A show that goes well leaves you with more parcels than evenings. The failure is not the volume — it is missing dispatch deadlines, which counts against you however good the reason.
Today, in this order
1. Tell people. One message to each buyer saying when theirs will go: specific, not apologetic. A buyer who knows it is Thursday waits happily; one who hears nothing opens a case on Wednesday.
2. Post in order of deadline, not of size. The oldest order is the one closest to being late.
3. Turn your capacity down. This stops the hole getting deeper while you dig out — new orders arrive at a rate you can meet. How to set daily capacity
4. Do not take on more. Postpone the next show. A second good night on top of an unpacked first one is how stores get into real trouble.
What not to do
Do not mark things shipped before they are. It buys a day and costs you a dispute you cannot win, because the tracking will say otherwise. How to mark an order shipped
Do not cancel to clear the backlog. Cancellations count against you much harder than lateness, and a cancelled order is a refund, a lost sale and an unhappy buyer in one. The seller cancelled my order
Do not stop answering messages. Silence is what turns a late parcel into a complaint.
The dial that prevents it
Daily capacity — how many orders a day you accept. Set it to what you can genuinely pack on an ordinary evening, not a heroic one.
It feels like turning away money. It is not: an order you cannot fulfil on time is worth less than no order, because it costs you the standing that brings the next one.
Packing faster
Pack before the show, for anything already listed. Boxes made up, filler ready, labels printable.
One shape of box, mostly. Decisions are what slow you down.
Weigh as you go and write it on the box. The courier charges the greater of weight and size, and a guess costs you later. What is chargeable weight?
Print the slips in a batch rather than one at a time. Do I need a label printer?
Afterwards
Look at what actually happened: how many orders, how long each took, where the time went. That number is your real capacity, and setting it honestly is what turns a good show from a crisis into a routine. How to find your store's numbers
More: how to set daily capacity, how to pack an order, can I pause my listings.