Enable Pre-Purchase AI-Predicted Estimated Delivery Dates (EDD)

Overview

Cart abandonment usually happens when there’s no clarity over the delivery time. Therefore, businesses must share an estimated delivery date to keep shoppers interested. With AfterShip Tracking, you can show AI-predicted estimated delivery dates on product and checkout pages of your Shopify store.

If you are an API user, you can refer to the pre-purchase API document to start getting pre-purchase EDDs through API.

What you’ll learn

In this tutorial, we’ll discuss steps on how Shopify users can show AI-predicted Estimated Delivery Dates on their Shopify Product and Checkout Pages.

• EDD calculation settings
• Product page EDD widget configuration
• Checkout page EDD widget configuration
• FAQs

Step 1: EDD calculation rule settings

a. Configure shipping rules for more accurate EDD predictions

To ensure highly accurate Estimated Delivery Dates (EDDs), it's important to first set up your shipping and order processing rules. Our AI model relies on this data to calculate precise delivery estimates for your customers.

1. Go to the Ship-From Locations section in your AfterShip Tracking admin panel.
2. Set up your locations and define your shipping rules accurately. This setup is essential, as our AI references this information for all EDD predictions.

Need help? Check out the detailed setup guide.

• You can also find access to the Ship-from location configuration settings in the Pre-purchase EDD section under the **Setting tab **shown as below.

b. Align EDDs with your carrier’s holiday calendar

By default, our AI model uses a standard global holiday calendar for EDD calculations. However, for even more accurate predictions, you can configure the AI to follow your carrier’s actual business days and holiday schedule.

To do this, simply enable the setting that instructs the AI to respect your carriers' specific working days. This ensures that all EDD predictions reflect real-world carrier availability, minimizing missed expectations and improving customer satisfaction.

Step 2: Product page EDD widget configuration

1. Customize the product page EDD widget

You can customize the Product Page EDD widget message content, control when the widget appears, and adjust its styling.

Access the Product Page EDD settings

1. Log in to your AfterShip Admin.
2. Go to Pre-purchase estimated delivery dates.
3. Under Product Page EDD, click Manage.

You’ll be redirected to the Product Page EDD configuration panel, where you can control how delivery dates appear on your product pages.

Customize the message content

In the Content section, you can edit the text displayed to shoppers. You can configure:

• Main text (required)
• Secondary text (optional)

Both fields support dynamic merge tags, allowing the system to automatically insert real-time delivery information.

Insert merge tags into the message content

1. Click inside the text editor.
2. Select Merge tags from the toolbar.
3. Choose the tag from the list below to insert.
4. Preview how it appears in real time on the right panel.

Available merge tags include:

• Single date EDD
• EDD_range_minimum
• EDD_range_maximum
• Destination address: Shows the shopper’s location in Country, State format.
• Carrier pickup date: The date when the carrier begins shipping, based on your processing time rules configured.
• Countdown to cutoff: A live countdown timer based on your configured location cutoff time.

It is strongly recommended to include the Destination merge tag in your message.

If the system cannot detect a shopper’s location via IP, they will need a visible location selector to update their address manually. Without the Destination tag, the location selection entry point may not appear on the product page.

Replace custom icon

You can replace icon of your choice for the Product Page EDD widget under the Content section.

• Click ‘Replace image’ and upload a custom icon to replace the default one displayed in the widget.
• The icon file must be in JPG, JPEG, or PNG format and should not exceed 1 MB in size.
• Once uploaded, the new icon will appear alongside the delivery message on the product page.

Configure a special message for extended shipping time

If some products have longer delivery timelines, you can display a special custom message once delivery exceeds a certain number of days. Here’s the setup:

Enable extended shipping time message

1. Turn on the toggle for ‘Extended shipping time message’.
2. Enter a threshold (number of days).

If the difference between the current date and the estimated delivery date (EDD) exceeds this value, the system will display the customized message instead of the standard EDD.

Use the Threshold_days merge tag

When this rule is enabled, the Threshold_days merge tag becomes available. It reflects the value you configured. So, instead of a specific date, you can configure the message as:

Estimated to deliver after {{Threshold_days}} days. 

This helps set clear expectations for longer delivery timelines and reduces the risk of customer hesitation or cart abandonment.

Configure hide Product Page EDD rules

You can define conditions where the EDD should not appear on the product page and the EDD preferences. 

1. Go to the Configuration section.
2. Select one or many conditions available.

The Product Page EDD widget will be hidden if any of the following conditions are met:

Rule execution priority

When multiple conditions apply, the system follows this priority order:

• Hide rules are evaluated first.
• If the widget is not hidden, the system checks whether the extended shipping message should apply.

If neither condition is triggered, the standard EDD is displayed. Understanding this priority ensures predictable display behaviour.

Customize style

In the Style section, you can adjust how the widget looks to match your store’s branding. You can configure the following:

• Icon position: Choose where the icon should appear, like next to the customer location, next to the EDD, aligned separately, or remove it.
• Date format: You can choose your preferred date display format from the available date formats.
• Layout margin: Drag the radio button along the lines to adjust spacing above and below the widget.
• Container styling: Change the background colour, padding (space inside the widget), border width, border colour, and corner style.
• Text customization: Adjust colour, size, boldness, and underline for text elements like body text, EDD text, countdown timer text, and destination text. 

Finally, click Save to apply all changes. 

2. Install the product page EDD widget on your Shopify store

For the Product page EDD, we support 3 methods:

a. Copy the code with Shopify liquid

1. Go to Pre-purchase EDD in your AfterShip Tracking admin
2. Move to the Widget dashboard, click Install widget and select Copy widget code from the dropdown. Click Copy code on the pop-up window.

3. Go to Shopify admin > Online store > Themes > Edit code.
4. Insert the provided code snippet into the desired location.
5. Click Save to display the EDD on the product page.

b. Enable directly with the Shopify extension

1. Go to Pre-purchase EDD in your AfterShip Tracking admin.
2. Move to the Widget tab. On the Product EDD card, click Install widget and select Add as app block. You will land on the Shopify theme editor where the widget will be automatically installed to your default product page.
3. Drag the app block up or down to move it to the position you want on the page. When ready, save your changes.

4. To add the widget to another product page or if you have multiple Shopify stores, go to your store’s Shopify theme editor.
5. Select the Products page from the top dropdown and click on + Add block in the left panel under Templates.
6. Search for AfterShip EDD under the Apps tab and click on it. You can drag it to where you want it on the page and then click Save when finished.

Customer experience

This is how the EDD will look to your customers on the Product page:

c. Enable Pre-purchase EDD in Tapcart

Tapcart is a mobile app builder that helps stores improve mobile conversions and retain customers. With Tapcart, you can sync your Shopify store’s backend, then build and launch your brand's mobile app to enhance the mobile shopping experience.

Make sure the AfterShip Tracking app is installed in your Tapcart account to enable the product page EDD in your Tapcart app.

1. Go to the Tapcart Integration Page and enter your Shopify Domain Name.
2. Click on the Update Integration button to save your connection.

We support two installation methods discussed further.

a. Install via widget code

1. Go to Pre-purchase EDD in your AfterShip Tracking admin.
2. Navigate to the Tapcart Widget dashboard, click Install Widget, and select Copy Widget Code from the dropdown.
3. Choose the store where you want to install the widget, then click Copy Code and Continue in the pop-up window.

4. Click Go to Product Detail Page, which will direct you to the Tapcart installation page.

• On your Tapcart Product Detail page, click Custom, then Launch Blocks Editor .
• Replace the default HTML code with a blank line, as shown below. (Do not delete the code entirely.)
• After pasting the JavaScript code, click Save. When prompted to name the block, we suggest AfterShip - Product Detail Page EDD.

• In the custom section, you’ll now see the block. Drag it to the desired position on the page.
• Finally, click Save & Update when prompted.

b. Enable directly with the Tapcart app block

1. Go to Pre-purchase EDD in your AfterShip Tracking admin.
2. Navigate to the Tapcart Widget dashboard, click Install Widget, and select Add as App Block from the dropdown.
3. Click Go to Product Detail Page in the pop-up window.
4. On the Product Detail page, click the Integration tab. Drag the AfterShip - Product Detail Page EDD block to the desired position.
5. To finish, click Save Changes when prompted.

Please note that the style of our widget will automatically adjust to match your store's brand kit settings.

Step 3: Checkout page EDD widget configuration

1. Customize the checkout page EDD widget

The Checkout Page EDD customization allows you to control how delivery dates appear next to each shipping method during checkout.

With this customization, you can:

• Customize message content using flexible merge tags
• Hide EDD under specific conditions
• Exclude selected products from Checkout EDD calculations
• Create meaningful delivery gaps between shipping tiers

Access the Checkout page EDD settings

1. Log in to your AfterShip Admin.
2. Navigate to Pre-purchase estimated delivery dates.
3. Click Manage under Checkout EDD.

You’ll reach the checkout EDD configuration panel.

Customize the checkout message content

In the Content section, you can edit the message displayed next to each shipping method.

Insert Merge tags

Similar to the Product page EDD widget, the Checkout EDD supports dynamic merge tags. To insert merge tags:

1. Click inside the text editor.
2. Select Merge tags.
3. Insert the required dynamic values.

Available merge tags include:

• Single date EDD: 
• EDD_range_minimum
• EDD_range_maximum
• Destination address: Shows the shopper’s location in Country, State format.
• Carrier pickup date: The date the carrier begins shipping, based on your configured processing-time rules.
• Countdown to cutoff: A live countdown timer based on your configured location cutoff time.

Configure extended shipping time messaging

If some products have longer delivery timelines, you can display a special custom message once delivery exceeds a certain number of days. Here’s the setup:

Enable extended shipping time message

1. Turn on the toggle for ‘Extended shipping time message’.
2. Enter a threshold (number of days).

If the difference between the current date and the estimated delivery date (EDD) exceeds this value, the system will display the customized message instead of the standard EDD.

Use the Threshold_days merge tag

When this rule is enabled, the Threshold_days merge tag becomes available. It reflects the value you configured. So, instead of a specific date, you can configure the message as:

Estimated to deliver after {{Threshold_days}} days

This helps communicate long delivery timelines clearly at checkout.

Configure when to hide Checkout EDD

Go to the Configuration section and define when the Checkout EDD widget should not appear. Checkout EDD can be hidden when any of the following conditions are met:

• Unavailable products (Out-of-stock products)
• Specific products
• Specific product types
• Specific product tags
• Specific shipping methods
• Estimated shipping time is longer than the set no. of days: The system compares the EDD date to the current date, and if the delivery times exceed a configured number of days, EDD is hidden.

Exclude products from Checkout EDD calculation

Control how Checkout EDD is calculated by excluding specific products from contributing to the checkout EDD calculation. When excluded products are present in the cart:

• The system ignores them for EDD calculation.
• The final EDD is calculated based only on the remaining eligible products.

Rule execution priority

If a product matches both a Hide EDD condition and an exclude from calculation condition, the entire Checkout EDD will be hidden. Hide rules take precedence over exclusion rules.

Tiered Checkout (Promote premium shipping)

Tiered Checkout helps ensure that higher-priced shipping options appear meaningfully faster than lower-priced ones. You can define a minimum delivery gap (in calendar days) between shipping premium shipping and cheaper shipping tiers.

How does Tiered logic work?

1. The system compares both shipping options and ensures that each lower-priced option has a delivery estimate that is at least the configured number of days later than the higher-priced shipping options.
2. If the lower-priced option appears too fast, the system automatically adjusts the lower-priced EDD to maintain the required difference.
3. After adjustments, the system rechecks the updated EDD against all applicable display rules, such as Hide EDD rules and Extended Shipping Time message conditions.
4. If the updated delivery estimate exceeds the configured thresholds, the EDD may be hidden or replaced with the customized long-delivery message.

Example for better understanding:

Assume there are three shipping options, ordered from highest price to lowest price:

Option A (Premium) — Original EDD: 1 day

Option B (Standard) — Original EDD: 2 days

Option C (Economy) — Original EDD: 3 days

Here, the configured minimum delivery gap is 2 calendar days.

The system evaluates the shipping options step by step, from highest price to lowest price:

A. Compare Option A and Option B

• Required: B ≥ A + 2 days → 1 + 2 = 3
• Original B = 2 days (gap not met)
• Option B is adjusted to 3 days

B. Compare Option B and Option C

• Required: C ≥ B + 2 days → 3 + 2 = 5
• Original C = 3 days (gap not met)
• Option C is adjusted to 5 days

Final displayed delivery estimates are: 

Option A (Premium) — 1 day

Option B (Standard) — 3 days

Option C (Economy) — 5 days

This adjustment ensures that premium shipping options remain clearly faster than lower-priced alternatives.

Styling options

In the Style section, you can customize the date display format for Checkout EDD to match your store’s preferences.

2. Install the checkout EDD widget on your Shopify store

For the Checkout page EDD, you can enable directly with the Shopify extension:

1. Go to Pre-purchase EDD in your AfterShip Tracking admin.

2. Move to the Widget tab. On the Checkout EDD card, click Install widget and select Add as app block . Read the instructions on the pop-up window and click Go to Shopify .
3. This will take you to your Shopify checkout. Select the Shipping page from the dropdown at the top of the page.

4. In the left side panel under Delivery , click + Add app block . Then select AfterShip EDD and click Save when you're done.
5. If you have multiple Shopify stores, go to your store’s Shopify theme editor.
6. Select the Shipping page from the top dropdown and click on + Add block in the left panel under Order summary

7. Search for AfterShip EDD under the Apps tab and click on it.

8. Check the Include app in Shop Pay box if your store has activated Shop Pay.

9. You can drag it to where you want it on the page and then click Save when finished.

• If you find your shipping method is displayed with a Transit time value after it, it may be a duplicated display with AfterShip EDD on your Checkout page .

• You can go to your Shopify Shipping Setting and change the rate type to Custom Rate to remove the Shopify transit time display.

C. Customer experience

This is how the EDD will look to your customers on the Checkout page:

FAQs

1. Will AEDD still do the prediction if my carrier is not supported?

Answer: If your configured custom shipping rule's carrier or location is not covered under AEDD, we will use the default shipping rule to calculate EDD for you. The default shipping rule takes precedence if your request does not fall under any other custom shipping rules.

2. Why I cannot turn on my pre-purchase EDD feature despite being on the AEDD plan?

Answer: You can refer to the EDD dashboard page to check the error message. You need to set up a valid default shipping rule to enable any pre-purchase EDD feature.

If you have any queries, feel free to connect with our support team for quick assistance.

3. Why is my Estimated Delivery Date (EDD) widget hidden despite enabling the AEDD feature?

Answer: Your EDD widget might be hidden under the following circumstances:

• EDD functionality may be disabled for your account or specifically for the product in question.
• The product may be categorized as non-sellable, or it could be a virtual product that doesn't require shipping.
• The buyer's address might be outside the supported service area for AEDD prediction (refer to the list of supported prediction countries).

4. Why is my Estimated Delivery Date (EDD) widget showing "-" as the EDD value?

Answer: The EDD value might display as "-" due to the following reasons:

• The buyer has entered an invalid address.
• The system cannot determine the buyer's address based on their IP address, and the buyer has not provided address information through the widget.
• Typically, when no specific SKU is selected, the EDD widget defaults to displaying the EDD for the first SKU. However, if the system fails to calculate the EDD for the first SKU or if the EDD for the first SKU is set to be hidden, this can cause the EDD widget to show "-" as the EDD value.

Updated on: 09/03/2026