Cut-off times
Owned fleet across all seven Emirates means cut-offs are operational decisions we control, not network-imposed deadlines from a partner carrier. Below are the same-day Dubai cut-off, the next-day cut-off across the seven Emirates, the weekend and holiday rules, and how the order timestamp is calculated so you know exactly which orders make which cut.
Same-day Dubai dispatch cut-off
Section titled “Same-day Dubai dispatch cut-off”14:00 UAE time. Orders received by 14:00 ship same-day to a same-day Dubai zone.
- Same-day Dubai zone covers most of Dubai. Outer Hatta and far Lehbab default to next-day even on a same-day order.
- The order needs to be from in-stock inventory in our Ras Al Khor warehouse. Orders depending on stock that lands the same morning (rare) follow the actual stock arrival, not the same-day cut.
- Stock-out and address-validation issues disqualify the same-day cut even if the order arrives in time.
Next-day dispatch cut-off across the seven Emirates
Section titled “Next-day dispatch cut-off across the seven Emirates”17:00 UAE time. Orders received by 17:00 ship the next operational day across all seven Emirates.
- The next-day cut-off applies to all seven Emirates (Dubai non-same-day zones, Sharjah, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, RAK, Fujairah, UAQ).
- The actual delivery may take longer than next-day for the further Emirates (RAK, Fujairah, UAQ, Al Ain) per delivery timelines; the cut-off is about when the parcel leaves our warehouse, not when it lands at the buyer.
- Orders received after 17:00 ship the day after that.
Standard dispatch
Section titled “Standard dispatch”Orders that miss both cut-offs (received after 17:00) ship the next business day. There is no per-order penalty for missing a cut-off; the order just queues for the next operational window.
For sellers with predictable order patterns, your account manager can flag any orders consistently missing cut-offs so you can adjust your storefront’s order capture flow if needed.
Weekend and holidays
Section titled “Weekend and holidays”Three rules cover non-standard days.
Friday
Section titled “Friday”Friday operations run on a reduced footprint. Full warehouse operations Saturday through Thursday; Friday handles dispatch issues and selected lanes plus on-call cover for urgent operational issues. Same-day Dubai is not guaranteed Friday; new orders placed Friday are queued for Saturday morning dispatch by default.
Saturday
Section titled “Saturday”Saturday is a full operational day. Same-day Dubai cut-off and the next-day cut-off both apply normally on Saturday.
Public holidays
Section titled “Public holidays”Declared UAE public holidays close the warehouse. The schedule is published a week ahead in your SamVertex account so you can adjust expected delivery dates on your storefront. The day before and day after a public holiday usually run heavier than normal volumes; cut-offs hold but the buffer between cut-off and dispatch shrinks.
How orders are timestamped
Section titled “How orders are timestamped”The timestamp that decides which cut-off applies depends on the order source.
- Shopify orders. Order created time in Shopify is the source of truth, not the payment authorisation time. The webhook fires when the order is created; that is what we record.
- Amazon orders (FBM via SamVertex). Order timestamp from Amazon Seller Central, not the time you upload it to us via CSV or manual entry.
- Manual orders. Creation timestamp from your SamVertex account when you submit the form.
- API orders. Timestamp on the inbound API call to our endpoints.
- CSV upload orders. The upload timestamp, which means a CSV uploaded at 13:55 with 200 orders has all 200 orders making the same-day Dubai cut-off; an upload at 14:01 misses for all 200.
For sellers running close to the cut-offs (large CSV batches near 14:00, last-minute Shopify capture near 17:00), the timing matters; your account manager can pull the per-order timestamp history if a specific order’s cut-off classification surprises you.