Changing a date and cancelling are two different operations. A change is filed by the carrier in Carrier Central, where the booking was created. Cancelling is a duty rather than a choice: Amazon requires the request to be removed when the movement will not happen or when several bookings have been raised for the same delivery by mistake.
Changing the date: who and where
Amazon states plainly that the carrier can request changes to the appointment through Carrier Central. The rule is simple and follows from how the system is built: the change is filed by whoever filed the original request. When the carrier booked the window, the carrier moves it. When the seller booked it, the carrier has nothing to move from its own account, and the temptation arises to file a second request alongside the first.
That is precisely why Amazon recommends the carrier books from the outset, as we unpack in the article on booking an Amazon delivery appointment. One party, one account, one request per delivery.
Why a second appointment must not be booked as insurance
It looks like sensible cover and it is a mistake Amazon names outright. Its seller documentation carries an instruction not to request multiple appointments for the same delivery, together with a duty to go into Carrier Central and cancel or update the request when the carrier is no longer delivering, is running late, or when several bookings have accidentally been raised.
The effect of a duplicate is practical, not merely formal. The site plans resource against both bookings, and on arrival compares the load with whichever request it happens to find. A mismatch in counts between two bookings then behaves exactly like a mismatch between the booking and the trailer, which we cover in the article on shipment and appointment references.
Cancelling a shipment on the seller side
This goes further than cancelling the appointment alone. Once a shipment is cancelled in the account, all created shipments move to cancelled status, are no longer expected at the fulfilment centre, and the box labels and carrier labels generated earlier lose validity. Amazon places the duty squarely on the seller to remove cancelled labels from boxes and pallets and not to ship anything carrying them.
On our side that means concrete work on the freight: stripping the markings from all four sides of every unit, checking that no label from a previous attempt is left under the wrap, and recording the operation in the job file. We do it at the hub or at the warehouse in Milton Keynes, depending on where the load stands. What we apply and remove is described in the article on Amazon pallet labels.
Moving the collection rather than the delivery
Moving the collection at the sender end is a separate case. Sellers enrolled in the partnered carrier programme can change the pickup date directly in the account. Outside that programme Amazon directs the seller to contact support, noting that this should happen at least twenty-four hours before the pickup day. The differences between the two despatch routes are unpacked in the article on two ways to send to Amazon.
Reschedule or hold the goods
The answer turns on how far away the next free slot is and whether the vehicle has work in the meantime. With a near date, rescheduling is cheaper. With a distant one, unloading into a warehouse is cheaper, because the trailer stops being a waiting room and the pallet waits on a rack. How waiting is settled is set out in the article on waiting time charges on UK transport, and the decision in the hour before the window in the piece on running late for an appointment.
Sources
- Amazon Seller Central UK: changing and cancelling appointments, no duplicate requests
- Amazon Seller Central: change or cancel your shipment, label obligations
- Amazon Seller Central: appointment requirements for palletised deliveries
Need to move a delivery date or pull back a shipment in progress? Write to us through the quote form and we will handle the change of request and prepare the freight for the new date.
