Ships A Lot

10/13/2026

The quote your 3PL gave you is the sales pitch. The invoice is the reality. Cross-reference every month — catches the fee creep before it compounds.

Learn more here: https://na2.hubs.ly/H08lKWL0

10/08/2026

One pool of inventory, three storefronts.

It’s the slowest-syncing channel that decides whether you oversell. Fix is a single source of truth (your WMS) plus per-channel buffers.

https://na2.hubs.ly/H08gWVl0

10/06/2026

Refunds are the small part of what a return costs you.

Inbound freight, inspection labor, damages, and the days a unit sat in a bin before grading — that's where the margin goes.

Ask your 3PL to walk a return end to end. If the answer gets vague around the middle, you found the leak.

Full breakdown:

BackBlogOct 06, 2026Returns Are Eating Your Margin. Here's How a 3PL Should Handle Them.The refund you issued a customer is the smallest part of what that return costs you. Inbound freight, inspection labor, restock decisions, damaged units, and the four days that unit sat in a corner before anyone....

09/29/2026

"Shipped" and "delivered" don't tell you whether your fulfillment is working.

Most 3PLs send you order status all day long. Very few send the numbers that actually matter: how long orders take at each stage, how many are stuck in the queue, how often picks go wrong, and where you're overpaying carriers by zone.

The data exists. It just stays in the warehouse. Here's what to ask for, and the 4 questions to ask any 3PL before you sign 👇

BackBlogSep 29, 2026Order Status Isn't Reporting: The 3PL Data You're Not GettingYour 3PL tells you every order that ships. That's status, not reporting. The data that shows whether your fulfillment is healthy — cycle time, aged orders, carrier performance by zone — lives in their WMS and rarely...

09/24/2026

Your inventory count is a promise you make every customer at checkout.

When it drifts, the customer pays first. You pay the refund, the CAC, and the review you'll never get.
Small daily gaps beat one big loss every time.

Full breakdown: https://na2.hubs.ly/H07-Gr-0

09/22/2026

You carry the legal liability for what ships, even on a product a contract manufacturer made. So a supplement 3PL needs lot tracking, FEFO, expiry control, and cGMP/FDA-registered facilities where required. Ask for the current certificate and a live demo. If they hesitate, that's your answer.

Full breakdown: https://na2.hubs.ly/H07Vww90

09/18/2026

The reason most brands stay with a 3PL they've outgrown? Fear of downtime during the switch. But "lost orders" is a cold-turkey problem. Run the migration in parallel and there's no dark period.

Full breakdown: https://na2.hubs.ly/H07Vwf80

09/15/2026

Peak surcharges aren't a rip-off. December genuinely costs more to ship than June. The problem is opacity: a fee you knew about is a cost you can price in. A fee you find out about in January is a hole you already sold your way into.

Full breakdown → https://na2.hubs.ly/H07Q8z_0

09/02/2026

Peak doesn't break brands in December. It breaks them in August, when nobody forecasts and nobody books inbound receiving. December is just when you find out. Ask your 3PL for your inbound cutoff date now, while the answer can still change something.

Full checklist →

BackBlogSep 01, 2026Q4 Fulfillment Checklist: What to Fix Before Peak Season HitsA month-by-month Q4 fulfillment checklist for ecommerce founders: what to lock down now, what to confirm with your 3PL, and the three things that break first in peak season.Key takeawaysThe work that saves your Q4 happe...

08/27/2026

The pick-and-pack rate your 3PL quoted is ~25% of what you'll actually pay. Shipping's ~half. The rest hides in storage penalties, peak surcharges and monthly minimums. Ask for a sample invoice before you sign. The whole number, not the headline.