Measure your actual worst case
Not your average. The lead time has to survive your busiest week, a stockout and a holiday, because the cancellation clock does not care why.
Faire Lead Times and the 30-Day Cancellation Window
The number you set is a search filter and a countdown at the same time.
Your Lead Time Is Doing Two Jobs
On Faire you set your own lead time, based on how long it takes you to prepare and ship. Retailers can see it while shopping and can filter and sort by it. It also sets the expected ship date — and orders not fulfilled within 30 days of that date are cancelled automatically. Checked September 2026.
It is a discovery filter
Retailers filter by lead time and shipping window to find brands that ship quickly. A long lead time removes you from those results before anyone sees your products.It sets your cancellation clock
The expected ship date comes from your lead time, and the 30-day auto-cancellation counts from there. A short lead time you cannot hold shortens your own deadline.A cancelled order is worse than a slow one
It is a retailer relationship, not a consumer transaction. Wholesale buyers plan floor sets around delivery.The fix is capacity, not optimism
The only safe way to shorten a lead time is to genuinely shorten the time between an order arriving and a parcel leaving.
So the same number both wins and loses orders:
Lead Time Questions
Orders that are not fulfilled within 30 days of the expected ship date are cancelled automatically, checked September 2026 against Faire’s own help documentation. The expected ship date is derived from the lead time you set, so a shorter lead time also shortens the window before automatic cancellation.
Each brand sets its own lead time based on how long it takes to prepare and ship an order, and retailers can view it while shopping. Retailers can also filter and sort by lead time or shipping window to find brands that ship quickly, which makes it a discovery factor as well as an operational commitment.
As short as your slowest week can actually support. Most lead time is not transit — it is the gap between an order arriving and someone picking it, which is the part a fulfillment partner removes. Shorten the number after the floor proves reliable, then verify your on-time rate before shortening it again.
Setting a Lead Time You Can Hold
Treat it as a commitment with a penalty, because that is what it is.
Separate prepare from ship
Most lead time is not transit, it is the gap before the order is picked. That gap is the part outsourcing actually removes.
Watch orders against expected ship date
The 30-day window is long enough that an order can drift out of view and cancel itself. Visibility on what has not shipped is the whole defence.
Shorten it once, then verify
Bring the number down after the floor proves out, then check your fulfilled-on-time rate before shortening it again.
Related Reading
The detail behind this, in OC3PL’s own guides.
Faire Wholesale Fulfillment Integration
How OC3PL connects to Faire — a direct warehouse management system link using a brand portal API token, with wholesale orders syncing as B2B.
Faire Fulfillment: Wholesale That Ships Like Parcels
Faire orders are wholesale, but Faire does not support pallet, expedited or overnight shipping. What that means for a brand running Faire alongside retail purchase orders.
Wholesale and B2B Order Fulfillment
Shipping wholesale purchase orders and DTC from one warehouse: retail-compliant labeling, ASN processing, EDI, palletized shipping, and Faire orders syncing as B2B.
Pick, Pack and Ship Workflow
OC3PL's scan-driven pick-pack-ship workflow delivers precise picking, professional packing, and same-day shipping that scales with your brand.
Same-Day Batch Processing & Subscriber Satisfaction
Discover how same-day batch processing for subscription boxes can drastically reduce WISMO tickets and boost subscriber satisfaction and loyalty.
Multichannel Fulfillment From One Inventory Pool
Running a storefront and two marketplaces from one stock pool: how allocation works, what breaks when you split inventory per channel, and what to confirm before you do.
Shorten Your Lead Time
Send us your Faire order volume and current lead time, and we will tell you what it could safely become.