dispatch the order on time — update the dispatch declaration in the relevant offer. Check how to do this in multiple offers at the same time. If you want to earn points in the Fast dispatch metric:
  • declare to dispatch the parcel immediately or within 24 hours. We only grant points in that metric for orders in offers with that declaration. If you dispatch orders on the day of the purchase, but in your offers you declare dispatch times longer than 24 hours — we will not grant you the points.
  • dispatch orders on the same day the buyer placed them and paid for them. This applies to all orders, including the ones placed during evening hours and on weekends.

3. The moment the carrier scans the parcel

We consider the parcel dispatched when the carrier changes its status to the one that confirms the dispatch — in transit. This is why we will not automatically consider it dispatched when you:

• hand the parcel over to the courier
• place the parcel in a parcel locker
• bring the parcel to a pick-up point.
• We will only consider the parcel dispatched when the courier scans it.

It works differently only for the parcels you dispatch at Poczta Polska offices. We consider those parcels dispatched when you hand them over to the employee.

What about parcels scanned after midnight

It may happen that you dispatch the parcel as declared in the offer, but the courier does not scan it until the next morning. That is why we consider all parcels scanned next day by 8 a.m. as dispatched on the previous day.

For such orders, you can also receive points for sales quality. We grant them depending on the time the courier scanned the parcel.

• If your parcels get scanned by 4:00 a.m. — we grant the points as usual. We will add them during the next sales quality recalculation.
• If your parcels get scanned between 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. — we exclude them from the next sales quality recalculation. We account for them in the following recalculation, that is on the next day. That means you will receive points for parcels scanned between 4:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. with a 1-day delay.
• If your parcels get scanned after 8:00 a.m. — we will not grant you points for them.

How to gain points for sales quality

• Use the services of trusted carriers. This increases the probability that the courier picks up the parcels on time. That way, you increase the chances that the parcels get scanned by 8:00 a.m.

• If you have a fixed pickup — agree with the carrier on pick-up times that allow:

  • you — to pack and prepare as many orders as possible
  • the carrier — to organize the work in such a way that the parcels get scanned before 8:00 a.m.

• If you do not prepare all the parcels before the courier arrives or the courier does not come despite the scheduled pick-up time, you can:

  • deliver the parcels to the sorting office yourself
  • place them in a parcel locker
  • deliver them to a pick-up point.

That way, there is a chance your parcels get scanned before 8:00 a.m.

4. Delivery tracking

To track the order you have dispatched, we need:

• the number of the consignment note assigned to the parcel with that order
• the delivery status, updated by the carrier on an ongoing basis.

This means we can only track the orders you have dispatched if you:

• add the consignment note number to them and
• dispatch them with integrated carriers and meet the other requirements — see the details below.

How to dispatch parcels we can track

It depends on two factors:

• the tools you use to dispatch orders
• the type of integration we use for a given carrier.

See below how we divide integrated carriers into groups and how you can dispatch parcels with them depending on the tools you use.

Group 1: carriers for which we receive consignment note numbers and delivery statuses automatically

For those carriers, we automatically assign the consignment note number to the order and receive delivery statuses, when:

• you dispatch parcels through Ship with Allegro or
• you enter the parcels directly into the system of the integrated carrier from group 1 — in that case, while dispatching the parcel, use the correct masked email address assigned to that order, or
• you enter the parcels into external order handling tools or your own e-commerce systems, which are connected to your Allegro account, and:
  • integrated with Ship with Allegro, or
  • use the services of integrated carriers — in that case, while dispatching the parcel, use the correct masked email address assigned to that order.

Group 2: carriers for which we receive delivery statuses automatically

For those carriers, we receive delivery statuses automatically. However, to track an order delivered by those carriers, we also need the number of the consignment note assigned to that order. You can provide it:

• through the Allegro API — if you enter the parcels into external order handling tools or your own e-commerce system, connected with your Allegro account and integrated with the Allegro API
• by yourself through the Orders tab — if you do not use the tools mentioned above.

Regardless of how you provide the consignment note, indicate the carrier that picked up the parcel. If you choose Other from the list of carriers and enter the carrier name manually, we will not be able to track that order.

Where the buyer can check the delivery status

When you dispatch the parcel with an integrated carrier, the buyer can track its delivery status. They can find that information:

• in the Purchase History tab — in the details of a given order
• in the mobile app — in the Purchase History section in My Allegro
• in the email they receive when you dispatch the order.

How to gain points for sales quality

• Use the services of integrated carriers. Only in their case are we able to check the delivery statuses of the parcels you dispatch.
• If you use external order handling tools or your own e-commerce system, check if they are correctly connected to your Allegro account.
• If you dispatch orders with carriers for which we automatically receive consignment note numbers and tracking numbers, but you do it outside Ship with Allegro — always enter the correct, masked email address.
• If you dispatch orders with carriers for which we automatically receive only tracking numbers — use tools integrated with Allegro or the Allegro API, and add consignment note numbers to the orders correctly.

5. What delivery options we cannot track

For some delivery options, we are not able to check the delivery status. That is why we exclude orders dispatched with those options from the On-time dispatch and Fast dispatch metrics.

This applies to the following delivery options:

• Delivery and price to be agreed with the seller
• Delivery by the seller
• Economy letter
• Priority letter
• Personal pick-up from the seller
• Email delivery — to any country
• All delivery options to Portugal
• Magyar Posta.

How to gain points for sales quality

Enable delivery options from integrated carriers in your offers and use their services to dispatch orders.

If you want to use the services of an integrated carrier that does not handle orders in your location — contact them and ask about the possibility of cooperation. Additionally, let us know if you need our help.

How to check whether the parcel has been dispatched on time

You can check it in a report. The report indicates, for example, which orders you dispatched as declared and which dispatches we account for in your sales quality rating.

To download the report, go to the Delivery Efficiency tab. Click [download report] in the Sales Quality measurement statistics section.

Frequently asked questions