What should 3PL fulfillment actually cost you?
Enter your volumes and get an honest range built from current US market rates — broken out line by line, the same way a real 3PL quote is structured. No email required.
Your operation
Adjust these to match your volumes. The estimate updates as you type.
Outbound orders shipped per month
Average units picked per order
Average pallet positions held
Inbound receipts
Shipped weight, not product weight
Share of orders returned
Estimated monthly cost
$23,940 – $37,680
Roughly $11.97 – $18.84 per order, all in.
Receiving
12 pallets in
$420 – $660
Storage
40 pallets held
$720 – $1,520
Pick & pack
2,000 orders × 2 items
$5,700 – $9,500
Packaging materials
boxes, mailers, dunnage
$1,500 – $3,500
Parcel shipping
2 lb average, blended zones
$15,200 – $21,200
Returns processing
160 returns
$400 – $800
Account management
monthly platform / support fee
$0 – $500
These are market-rate estimate bands, not a quote. Actual pricing depends on your SKU profile, order mix, and how a given warehouse structures its rate card.
What goes into a 3PL invoice
Almost every quote you receive is built from the same handful of line items. The trouble is that no two providers group them the same way, which is exactly why two quotes for identical volume can look nothing alike. These are the market bands this calculator uses.
| Receiving | per pallet unloaded | $35 – $55 |
| Storage | per pallet, per month | $18 – $38 |
| Pick — first item | per order | $3 – $4 |
| Pick — each additional item | per unit | $0.35 – $0.75 |
| Packaging materials | per order | $0.75 – $2 |
| Parcel — first pound | per shipment | $7 – $10 |
| Parcel — each extra pound | per pound | $0.60 – $1 |
| Returns processing | per return | $3 – $5 |
Where estimates go wrong. Storage is the line that surprises brands most. A slow-moving SKU that sits for months quietly costs more than the pick fees everyone negotiates hard on. If your inventory turns less than four times a year, storage will dominate your bill.
Parcel is the real variable. Shipping is usually the largest number here, and it moves with dimensional weight and zone spread, not just scale weight. A light but bulky product gets billed on its size. Whether you ship on the 3PL's negotiated carrier rates or your own account can swing this line significantly.
What this can't tell you. Minimums. Many providers carry a monthly floor, so low-volume brands pay that instead of their calculated usage. Special handling — cold chain, hazmat, kitting, retail compliance — sits outside these bands entirely and can add meaningfully to the total.
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