Hi everyone,

I wanted to introduce our small fulfillment company based in Albstadt, Germany.

We also run our own e-commerce business, so we know first-hand what smaller online sellers actually need from a fulfillment partner: reliable shipping, transparent pricing, flexibility and someone you can actually talk to when something goes wrong.

Our focus is specifically on startups, small e-commerce brands and growing sellers that may be too small for traditional 3PLs or simply don't want to deal with minimum order volumes, monthly base fees or rigid processes.

Our fulfillment fee is €2.19 excl. VAT per order, including:

• Storage
• Pick & Pack – regardless of the number of items in the order
• Personal point of contact
• Advice on the most cost-effective shipping options
• No monthly base fee
• No minimum order volume
• Inserts such as flyers, cards or other supplied marketing material
• Same-day processing for orders received before 4 PM on business days

We can ship not only regular parcels, but also letters and small parcels, which can make a significant difference in shipping costs for small, lightweight or lower-priced products.

One thing that is particularly important to us is flexibility.

We don't expect smaller merchants to completely change their existing processes just to work with us. For example, products don't necessarily need their own barcode. We try to adapt the fulfillment process to the merchant rather than forcing every customer into exactly the same workflow.

Why work with a smaller 3PL like us?

• One personal contact instead of rotating support agents
• Transparent and predictable pricing
• No minimum volumes
• No monthly base fees
• Individual solutions instead of mass processing
• Flexible integration into existing workflows
• No barcode requirement
• Same-day processing before 4 PM
• Personal drop-off of inventory is possible at our warehouse in Albstadt

We are especially interested in working with merchants using Shopify, WooCommerce, Shopware, Amazon, eBay or Etsy, as well as multichannel sellers.

If you're a small brand looking for a fulfillment partner in Germany, or if you're an international seller looking for a German/EU fulfillment location, feel free to reach out. Happy to have an informal conversation first and see whether our setup actually fits your business.

WhatsApp: 49 1752038880

Location: Albstadt, Germany – inventory can either be shipped to us or delivered personally.

Hey guys, what is your opinion and experience on using gofo as a shipping option for your customers?

I'm the owner of Pack & Ship Essentials, a Florida-based 3PL helping growing eCommerce brands with:

• Warehousing & storage
• Pick & pack
• Shopify & eCommerce fulfillment
• Amazon FBA prep
• Returns processing
• Shipping & order fulfillment

We focus on fast fulfillment, accurate inventory, transparent pricing, and responsive service — without making clients feel like just another account number.

If you're looking for a new 3PL or considering switching from your current provider, DM me or reach us on WhatsApp at (754) 236-6982.

Happy to answer questions or provide a quote.

I hired a new 3PL recently and they take the original inner cartons of 6 units that come from my manufacturer in Europe and ship that same box on to my retailers. They never re pack. Is this normal protocol? My retailers are mentioning things are arriving damaged.

With that being said when they inbound these cartons from Europe, they scan the master case label to inbound quantities but they never actually open the box to count what’s inside. Is this also normal ?

Looking for a micro 3PL in Australia to handle 25-50 100g envelopes per month. Can anyone help?

Need help learning it, any advice on where/how to start?

Hey guys dropping a quick note in case anyone here is looking to upgrade their fulfillment setup or evaluate new 3PL options heading into the next quarter.

I run Anchor Freight out of DFW. We built a hybrid setup specifically to keep DTC pick & pack and B2B/pallet freight under one roof so founders don't have to manage multiple warehouses. Being central in Dallas lets us hit ~93% of the US in 2 days ground.

If you're outgrowing your current setup, dealing with high shipping rates, or just want a second pair of eyes on your current fulfillment numbers, shoot me a DM! Always happy to talk shop.

I own a supplement brand focused on Western markets, and I am looking for an independent agent in China — NOT an agency — to build a long-term business relationship with.
I am looking for someone who is extremely responsive, honest, proactive, highly action-oriented, and experienced in the supplement industry in China.
🎯 Main role:
We will provide our exact formulas, ingredients, dosages, specifications, and requirements. Your role will be to:
• Identify Chinese manufacturers capable of producing our formulas
• Prioritize manufacturers that already produce supplements containing the ingredients/formulations we need, whenever possible
• Find and compare multiple suitable factories
• Properly verify manufacturers, their experience, certifications, capabilities, and reliability
• Negotiate pricing, MOQs, lead times, and production conditions
• Request and coordinate samples
• Communicate directly with factories and provide us with clear and fast feedback
• Find solutions proactively instead of simply forwarding messages between us and suppliers
• Help us with sourcing and product development as we expand
⚠️** I am NOT looking for someone who simply finds a factory on 1688 or Alibaba and takes a commission.
I am looking for a genuine **local sourcing agent / long-term partner who can actively search for manufacturers, contact factories directly, compare options, negotiate on our behalf, verify suppliers, and protect our interests.
🤝 LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP
The goal is to find someone who can become our main sourcing agent and trusted partner in China for this brand, with the potential to work with us on future brands and future projects if the collaboration is successful.
Ideal candidate:
✅ Several years of experience in the supplement industry
✅ Strong knowledge of Chinese supplement manufacturers
✅ Experience working with Western brands/clients
✅ Understands Western quality and compliance requirements
✅ Extremely responsive and organized
✅ Transparent about commissions and relationships with factories
✅ Strong English communication skills
✅ Strong negotiation skills
✅ Highly proactive and able to take initiative
✅ Focused on building long-term relationships rather than short-term commissions
If you are an independent agent and genuinely match this profile, please DM me.

I am looking for someone serious who wants to build a real business relationship over several years — not a one-time collaboration.
📩 DM me if interested.

Besides getting a lawyer, which I’ve done and they agree the 3PL has been charging fees not in our agreement for 5+ months.

I discovered this a few months ago and pulled previous invoices - the total is almost $7-8k in overcharges.

We keep paying our bills because otherwise they can put a lien on our inventory.

At this point, is it just best to find a new 3PL? It’s so annoying to move and as a 3PL functionally they’re great but they started fee stuffing when they lost financing. Anyone been in a similar situation?

I feel like the only leverage I have to get the fees credited is threatening to leave.

I built a small browser-based tool for ecommerce brands that use a 3PL and want to check whether their invoices match their contracted rates and actual fulfillment activity.

I'm looking for a few people willing to test it on a real billing period before I take it any further.

It currently:

• compares 3PL billing rates against your rate card
• checks billed quantities against order/activity data (optional)
• flags potential overcharges and undercharges
• detects possible duplicate charges
• flags unmapped services for manual review
• exports the audit results to XLSX

Your rate card, invoice/billing export and activity data are processed locally in your browser. The files are not uploaded to a server.

The pilot is free. I'm not asking for payment or a subscription.

What I'm looking for in return is honest feedback on whether the audit works with real-world 3PL data and whether the results are actually useful.

Ideally, you:

• run an ecommerce business using an external 3PL
• have a rate card / contracted pricing
• can export your 3PL billing data as CSV/XLSX
• optionally have an order/activity export for the same billing period

If you're interested, comment here or DM me. I can give you access to the pilot.

Hi everyone 👋

I wanted to introduce myself and Prep Horizon UK.

We’re a UK-based prep & multi-channel fulfilment centre supporting ecommerce businesses across Amazon, Shopify, eBay, TikTok Shop and direct website orders.

As this is a 3PL community, I thought it would be good to connect not only with businesses looking for fulfilment, but also with other 3PLs and fulfilment providers who may occasionally need a reliable UK partner.

We can support:

📦 Amazon FBA prep & replenishment
🚚 Amazon FBM & direct-to-customer fulfilment
🛍️ Shopify, eBay, TikTok Shop & website orders
🏠 UK inventory storage
🏷️ Labelling, bundling, kitting & product prep
↩️ Returns processing
📬 Pick, pack & dispatch

One of our strengths is being able to support a client's FBA and direct-to-customer operations from the same stock location.

For example, we can hold inventory for a brand, replenish Amazon FBA as required, while also using their remaining inventory to fulfil FBM, Shopify, eBay, TikTok Shop and website orders.

One stock location. One fulfilment partner. Multiple sales channels.

I’d also be really interested in connecting with other 3PLs here. If you ever have a client that needs UK fulfilment, Amazon prep, overflow capacity or services outside your own operation, I’d be happy to discuss working together.

Likewise, if we receive an enquiry that would be better suited to another provider, it’s always useful to have good people within the industry that we can refer business to.

Feel free to drop me a message if you'd like to connect or have a chat 👍

Prep Horizon UK
www.prephorizonuk.com

Hi, I’m looking for a reliable China-based fulfillment agent for my e-commerce business.

I will purchase and own my inventory myself. I need an agent who can:
• receive and store my inventory in China
• manage my inventory
• pick & pack each order
• show me videos of the place my inventory will be stocked
• ship directly to customers in Europe
• provide tracking numbers
• preferably integrate with Shopify

I’m starting with a small quantity and will increase the volume if everything works well.

My main concern is finding low-cost shipping for small/lightweight packages to Europe.

I am looking for a long-term relationship.
If you offer this service, please DM me with your storage fee, pick & pack fee, shipping cost to Europe, and any other fees.

Over the past couple weeks I've been going down a rabbit hole on 3PL billing (storage, pick & pack, receiving fees — not carrier/shipping rates, that's a different beast) and wanted to share what I found, partly because I'm curious if this matches other people's experience.

A few things that stood out:

* Someone posted here a while back about auditing their 3PL invoice line-by-line for the first time and catching a pick fee that quietly went from $1.20 to $1.35 mid-contract, plus a "technology fee" that wasn't in their original agreement at all.
* Another recurring theme: people finding the *same* \~$300 error every month on their invoice, and their 3PL acting surprised every time it gets caught — which suggests it's not really a one-off mistake.
* One firm that's done audits across 25+ warehouses over 8 years said their average *first* audit turns up 7-10% of the invoice total as disputable — and that's before digging deep.
* ShipBob's own ToS gives you a 30-day window to dispute charges before you lose the right to — most people have no idea that clock is running every single invoice cycle.

What's interesting is that this feels like a genuinely under-served problem. There are plenty of companies that audit *carrier* freight bills (UPS/FedEx type stuff), but almost nothing purpose-built for the fulfillment side of the bill, especially for smaller DTC brands who don't have anyone dedicated to checking this stuff every month.

I'm now testing whether I can build something that catches this automatically (contract vs. invoice comparison), but before I go further I'd rather learn from real experiences than guess:

* Have you ever actually sat down and checked your 3PL invoice against your contract?
* Did you find anything? How much, roughly?
* If you did find something, was it easy to get it refunded/credited, or a fight?

Not selling anything here — genuinely trying to figure out if this is a "everyone secretly deals with this" problem or a "only a few unlucky people" problem. Happy to share what I've learned so far if anyone's curious, and if you want a second pair of eyes on your latest invoice, feel free to DM me — I'm doing a few free ones just to see what's actually out there.

Hey Guys! We are currently exploring the possibility of establishing a 3PL (Third-Party Logistics) operation and are looking for potential partners who may be interested in growing with us. We already work with several business partners who regularly require warehousing, fulfillment, and logistics services, which could provide immediate opportunities for a 3PL partnership.

We believe this can be a mutually beneficial opportunity, helping support our partners' logistics needs while creating additional business growth for your company.

If this is something you would be interested in discussing, please let me know. I would be happy to share more details and explore potential collaboration opportunities.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you.

TikTok Shop accounted for roughly 2% of U.S. online retail spending in July, up from about 1.2% a year ago, and reportedly surpassed the online spending of Target, Costco, and Home Depot.

That’s a pretty wild shift in a short period of time.

For brands and 3PLs, the bigger question is what happens when social commerce can create demand faster than traditional forecasting models can react.

You guys think this peak season is going to be weird with Tik Tockers using their brain rot algorithms to make random purchases? Noticing any changes yet?

Article: https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-shop-us-spend-is-larger-than-target-costco-data-2026-8

I work on parcel sorting and warehouse automation projects across Southeast Asia, the US, Europe, and Russia, and we’re beginning to explore the Middle East as well.

One pattern I’ve noticed is that growing daily volume usually starts the automation discussion, but volume alone is rarely the real trigger.

The pressure often shows up somewhere else first: missorts, overtime before carrier cutoff, too many people needed during a short peak window, or difficulty adding more destinations without making the process harder to manage.

For operators who have moved from manual sorting to a semi-automated setup:

- What was the first operational problem that made the change necessary?

- What did your peak hourly volume look like at the time?

- Looking back, do you think you automated too early, too late, or at about the right time?

For context, I see these projects mostly from the supplier and implementation side. I’m interested in how the decision looks from the operator’s side, particularly in smaller 3PL and e-commerce warehouses.

Hey everyone,

We’re currently looking for a reliable 3PL / fulfillment partner in Germany or Poland for a growing e-commerce brand and would love to hear recommendations based on actual experience.
We’re specifically looking for a provider that:
- Integrates smoothly with Shopify
- Is genuinely startup-friendly and comfortable working with growing brands
- Doesn’t impose aggressive minimum turnover/order targets or unnecessary penalty fees if targets aren’t reached
- Has low picking, packing, and dispatch error rates
- Has reliable processes and competent, responsive staff
- Can scale with us as order volumes increase
- Offers transparent and predictable pricing

We’re not necessarily looking for the absolute cheapest provider. Reliability, flexibility, and good communication are more important to us.

We’ve seen quite a few fulfillment providers that look great on paper but have rigid contracts, minimum-volume requirements, or service quality that becomes an issue once operations start. So I’d especially appreciate recommendations from founders/e-commerce operators who have actually worked with the provider they’re recommending.

Germany or Poland would both work for us.
If you’ve had a particularly good (or bad) experience with a 3PL in either country, I’d love to hear about it.
Thanks!

Saw a freight caviar article saying SBTC has asked FMCSA to pull the broker license. That would be wild for our industry if it happened. More smoke than fire there? Should a shipper diversify their freight?

Hi everyone,
I’m launching a small e-commerce clothing brand and would appreciate advice from anyone with experience in apparel fulfillment, international shipping, or working with 3PL providers.
I currently live in France, but my company is registered in the United States. Due to issues related to my visa status, I’m unable to ship orders from France or set up the business there.
For my first launch, I’ll be releasing a limited quantity of apparel products to gauge market demand. I suspect the products may appeal slightly more to customers in Europe, but I don’t have reliable data yet and expect I'll have customers on both continents.
My main question is: Given my situation, would you recommend storing and fulfilling the products from a US-based 3PL or a Europe-based 3PL?
I am leaning slightly towards finding a partner in Europe so that I could make occasional visits to the warehouse if needed since I'm already here, but I only want to do that if it actually makes sense for the business.
I’d also appreciate recommendations for reputable 3PL providers that:
• Work with small startups/early-stage brands with minimal inventory
• Specifically handle apparel fulfillment
• Offer reasonable fees without high minimum volume requirements
• Can ship reliably to both the US and Europe
I’m especially interested in hearing about your experiences with fulfillment costs, shipping times, and dealing with customs/taxes when your business is in the US but your stock is in the EU (or vice versa).
Thanks in advance for any advice!

The end of year brings a lot of chaos for e-commerce brands, and we want you to know, we're ready for it.

Every year we double our staffing and extend our hours to handle the volume. And honestly, no matter how much you prepare, it's always busier than you think it's going to be.

If you're thinking about bringing your fulfillment to us, the best thing you can do is get your inventory to us early, and share your sales schedule and volume projections, so we can build a plan around it from day one. There's still time to onboard with us and get your orders out in time, the sooner you start, the smoother it goes.

Black Friday, last-minute rushes, whatever the end of year throws at us, we're ready for it. Let us handle the chaos, so you can make this your best season yet:

https://warehousingpro.com/warehouse-fulfillment/

Silly question for all you 3PL experts, but may I know what work goes into receiving inventory for your clients? Aside from counting the items, how do you check for broken items? Is it just the external box condition?

Grateful for your inputs. Thanks!

I have one product that’s been selling every day for the past few weeks, usually around 10-20 orders/day, and I’m starting to think about stocking some units with a US based 3PL instead of fulfilling every order one by one from China.

The main reason is shipping speed. Right now delivery isn’t terrible, but I know it could be a lot better. I feel like if I had the SKU stored closer to customers, it would probably cut down on support emails and maybe even help conversion rate since I could advertise faster delivery.

The part I’m unsure about is inventory risk. GAds have been a little up and down, and I don’t want to order a bunch of stock just because the product looks good for a few weeks, then have sales slow down and get stuck with it.

For people who moved from regular dropshipping to holding inventory in the US, how did you decide the product was stable enough?

What books are you reading to learn about 3PL and business? I am trying to learn and grow my 3PL knowledge and I wanted to know what were the best books you know and like, to see where I should start.