Logistics is usually the second-largest cost after the product itself.
Storage, handling, packaging, postage and returns are separate lines. Price them separately or you cannot compare providers.
There are four fulfilment models.
In-house, outsourced to a 3PL, marketplace fulfilment, and dropshipping. Most growing sellers end up running two at once.
Volume decides the model more than preference does.
Below a few hundred orders a month, in-house is normally cheapest. Past that, a 3PL's carrier discounts start to outweigh its handling fees.
Border rules changed in 2025 and 2026.
The US ended its US$800 duty-free threshold in August 2025 and the EU began charging a flat €3 per item on low-value parcels from 1 July 2026.
What does e-commerce logistics actually cover?
E-commerce logistics is everything that happens between a supplier releasing your goods and a customer keeping them. It is easy to think of it as "shipping", but postage is only one of five legs, and it is rarely the one that sinks a store.
- Inbound (first mile). Moving stock from the factory or wholesaler to wherever it will be stored. For imported goods this includes ocean or air freight, customs clearance and delivery to the warehouse.
- Storage. Keeping stock in a location, counted accurately, so that it can be found. Storage is charged per pallet, per bin, per cubic foot or per cubic metre, usually by the month.
- Pick and pack. Taking the right units off the shelf, checking them, packing them and labelling the parcel. This is the labour-heavy part.
- Last mile. Handing the parcel to a carrier and getting it to a door, a parcel locker or a pick-up point.
- Returns (reverse logistics). Getting unwanted goods back, inspecting them and returning them to stock, refurbishing them or writing them off.
Each leg has its own price, its own failure modes and its own suppliers. A seller who buys all five from one provider still pays five prices; they are simply printed on one invoice. If you want the wider freight vocabulary behind these legs, the Kurums guide to freight contracts and parties explains who does what.
Which fulfilment models can an online seller choose from?
There are four, and they differ in who holds the stock and who touches the parcel.
| Model | Who stores the stock | Who packs the order | Best suited to | Main trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-house (self-fulfilment) | You | You or your staff | New stores, bulky or customised goods, low order counts | Your time, and no carrier volume discounts |
| Third-party logistics (3PL) | The 3PL's warehouse | The 3PL | Stores with steady volume across their own site and several channels | Handling fees, minimums and less control over the unboxing |
| Marketplace fulfilment | The marketplace's network | The marketplace | Sellers whose main channel is that marketplace | Strict inbound rules, storage penalties and dependence on one platform |
| Dropshipping | The supplier | The supplier | Testing products without buying stock | Thin margins, slower delivery and little quality control |
In-house fulfilment is where almost everyone starts. It costs nothing in fees and it teaches you what your products need in terms of packaging and handling. Its limit is not space; it is the hours it consumes and the retail postage rates you pay.
A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) rents you a slice of a professional operation: receiving, storage, pick and pack, and access to carrier contracts negotiated on the volume of all its clients. Kurums explains the term in plain English in 3PL, Decoded, and compares providers in Best E-Commerce Fulfilment Providers.
Marketplace fulfilment means sending stock into a marketplace's own warehouses, where it becomes eligible for the platform's fast-delivery badge. The same stock can often be used to ship orders from your own website through a multi-channel service, at a separate rate card.
Dropshipping removes inventory risk altogether, because the supplier ships each order directly. The price is control: you cannot inspect what goes out, and delivery times are whatever the supplier achieves.
What does e-commerce fulfilment cost per order?
There is no honest single number, because product size and weight drive every line. What you can do is build the cost per order from its parts and compare providers on the total. Most 3PL quotations contain the same six lines.
| Cost line | How it is usually charged | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Per pallet, per carton or per hour | How well the supplier labels and packs inbound stock |
| Storage | Per pallet, bin or cubic unit per month | Slow-moving stock and seasonal build-ups |
| Pick and pack | A fee for the first item, less for each extra item | Number of items per order, kitting and inserts |
| Packaging | Per box, mailer or bag | Size range of your catalogue |
| Postage | Per parcel by weight, size and zone | Dimensional weight and delivery distance |
| Returns | Per returned parcel plus inspection time | Return rate and how much checking each item needs |
Three points catch new sellers out. First, postage is charged on dimensional weight when a parcel is large for its mass, so a light, bulky product can cost more to ship than a small heavy one. The logic is the same as in air freight, covered in the Kurums guide to chargeable weight. Second, minimum monthly fees mean a 3PL's per-order price is only real once you are above its minimum. Third, storage fees punish slow stock: a pallet that sits for a year can cost more in rent than the goods on it earned.
How big is the parcel market that all of this runs on?
Very large, and still growing. Pitney Bowes' Parcel Shipping Index puts US parcel volume at 23.1 billion shipments in 2025, up 3.3% on 2024 and roughly double the level of 2016. The same index shows Amazon Logistics becoming the largest US carrier by parcel volume in 2025, with about 6.9 billion parcels, close to 30% of the market, while UPS's share of parcel revenue fell from 34% to 31.6%.
Two things follow for a seller. Capacity is abundant, so there is nearly always an alternative carrier. And the large carriers are choosing profitable parcels over sheer volume, which is why surcharges for large, heavy and residential deliveries keep rising even when base rates look flat. Regional carriers and newer last-mile networks have grown in the gap, which is one reason a multi-carrier set-up, either through a 3PL or through shipping software, now pays for itself at lower volumes than it used to.
How do cross-border rules change the model you choose?
More than they did two years ago. Two long-standing exemptions that made direct-from-factory parcel shipping cheap have gone.
- United States. The US$800 de minimis exemption, under which low-value parcels entered without duty, ended on 29 August 2025. Low-value imports are now subject to duties and need the data to support a formal assessment.
- European Union. From 1 July 2026 the EU abolished its duty relief for consignments worth €150 or less. Under Council Regulation (EU) 2026/382 a flat customs duty of €3 per item applies as an interim measure until 1 July 2028, when a permanent regime is due. VAT has applied from the first euro since July 2021 and continues unchanged.
The practical effect is that shipping single parcels from a factory abroad to the end customer has lost part of its cost advantage, and it now carries a data burden. Many sellers have responded by moving stock in bulk to a warehouse inside the destination market, clearing it once, and fulfilling locally. That turns one long parcel journey into a freight leg plus a domestic last mile, which is usually faster for the customer as well. If you import in bulk, the choice between a full container and a shared one is covered in FCL vs LCL, and the paperwork in customs documents for procurement.
When should a seller move from in-house to a 3PL?
When the total cost per order through a 3PL drops below your own, with your time priced honestly. That crossover tends to arrive for one of four reasons.
- Postage. Your parcel count is high enough that a 3PL's negotiated carrier rates save more than its handling fees cost.
- Space. Stock has outgrown the room, garage or unit, and the next step up is a lease.
- Speed. Customers in distant regions wait too long, and a provider with several warehouses can place stock closer to them.
- Focus. Packing orders is displacing work that grows the business.
A sensible test is to run the numbers at today's volume and at double today's volume. If the 3PL wins only at double, stay in-house and revisit in a quarter. If it wins at both, the move is overdue. Ask every provider for its minimums, its storage charges for stock older than six months, its peak-season surcharges and its accuracy guarantee in writing, and check how it integrates with your store platform and with any warehouse management software you already use.
What should you measure once fulfilment is running?
A small set of numbers tells you whether the operation is healthy.
| Metric | What it tells you | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Total logistics cost per order | All five legs divided by orders shipped | The only figure that compares models fairly |
| Order accuracy | Share of orders shipped with the right items | Every error costs a second shipment and a customer |
| On-time dispatch | Orders leaving within the promised cut-off | The part of delivery speed you control |
| Delivery time, door to door | Days from order to delivery by region | Shows where stock is too far from customers |
| First-attempt delivery rate | Parcels delivered on the first try | Failed attempts add cost and complaints |
| Return rate and return cost | Share of orders returned and cost of each | Returns can erase the margin on a product line |
| Stock accuracy | Counted stock against system stock | Prevents overselling and write-offs |
The last mile deserves its own attention, because it is where the money goes: estimates put it at roughly half or more of total shipping cost. The Kurums guide to last-mile delivery costs breaks that down and looks at lockers and pick-up points as a way to cut it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between logistics and fulfilment?
Logistics is the whole movement of goods, from supplier to customer and back. Fulfilment is the part that starts when an order is placed: picking, packing and shipping it. Fulfilment sits inside logistics.
Is a 3PL worth it for a small online store?
Usually not at very low volume, because monthly minimums and storage fees outweigh the savings on postage. It tends to become worthwhile once order counts are steady and high enough that negotiated carrier rates more than cover the handling fees.
What is dimensional weight?
A calculated weight based on a parcel's size. Carriers charge on whichever is greater, the actual weight or the dimensional weight, so that light but bulky parcels pay for the space they take.
Do low-value parcels still enter the EU and US duty-free?
No. The US ended its US$800 exemption on 29 August 2025. The EU ended its €150 duty relief on 1 July 2026 and applies a flat €3 customs duty per item as an interim measure until 1 July 2028.
Can I use more than one fulfilment model at once?
Yes, and many sellers do. A typical mix is marketplace fulfilment for marketplace orders and a 3PL or in-house operation for the seller's own website and wholesale customers.
Keep reading in the Logistics hub
- Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index
- European Commission: EU customs reform
- Baker McKenzie: EU flat customs duty on low-value consignments
- Supply Chain 24/7: EU plans to end de minimis rule
Rates, rankings and market figures were checked in November 2026 and move quickly; confirm with the carrier, forwarder or publisher before you commit. Kurums has no paid relationship with the companies named here.
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