Some tracking pages add a time window, or an EDT (estimated delivery time), beside the date.
Stores and carriers label it in different ways: "estimated delivery," "est. delivery," "expected delivery" or a "get it by" date. USPS calls its version the expected delivery date and says that, for Priority Mail, it is "based on origin, destination, and drop-off time" and "does not come with a money-back guarantee." (In medicine, EDD also means a baby's due date. This page covers shipping.)
How Is an Estimated Delivery Date Calculated?
Most estimates add up the same inputs, counted in business days:
- Order date and cutoff time. A seller or warehouse sets a daily cutoff for same-day shipping. An order placed before it can ship that day; an order placed after it rolls to the next business day. Carriers do the same with drop-off times: USPS bases the Priority Mail date partly on drop-off time.
- Handling time. The business days between the order and the carrier's first scan, spent picking, packing and handing the parcel over. eBay, for example, defines handling time as "the number of business days between when you receive payment for an item and when your package is scanned by your shipping carrier."
- Transit time. The business days the carrier takes to move the parcel from origin to destination, which depends on the service and the distance. USPS publishes delivery standards of 2 to 3 business days for Priority Mail and 2 to 5 business days for USPS Ground Advantage, both marked "not guaranteed."
- Days with no delivery. Weekends and holidays are usually left out. eBay states that "Weekends and holidays aren't included in estimated delivery dates, even though some carriers deliver on weekends." USPS delivers Monday through Saturday and says Priority Mail Express and Amazon parcels are the only mail it delivers on Sunday.
Example: an order is placed Monday at 3 pm, after the warehouse's 2 pm cutoff, so it ships Tuesday (1 business day of handling). The carrier service takes 3 business days: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The estimated delivery date is Friday. If one of those days were a carrier holiday, the estimate would move one business day later.
Marketplaces often show a range instead of a single date. eBay, for instance, calculates "Estimated between" dates itself, while a "Get it by" date is set by the seller.
What Does "Awaiting EDD From Courier" Mean?
It means the order page or shipping platform has no estimated delivery date from the courier yet. The usual reason is that the courier has not scanned the parcel, so its own system has not produced a date. Carriers work this way: for a parcel it does not have yet, USPS says "a delivery date will be provided when USPS receives the package."
Before that first scan, a tracker may show a label-only status such as Awaiting From Sender. If the order is past the seller's stated dispatch date and there is still no EDD and no carrier scan, ask the seller whether the parcel has been handed to the courier, since that handoff is what produces the date.
Why Does an Estimated Delivery Date Change?
Because it is recalculated as real events replace assumptions. The common reasons:
- The carrier scans the parcel. Before the first scan, the date is the seller's estimate. After it, the carrier's own date takes over, based on where the parcel actually is.
- Weather and network disruptions. eBay adds time "to account for any delays in the delivery network due to unexpected disruptions or increased delivery volume," naming severe weather, natural disasters and peak seasons. USPS marks some delays with an "Alert" status tied to weather and other events.
- A missed delivery scan. USPS's "Awaiting Delivery Scan" status means no Delivered scan was recorded by 9 pm local time on the Out for Delivery date, so USPS now expects delivery the next business day.
- Access problems at the address. After a "No Access to Delivery Location" status, USPS says it will "automatically reattempt delivery the next business day."
A date that moves later does not mean the parcel is lost. For USPS, the agency's own advice is to look up the item's mail class and compare its progress with the published delivery standard for that class before reporting a problem.
Estimated vs. Guaranteed Delivery
An estimated or expected delivery date carries no promise. A guaranteed delivery date is a commitment the carrier backs with a refund, and only some services have one. USPS says Priority Mail Express provides 1 to 3 day delivery by 6 PM with a money-back guarantee, and a shipper can request a refund within 30 days of the mailing date if the shipment misses its guaranteed date or time. Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage have expected dates only. Tracking does not change this: USPS states that "USPS Tracking does not expedite or guarantee delivery."
Guarantees have limits of their own. They cover only the services a carrier names, and a carrier can suspend them. FedEx's service guide, for example, lists its money-back guarantee for its overnight services, FedEx 2Day A.M. and some international express services, and says the guarantee "for all other FedEx services will remain suspended until further notice." Check the carrier's current terms before treating any date as guaranteed.
Estimated Delivery Dates for Ecommerce Sellers
A checkout EDD is the estimate a store shows before the order is placed, on the product page or at checkout. To keep it accurate, build it from the same inputs a carrier uses and keep them current:
- Your real cutoff and handling time, including the days the warehouse does not ship. If a fulfillment provider ships for you, use the cutoff and handling commitments in your service-level agreement (SLA), not a guess.
- The carrier service and the destination, since transit time varies by service and by shipping zones.
- Where the stock is. An order management system (OMS) that knows which warehouse will ship an order can quote the date from that location.
After the order ships, replace the checkout estimate with the carrier's date from the tracking feed (see track and trace), tell customers when it moves, and measure how often you meet it. That measure is your on-time delivery (OTD) rate, and a run of misses is a sign to widen the estimate rather than keep promising the same date.