Understanding Shipping Cutoff Times | Portless Help Center
Understanding Shipping Cutoff Times
May 29, 2026
Every day, your orders go through a sync from Shopify to Portless's warehouse management system (WMS) before they get picked, packed, and shipped out. Knowing the cutoff time helps you predict exactly when your orders leave the warehouse and avoid surprises.
Key concepts and terms
| Term | What it means |
| Cutoff time | The daily deadline for an order to be included in that day's shipment |
| CST | China Standard Time (UTC+8). The timezone used for all Portless warehouse operations |
| Sync delay | A short gap between when an order is placed in Shopify and when it appears in the Portless Warehouse Management System (WMS) |
| Non-bonded warehouse | The standard Portless warehouse type this schedule applies to |
Things to keep in mind
- This schedule applies to Portless non-bonded warehouses only.
- The sync delay is approximately 15 minutes by default, but it varies if you've customized your order-editing settings.
- Portless does not ship on Sundays. All Sunday orders ship on Monday.
- Orders placed after Saturday's cutoff also ship on Monday.
The cutoff schedule
The warehouse cutoff is 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), Monday through Saturday.
| Order synced to WMS | Ships |
| Before 12:00 PM CST (Mon–Sat) | Same day |
| After 12:00 PM CST (Mon–Sat) | Next business day |
| After 12:00 PM CST on Saturday | Monday |
| Any time on Sunday | Monday |
How the Shopify sync delay affects your orders
Portless syncs orders from Shopify to the WMS automatically, but there's a built-in delay of approximately 15 minutes by default. If you've enabled an order-editing window, that delay may be longer.
This matters most for orders placed close to the noon cutoff. An order placed at 11:50 AM CST may not sync until 12:05 PM CST, pushing it to the next day's shipment.
What to do: If same-day shipping is critical, aim to have orders placed and confirmed well before 11:45 AM CST to account for the sync window.