If you ship from an area where natural disasters and/or weather events (such as earthquakes or extreme precipitation) have recently impeded transportation access, there might be delays in carriers’ pick-up and delivery. To avoid negative impact to customers, follow the below procedures when you expect a delay in shipping.
When your ship-from location is located in an affected area, change your shipping settings to Standard Shipping. To know more about how to change shipping settings, visit Set up Shipping Settings and Regions.
If you expect that carriers will need additional time to complete pickup of your orders because your ship-from location is an affected area, you can increase your handling time. If carriers are picking up on time, you don't need to do anything. Amazon automatically calculates and updates any changes needed for transit time due to large-scale transportation issues. For more information, visit Modify handling time or Change to Standard Shipping.
If you are unable to ship at all, set your account status to Inactive.
If a natural disaster affects your ability to fulfill existing orders, we recommend you inform buyers that it will take longer than expected to deliver the order by using buyer-seller messages. To send a message to buyers, visit Communicate with buyers using the Buyer-Seller Messaging Service.
Also, if you realize that you cannot fulfill an order, use Buyer-Seller Messaging to communicate this information to the buyer, explain the reason why, and request that they submit an official cancellation request.