Preparation Times and Order Cut-Off Times

To set a same-day delivery cutoff on Shopify, set a cut-off time in Bird’s Preparation Time settings. Orders placed before the cut-off use your normal preparation time (for example, same day). Orders placed after it use a longer preparation time, so the earliest slot moves to the next day.

Preparation times ensure you have enough time to fulfill orders before customers can select delivery or pickup slots. This prevents overbooking and manages customer expectations effectively.

Set Up General Preparation Times

1. Navigate to Bird Settings > Pickup & delivery or Configure locations based on your setup.
2. Under Preparation times, select Enabled.
3. Choose your configuration:
   • Same preparation time for all days (Mon to Sun): Use when your preparation time is consistent throughout the week
   • Customize preparation time by day: Use when you need different processing times for specific days

Understanding Lead Time

Preparation time is the minimum time needed before an order can be fulfilled.

Examples:

• 4 Hours: Order placed at 10:00 AM Monday → Earliest slot: 2:00 PM Monday
• 1 Day: Order placed Monday at 11:00 AM → Available slots: Tuesday onwards
• 2 Days: Order placed Monday → Available slots: Wednesday onwards

Configure Cut-off Times

Cut-off time determines when your store stops accepting new orders each day.

Before Cut-off Time (e.g., 6:00 PM):

• Set preparation time: 1 day
• Customers can select next-day slots

After Cut-off Time (e.g., 6:00 PM):

• Set preparation time: 2 days
• Customers can only select slots starting two days from then

Important: Make the preparation time after cut-off longer than before cut-off. Bird doesn’t check this for you, and if the two are the same, the cut-off makes no difference.

Product-Specific Preparation Times

For products requiring different preparation times, use the Store Pickup: Product Override feature to set unique preparation times for specific SKUs or tags.

1. Go to Bird Settings > Product overrides
2. Click Add override
3. Enter the Product tags or SKU patterns for products needing different preparation times
4. Set Preparation time to Enabled, then choose Same preparation time for all days (Mon to Sun) or Customize preparation time by day
5. Set the specific preparation time in days, hours, or minutes

You can create multiple override rules for different products. An override can also open a day that’s closed in your main availability settings, for the products it applies to.

For detailed configuration steps and advanced settings, see our Store Pickup: Preparation Time — Complete Setup Guide.

Related Articles

• Store Pickup: Preparation Time
• Local Delivery: Preparation Time
• Shipping: Preparation Time
• Can I set different preparation or lead times for different products?