In November and December, Kaufland brings more orders and more tickets, and January brings more returns. The rules stay the same as the rest of the year. What changes are the holidays: they shift delivery times and ticket deadlines, but not on every day you might take off.
This guide collects the dates and rules for the 2026 season, with a checklist from November to January. The rules come from Kaufland’s Seller University and from the Kaufland Global Marketplace peak season guide of 27 October 2026, read on 2 November 2026. The sources are at the end.
The checklist from November to January
| When | What is coming | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Early November | Preparation | Reorder bestsellers, check minimum prices, write text modules for tickets. Open Marketing Tools › Seasonal Campaigns to see the upcoming campaigns. |
| 11 November | Singles Day | Kaufland lists it as one of its seasonal campaigns. Check campaign prices against your break-even first. |
| 27 to 30 November | Black Friday (Friday 27) and Cyber Monday (Monday 30) | Update stock daily. Cancellations from this weekend count towards your November cancellation rate. |
| From mid November | Carriers publish their last posting dates | Set your handling time to match and agree collection times with your carrier. |
| 8 December | Public holiday in Austria and Italy | Counts for Kaufland.at and Kaufland.it. |
| 24 December | Public holiday on Kaufland.cz, .sk and .pl | A normal working day for Kaufland.de and Kaufland.at. Plan ahead if you do not ship that day. |
| 25 and 26 December | Public holidays in most Kaufland countries | In France only 25 December is on Kaufland’s list. |
| 31 December | Not on any of Kaufland’s holiday lists | A normal working day for delivery times and tickets. |
| January | Returns from the Christmas season | Open returns daily and confirm or reject them within 3 working days. |
| End of January | Review | Look at profit per product, cancellations, ticket reasons and what sold out. |
Delivery time: working days, holidays and 24 December
The delivery time on an offer is your handling time (in the offer data) plus the transport time (in the shipping group). Kaufland counts working days only: Saturday does not count, and neither do public holidays.
Which holidays count depends on the sales channel. Kaufland.de uses German nationwide holidays, not regional ones. If an order comes in on such a holiday, the delivery window is extended by one day automatically. Kaufland’s list for Germany has 25 and 26 December, but not Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, so those count as working days. The lists for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland include 24 December.
Sell from one country on another Kaufland marketplace, and the buyer’s country sets the holidays. If it is a holiday where you are but not in the buyer’s country, adjust your delivery time yourself.
- Add delays straight away. Kaufland asks you to add delays, for example at your carrier, to your delivery time immediately and temporarily. Do it before the busy weeks, not once the first parcels are late.
- Automatic delivery times. If you use Smart Delivery Time Automation, you can pause it for seven days with “Pause Now” when you run short of stock or capacity.
- Time for same-day shipping. Your shipping group says by what time an order must arrive to be handed to the carrier the same day. If your collection times change in December, change this time too.
- Tracking. Kaufland expects a valid tracking number on at least 80% of your shipments. Buyers who can see the status open fewer tickets.
- Only mark what has left. If an order is not marked as shipped 14 days after the latest delivery date and no ticket is open, Kaufland notifies you. If nothing changes within seven days, Kaufland cancels it on your behalf.
More on shipping groups and marking orders as shipped is in our guide to shipping on Kaufland.
Last posting dates of the carriers
These dates were published by the carriers themselves for Christmas 2026, as of 2 November 2026. They apply to delivery by Christmas Eve. Most carriers in the other Kaufland countries had not published theirs yet, so check your carrier’s site from mid November.
| Country and carrier | Last date | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Germany, DHL Paket | Monday 21 December | Private customers, parcels within Germany |
| Germany, DHL Paket for business customers | Tuesday 22 December | Regular collection, delivery as a rule by 24 December. As a rule there are no collections on 24 December. |
| Germany, Hermes | Saturday 19 December | Drop-off at a PaketShop or doorstep collection, within Germany |
| Germany, GLS | Monday 21 December, 12:00 | Within Germany. To neighbouring EU countries by Friday 18 December, 12:00. |
| Austria, GLS Austria | Monday 21 December | Within Austria. No collections or deliveries on 24 and 31 December. |
| Czech Republic, Zásilkovna (Packeta) | Monday 21 December | Within the Czech Republic. The last delivery day is 23 December. Abroad: Friday 18 December. |
| Netherlands, DPD | Wednesday 23 December | Within the Netherlands |
From Germany to other Kaufland countries. For business customers, DHL lists these last collection days (Paket International with the Premium service and Europaket): Austria, France and the Netherlands Monday 21 December; the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Italy Saturday 19 December; Spain Friday 18 December.
Stock: cancellations cost money
“Goods not in stock” is a seller-related cancellation reason. Kaufland expects seller-related cancellations below 1% a month. Between 1% and 2.99%, Kaufland charges 7% of the total price of the cancelled transactions. Above 3% it charges 15%.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday both fall in November, so one weak weekend counts for the whole month. Update stock daily on every channel where you sell the same goods. The cancellation rate calculator shows what a rate costs you.
Campaigns, vouchers and prices
- Seasonal campaigns. Taking part is free. Kaufland names Singles Day, Black Week and Christmas. You upload a CSV with EAN and campaign_price, the price in cents: €19.99 becomes 1999.
- The badge. If your price at the start of the campaign is at least 2% below the 30-day reference price, the offer gets a badge such as “Black Week Deal”. The reference price is the lowest price for the item on that Kaufland marketplace in the last 30 days. The badge only shows when you hold the Buy Box.
- The campaign price comes first. According to Kaufland, campaign_price sets the price for the length of the campaign and overrides other pricing logic such as Smart Pricing. Your minimum price does not protect you then. Check each campaign price against your break-even, for example with the profit calculator.
- Seasonal vouchers. A voucher with at least 10% off during a seasonal campaign is marked as a seasonal voucher automatically. Each redemption costs €0.49 for items under €100 and €0.99 from €100. With a voucher you pay the return shipping if the price after the discount falls below €40 (Germany, Slovakia, Austria, France and Italy), 990 CZK or 175 zł.
- Volume discounts. Free and can be combined with seasonal campaigns, but not with vouchers: if the same offer has a voucher, only the voucher applies.
- Smart Pricing. Adjusts your price automatically, never below your minimum price. Set the minimum price at or above your break-even before the season. Our guide to Smart Pricing shows how.
Customer service over the holidays
Kaufland expects you to answer 100% of tickets within 48 hours. Working days count: weekends and the national holidays of the sales channel do not. For Kaufland.de, 24 and 31 December are normal days.
- Cover. Kaufland recommends stand-in arrangements for illness and leave. Decide now who answers tickets between Christmas and New Year.
- Text modules. Under Ticket Management › Text modules you save answers per sales channel. Three are useful: “Where is my parcel?”, a message for delays and one for return requests.
- Report delays yourself. If a delivery is late after all, tell the buyer through the ticket system before they ask.
- Upload the invoice. Without an invoice, buyers often open a ticket with the reason “Invoice”. Upload one for every order that does not fall under the deemed supplier model.
Returns in January
Seller University has no separate Christmas returns period. You set the period: the default is 14 days, and you can change it per marketplace in the Returns conditions tab of your returns settings. A longer period can be a reason to buy a gift. Returns then also arrive later.
- Cost. For items over €40, you pay the return shipping. The return cost calculator shows what a return costs in total.
- First reply. Since 1 February 2026, your first reply to a return request must include a valid return option, such as a label. Otherwise customer service cancels and refunds at your expense.
- Three working days. Returns with Kaufland’s DHL or DPD labels are confirmed automatically if you do not process them within 3 working days of receipt.
- Refund without return. For low-priced items you can set automation rules that refund the buyer without a return. The service is free.
- Money. Kaufland releases revenue 14 days after delivery (with tracking) or 21 days after the order is marked as shipped (without). An open ticket interrupts this period.
All the rules on returns are in our guide to Kaufland returns.
How Sellgrip helps in the season
In Sellgrip, Orders shows every order with its shipping deadline. Delivery performance puts late shipments, cancellations and tracking numbers next to Kaufland’s target. For the Buy Box, Sellgrip works out whether a lower price pays. Sellgrip derives minimum prices from your break-even, and the price guard tells you when a price slips below it, for example through a campaign price.
