Holiday marketing guide

Holiday order deadlines

Christmas (Dec 25) order deadlines will be announced in October 2025

Temporary shipping surcharges

Shipping carriers often increase their prices during the holiday season. We’re adapting to the costs by applying a holiday season surcharge to all orders to the US.

From Oct 21 to Jan 19, a $0.40 surcharge will be added to all orders with a US destination address. If you have US-based customers, we suggest adding the surcharge to your shipping or product prices.

How we get our order deadlines

Analyze fulfillment data

We take a look at data from previous years

Get carrier cut-off dates

Add our carrier estimated order-by dates

Add pre-holiday prep time

We factor in any pre-holiday preparations, like hiring employees

Final order deadlines

Add estimated fulfillment times with carrier order-by dates to get our order deadlines

How we prepare for each important holiday

Getting organized to take in a large volume of orders

Staying on top of the game

We’ll keep you in the loop if unexpected events like snowstorms, postal service disruptions, or fulfillment delays affect order-by dates

Keeping stock levels high

To avoid running out-of-stock as much as possible we’re actively communicating with our suppliers and stocking our most popular products

Supporting you along the way

To help you at any time of the day, we’re growing our customer support and fulfillment teams

Expanding production capacity

So your products can reach various locations even faster, each year we’re expanding our operations to new locations

How can you boost your orders through the roof?

Make your online store irresistible by following these product and marketing recommendations

Don’t ruin your chances of making a profit

Learn how to prevent 4 common holiday marketing slip ups that could cost you and your online business

Common questions about holiday order deadlines

What should I do with the order deadlines?

Holiday order deadlines, also known as order-by dates, are suggested dates by which you should place orders for the best possibility to receive them in time for the holidays. Be transparent about order deadlines with your customers, and you’ll improve your overall customer loyalty because they’ll know what to expect. After the set order deadline, it’s unlikely that your customer will receive the order in time for the holiday, so keep your customers informed before it’s too late. Also, make sure that your products match our content guidelines.

Here’s how you can share order deadlines:

1. Take a look at the order-by dates and see which apply to the products you’re selling

2. Make a marketing plan to determine when you should promote specific products with the shortest deadlines

3. Go over our holiday order deadlines guide to get ideas for marketing

4. Post the order deadlines in each product description

Will the deadlines change, and what happens if they do?

We can’t promise that our holiday order deadlines won’t change, but we’ll work our hardest to ensure the deadlines stay the same. We may recalculate the deadlines for the following reasons:

If our fulfillment times fall behind or are faster than we estimated
If fulfillment is affected by unexpected events like severe weather
If some of our carriers change their projections or experience delays

We’re gathering more information from our partners and will keep updating the deadlines until November 24. Make sure to check this page every once in a while and review the final deadlines after November 24.

How can I manage last-minute holiday orders?

To avoid unnecessary delays, ensure the shipping information is accurate, including names, phone numbers, address details, and zip codes.
Encourage last-minute shopping by offering express shipping when it’s no longer possible to get products on time with standard shipping. Express shipping is only available for stores with live rates and Shopify users who are eligible for US domestic shipping, even when using flat rates. If you ship your products with express shipping, consider raising the shipping prices on your storefront.
If you’re ordering products for yourself, you can place a manual order and select express shipping during checkout.

What should I do if my customers are unhappy with their orders?

There might be cases where you have to troubleshoot delays or issues with orders. It’s best if you:

1. Fill out a problem report if you have any concerns about your order. In case you run into any issues, please reach out to our team via chat or send an email to [email protected].

2. Go over our Return Policy to learn more about returned orders.

3. Read Printful Policies Your Store Should Copy blog to get free policy templates and talking points to use with your customers.

Why are order deadlines different in each region?

Our order deadlines differ by region because of local carrier delivery estimates, our product availability, and stock levels at the nearest fulfillment centers.

Cut-off dates can also vary based on product category fulfillment estimates. For example, it usually takes longer to create apparel products. On the other hand, warehoused products have deadlines later in the month because we don’t have to factor in fulfillment time—they’re ready to ship at any moment.

Why is it important to add contact information when placing an order?

Providing your email and phone number at checkout is crucial to:

Ensure timely delivery
Get real-time delivery updates
Avoid items being held at customs or returned

When contact details are provided, it’s more likely that the package will be delivered on the first try. This is particularly helpful for couriers bringing packages to the recipient’s door, as they may struggle to complete deliveries without contact information.

Additionally, US Customs and Border Protection recently released a policy that strongly recommends including the recipient’s email and phone number to prevent items from being held at customs.

Holiday order deadlines 2025