2023 FedEx Fulfillment Review: Fulfillment Services, Pricing & Alternatives
This article is part of a larger series on Retail Management.
FedEx Fulfillment, a subsidiary of the FedEx Corporation, provides third-party logistics (3PL) services—including warehousing, order fulfillment, and shipping.
Since Our Last Update
FedEx Fulfillment has changed its minimum requirements to 200 orders per day (or 6,000 orders per month), which no longer ranks it among our top-recommended fulfillment providers for small businesses. Furthermore, we have been unable to source any reliable details about FedEx Fulfillment’s current pricing, features, and customer support structure.
While we’ve done our best to deliver the most comprehensive FedEx Fulfillment review, the information provided here (and on other third-party review sites) likely does not reflect its current fulfillment offering.
For better small business solutions, check out some alternatives below and our guide to the best third-party order fulfillment companies.
FedEx Fulfillment Alternatives
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
Best for: Ecommerce fulfillment for small/midsize lightweight goods | Best for: Oversized, heavy, high-value, or fragile items | Best for: On-demand services, labor, and space for scaling in-house fulfillment | Best for: Amazon fulfillment for small and manageable goods |
Monthly minimum: $250 spend | Monthly minimum: ~200 orders | Monthly minimum: None | Monthly minimum: None |
FedEx Fulfillment Deciding Factors
Supported Business Types | SMBs, startups, ecommerce stores, retail stores, DTC sellers, B2B sellers, subscription box services |
Standout Features |
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Minimum Order Requirement | 200 orders per day |
Setup and Onboarding Fees | None |
Pricing |
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Contract Length | None |
US Warehouse Locations | 30+ |
International Warehouse Locations | 1 |
Shipping Partner Options | FedEx |
Customer Support | Via phone, email, and live chat; hours of availability unknown |
Previously, FedEx Fulfillment required an order-to-SKU ratio (daily orders shipped vs number of unique SKUs in stock) of 4:1 and has only been able to accommodate products under 50 pounds with dimensions less than 18x14x8 inches. Although we couldn’t confirm whether these restrictions currently apply, the company has been known to only be a good fit for high-volume businesses selling small, lightweight products.
FedEx Fulfillment isn’t Seller-fulfilled Prime (SFP)-eligible, so it’s not the best choice for Amazon sellers. It also lacks special handling capabilities, FDA certifications, and programs for crowdfunding fulfillment.
FedEx Fulfillment Pricing
FedEx Fulfillment pricing hasn’t been published by the provider for multiple years, and we have had trouble verifying rates. However, its online billing platform has been known for providing billing transparency.
We based the figures provided in this article on past information from the company and credible online reviews.
Historically, the company charged the below fees as a baseline cost and incorporated additional volume discounts. Here’s a look at FedEx Fulfillment’s last confirmed prices.
FedEx Fulfillment Costs
Service | Cost | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
Setup | $0 | Onboarding and account setup is free |
Inbound Shipping | Discounts available | Discounted rates available with FedEx shipping and freight |
Receiving | $0 if shipments meet standard requirements; $35–$40/hr. otherwise | Inbound stock receipt, unpack, and check-in |
Inventory Storage | $8–$15 per pallet/month | Storage with climate-controlled option, security, and inventory management |
Pick and Pack | 40 cents/unit, including standard packing materials | Picking items from inventory and packing them for shipment |
Shipping | Discounted FedEx rates | Shipping costs vary depending on the size, weight, and destination of your goods |
Returns | $2.50/order | Return processing, quality check, and restocking |
FedEx Fulfillment Quality & Functionality
Click below to expand on FedEx Fulfillment features.
The FedEx Fulfillment online platform combines inventory management, processing, distribution, transportation, logistics, reverse logistics, and order information. This allows sellers to monitor every mission-critical piece of the fulfillment process.
As a part of logistics giant FedEx, the company can provide detailed shipment tracking insight with advanced capabilities through its dashboard. It also comes with sophisticated reporting features, enabling analytics that go beyond standard stock-level management.
Although its turnkey integration offerings aren’t top-tier, FedEx’s software integrates with all major ecommerce platforms, plus other selling tools. Multichannel sellers can manage all of their orders on a unified dashboard or refine by sales channel.
FedEx Fulfillment uses its parent company’s robust Billing Online platform. By logging in on the FedEx portal, clients can access a comprehensive and highly customizable overview of their account activity.
This includes archived invoices and recent bills, which can be exported or sent to other users registered on the platform. The primary account holder can receive, review, pay, and dispute invoices from the secure portal.
Charges can be grouped by time range to get a customized snapshot of your fulfillment expenses. As another option, shipping costs can be itemized to show detailed factors for each shipment—including sender information, recipient information, shipment details, duty/tax costs, charge details, reference information, and proof of delivery.
FedEx Fulfillment has a network of 30+ fulfillment centers that enable sellers to distribute stock according to their customer base(s)—minimizing delivery time and cutting down shipping costs. The primary facility is FedEx’s Global Distribution Center (GDC) in Memphis. It’s the largest and most-equipped US warehouse, accessible 24/7 year-round. Plus, it’s fully temperature-controlled and monitored with a compliant temperature recording system.
FedEx also has a European Global Distribution Centre that provides efficient access to the company’s centrally located worldwide hubs. In addition to its collection of fulfillment centers, FedEx has 130+ warehouses equipped for bulk storage and distribution. This impressive infrastructure dovetails with FedEx’s other logistics branches to create a seamless supply chain experience for sellers and customers alike.
Through its well-developed parent company, FedEx Fulfillment is able to deliver orders nationwide within two days. Plus, a variety of other shipping options are available, from urgent delivery to economy ground. FedEx can even deliver seven days a week in many cases, and through FedEx Fulfillment, you’ll receive deeply discounted rates.
A comprehensive list of FedEx’s turnkey integrations isn’t available online, but multiple reviews report that the catalog is pretty limited.
An advanced API, called FedEx Web Services, is available to create custom integrations for your ecommerce tools. According to FedEx, the API is geared toward two-way connectivity and touts a low barrier of entry—meaning it can be developed in any coding language by even beginner developers.
FedEx Fulfillment Specialty Services
Historically, FedEx Fulfillment offered the standard special services that many businesses need—such as kitting, bundling, reverse logistics, and international shipping. It has also been known for a handful of hard-to-find features, which we explore below.
FedEx Fulfillment’s specialty services include:
The company’s main fulfillment and distribution center in Memphis is fully temperature-controlled and monitored with a compliant temperature recording system. This makes storage and handling of perishable and temp-sensitive goods possible.
FedEx Fulfillment can create custom or branded packing elements for its clients. It’s unclear whether the materials are made in-house or outsourced to a partnered manufacturer—but in either case, the offering is a rare find in the fulfillment industry. FedEx asserts that customization and branded solutions are a key part of its fulfillment offerings, with the goal of keeping up with customer expectations.
Custom packing elements can include inner product packaging and shipping materials, like boxes, and tissue paper. Red Stag Fulfillment is another example of a 3PL that offers custom packaging creation. But contrary to FedEx Fulfillment, Red Stag’s packing elements are custom-fitted to ensure safe transport—not to convey branding or provide an unboxing experience.
Leveraging FedEx’s broad-spectrum presence in the logistics industry, the company offers flexible supply chain solutions that can be customized beyond order fulfillment to meet your business’s needs.
FedEx Supply Chain’s services include:
- Order fulfillment
- Reverse logistics
- Repair and refurbishment
- Warehouse development
- Warehouse operations
- Distribution services
- Freight forwarding
- International trade services
- Technology services
- Transportation management
- Consulting
FedEx offers these services to strengthen supply chains within a number of industries—including retail, consumer goods, electronics, and healthcare.
FedEx Fulfillment Ease of Use
Even when it was accepting a wider range of clients, there was a lack of information available about the features and services pertaining to FedEx Fulfillment’s ease of use. That said, the provider has been known for being highly scalable and offering the same robust software as its parent company.
Here’s a summary of the benefits that have been previously available to FedEx Fulfillment clients:
- Support: FedEx Fulfillment’s client support structure is unclear, and has been said to be lackluster. It’s likely that multiple branches of the FedEx are serviced by a team of cross-trained representatives, which doesn’t leave much room for personal attention.
- Error Policies: FedEx Fulfillment’s error policies have never been published online, and we were unable to receive any clarification from members of the staff.
- Accuracy: FedEx Fulfillment’s error rate is undisclosed. The parent company’s shipping accuracy rate is 98.7%, but this figure mainly considers shipments arriving on time. There is no recent insight into how accurate FedEx Fulfillment’s picking, packing, storing, and handling processes are or were.
What Users Say in FedEx Fulfillment Reviews
For multiple years, online FedEx Fulfillment user reviews have been virtually impossible to find. FedEx Logistics as a whole has a modest number of helpful reviews, but the majority of ratings you’ll find are evaluations of what it’s like to work for FedEx rather than use its services.
When searching through around 60 verified reviews on Gartner Peer Insights, I found only one that mentioned order fulfillment. Overall, FedEx Logistics’ ratings are very high, and customers express total satisfaction with the partnership.
A handful of other FedEx Fulfillment review articles have been published, but helpful info is sparse.
- Gartner Peer Insights: 4.5-star rating from about 60 reviews (FedEx Logistics)
FedEx Fulfillment Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
FedEx operates a subsidiary called FedEx Fulfillment that offers order fulfillment and shipping for businesses selling 200 orders per day or more.
FedEx Fulfillment is part of FedEx Supply Chain, which offers a variety of other supply chain management services such as transportation management, warehousing, distribution, and customs clearance.
Third-party order fulfillment is a useful service for retail and ecommerce businesses that receive more orders than they can (or want to) fulfill on their own. Merchants selling 200 orders per day or more can use FedEx Fulfillment’s services. However, it is extremely difficult to find up-to-date information about FedEx Fulfillment, so we recommend pursuing a different fulfillment provider.
Since FedEx Fulfillment isn’t compatible with many small businesses, we recommend these alternatives to FedEx:
- ShipBob: Best overall warehouse and order fulfillment services, especially for small and lightweight goods
- Saltbox: Best on-demand services, labor, and space for facilitating and scaling in-house fulfillment
- ShipHero: Best for transitioning to third-party fulfillment with predictable, zone-free shipping rates
- Red Stag Fulfillment: Best for sellers who need special handling order fulfillment for oversized, fragile, or high-value goods
- FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon): Best for Amazon sellers
- Deliverr: Best for selling on other competitive online marketplaces
- Whitebox: Best combined fulfillment and marketplace management service to grow your Amazon business
- ShipNetwork (Rakuten Super Logistics): Best for scalability and climate control
Bottom Line
Beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic, FedEx chose to dedicate fewer resources to its fulfillment branch. At this point, the company has restricted its clientele to merchants selling 200 orders or more per day. We recommend contacting a different provider for your small business fulfillment needs.
Consider using WarehousingAndFulfillment.com as you explore your options—it compares your specific needs to 500+ prescreened companies to find the best fit for your business. Plus, the service is completely free to use.
