How to set delivery and shipping cut-off times
Set a time-of-day deadline for same-day or next-day delivery. After the cut-off, the calendar automatically adjusts — customers only see dates you can still fulfil.
A customer places an order at 4pm for same-day delivery. Your warehouse closed dispatch at noon. The order confirmation says today. The reality is tomorrow — or later, if tomorrow's already at capacity. Without a cut-off time, your checkout makes a promise your operations can't keep. The result is a support conversation, a redelivery, and a customer who remembers the experience.
For food and beverage brands, this is a daily risk — meal prep and fresh orders are batched before a fixed deadline, and anything placed after that deadline physically cannot ship the same day. For florists, same-day gifting is a core revenue stream, but it only works if the calendar closes "today" once the courier collection window has passed. The cut-off isn't a nice-to-have — it's the mechanism that keeps your delivery promise accurate.
This guide walks through how to set a global delivery cut-off time — the time after which the current date disappears from the calendar. It also covers advanced options: different cut-offs per shipping method, and per day of week.
Configure your delivery cut-offs
Part A is all most stores need. Part B adds precision if you offer multiple shipping speeds.
Part A — Set a global delivery cut-off
This sets one cut-off time that applies to all shipping methods. After this time, the current date (or next date, depending on buffer) is removed from the customer's calendar.
- Open the Flare app from your Shopify admin
- Go to Calendar Configuration
- Scroll to the "Delivery cut-offs" section
- Click "Add cut-off time"
- Set your warehouse timezone (e.g. Europe/London or America/New_York)
- Set your cut-off time (e.g. 12:00pm)
- Set the delivery day buffer — this controls which date is affected
- Use the cut-off preview to verify how the calendar changes before and after the cut-off time
- Click Save
Part B — Different cut-offs per method or day Optional
Most stores only need Part A. If you offer multiple shipping speeds or have different processing windows on different days, this section adds that layer.
Per-method cut-offs
Create a separate cut-off rule for each shipping method. Express delivery might cut off at 10am — because it needs to leave on the morning van — while standard cuts off at 2pm. Each method's available dates adjust independently.
- In the "Delivery cut-offs" section, click "Add cut-off time"
- Select the shipping method this rule applies to
- Set the timezone, time, and buffer for this method
- Repeat for each additional shipping method
- Click Save — each method now has its own deadline
Per-day cut-offs
If your processing window varies by day — for example, Friday cut-off is 11am because the team finishes early before the weekend — you can set different times per day of week.
- Edit an existing cut-off rule or create a new one
- Enable day-specific times
- Set the cut-off time for each day individually
- Click Save
What the customer sees — before and after the cut-off
At 12:00pm, "today" disappears. The earliest available date moves to tomorrow automatically.
Cut-off times — answered
The delivery calendar automatically removes any date that is no longer fulfillable. If your same-day cut-off is 12pm and a customer visits at 1pm, "today" is no longer an option — the earliest available date moves to tomorrow (or the next valid date based on your other rules). No error message, no confusion — the date simply isn't shown.
Yes. You can create separate cut-off rules per shipping method. For example, express delivery might cut off at 10am while standard cuts off at 2pm. Each method's available dates adjust independently based on its own cut-off time.
Yes. When you create a cut-off rule, you set the timezone it operates in — typically your warehouse or fulfilment centre location. A 12pm cut-off set to Europe/London triggers at 12pm UK time regardless of where the customer is browsing from.
Yes — they work together automatically. Blocked dates remove entire days from the calendar (e.g. bank holidays). Cut-off times remove dates based on the time of day (e.g. same-day after noon). When both are active, the calendar shows only dates that pass every rule: not blocked, not past the cut-off, and within your delivery day settings. You don't need to coordinate them manually — Flare applies all rules in one calculation.
Set your cut-off once. The calendar adjusts every day automatically.
No manual date blocking. No wrong-day deliveries. Flare removes dates the moment they're no longer fulfillable — every day, based on your rules.
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