9 Best Order Fulfillment Companies for Small Businesses for 2023

Clients’ bills are assessed and updated daily, and all charges are visible in a fully itemized format from your dashboard. In the same tab, shipping details can be toggled to estimate variable order costs.

ShipBob charges a single fulfillment fee for each order, which includes pick and pack (up to four items), basic packaging materials, and shipping costs. Returns are processed to your specifications for $3 per order, and order management software comes free for every account.

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• Large fulfillment network: 35 US warehouses and eight non-US locations make for efficient, cost-effective distribution around the world—200+ countries. All orders placed before noon ship the same day. Only Amazon and Deliverr have more warehouses.
• Integrations: ShipBob has extensive native integrations for everything from shopping carts to CRM tools.
• Customization options: ShipBob helps you incorporate your branding throughout the customer experience.
• Highly flexible: ShipBob can handle DTC orders, subscription box services, and B2B sales (with EDI compliance).
• FBA prep: For eligible multichannel clients, ShipBob will send a portion of your inventory to Amazon and ensure it meets precise packaging standards.
• Retailer dropshipping service: Items listed on Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Chewy, Nordstrom, Target, and more ship directly from ShipBob to your customers.
• Managed freight program: ShipBob offers an end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution program (called FreightBob) to help SMBs reduce transit times and increase visibility for freight coming from China.

ShipBob doesn’t offer refrigeration or climate control, making warehousing of certain items impossible. Though it can accommodate oversized goods, it isn’t as nearly cost-effective for special handling and large-item shipping as Red Stag Fulfillment.

The provider’s storage costs are also higher than competing fulfillment companies, and ShipBob has a significant number of negative reviews that report overcharging and excessive errors.

The following costs reflect Saltbox’s third-party fulfillment service. For the price of warehouse suites, office suites, and other customized options, contact Saltbox to receive a quote.

• Suite rentals: Rent an office or warehouse suite on a month-to-month basis (no-long term contract or lease). Choose from 100 to 10,000 sq. ft. suites with Wi-Fi, HVAC, cleaning services, utilities, and even coffee and snacks. No other fulfillment service on our list does this.
• Resources and amenities: Saltbox members receive access to the resources needed to power their business—including access to a photo studio, loading docks, conference rooms, coworking areas, and logistics expertise.
• Flexible services: Sellers can customize their service package to create their own hybrid of in-house and outsourced fulfillment. Saltbox is the only order fulfillment service with this kind of flexibility.
• Small-business focus: Saltbox ensures the staff’s ability to serve its clientele by intentionally limiting its volume capacities and focusing on small- to mid-sized businesses.
• Integrations: 30+ integrations available, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon, Etsy, Magento, and Walmart—plus CSV upload and API options.
• Crowdfunding/batch fulfillment: Saltbox offers its services to crowdfunding ventures and limited product launches at the same capacity as standard DTC businesses.

Saltbox’s unique platform isn’t right for everyone—especially business owners looking to take a hands-off approach to fulfillment. If you don’t need high levels of control, customization, and/or proximity to your products’ fulfillment, a more traditional fulfillment company is likely a better fit.

Furthermore, the company’s focus on small and midsize businesses may inhibit scaling at a certain level—although Saltbox can take on clients shipping 20,000 orders or more per month. For larger businesses or enterprise-level growth, we recommend ShipNetwork.

ShipHero provides flat-rate pricing that’s customized to your individual needs. Previous prices have been competitive, and we’ve seen no indication that that has changed.

However, the warehouse management system (WMS), which comes at an extra cost and can be used independently of its fulfillment services, has gotten more expensive.

• WMS for Brands (starts at $1,995 per month): 5 seats, 10 store connections, handles returns, automations, rate shopper, lot and expiration tracking, warehouse tracking, setup and training, 24/7 support.
• WMS for 3PLs (starts at $2,145 per month): 5 seats, no store connections (add for $30 per month), includes everything in WMS for Brands plus a sandbox account, contract options, 3PL billing, marketplace listings, and customer portals.
• Enterprise for Brands (call for quote): 5 seats, 10 stores, all WMP for Brands tools plus increased API rate, a sandbox account, and contract options.

• Fulfillment network: Five US warehouses and two Canada locations allow businesses to distribute their inventory and import efficiently. All orders placed before noon ship the same business day. ShipHero claims to be 30% faster than its competition.
• Warehouse management software: The company’s robust WMS is used by large-scale warehouses worldwide—including some of the other providers on this list. While the monthly fees are high, if you need in-depth inventory and shipping management, you could find it pays for itself in time and expenses saved.
• Fulfillment software: You don’t need the WMS to use ShipHero. It provides free user-friendly software for fulfillment clients to manage orders, inventory, customers, returns, billing, and analytics.
• Integrations: 50+ turnkey integrations available, including major ecommerce and online stores, 38 delivery tools, returns software, inventory tools, and more. The variety is wider than ShipBob. It also has API options.
• Batch fulfillment: Service can be enrolled on a per-project basis for crowdfunding campaigns and product launches. ShipBob has crowdfunding integrations whereas ShipHero does not.
• FBA prep and Seller-fulfilled Prime Eligibility: Power your Amazon sales with ShipHero’s programs and qualify for an Amazon Prime badge.
• Operational visibility: Use the platform’s software to see each order’s status in real-time, including photos of every packed box.

ShipHero’s only international warehouses are located in Canada, so it can’t provide local fulfillment in most global markets. For retailers focused on expanding globally, we recommend a global warehouse network like ShipBob or FBA.

Additionally, the company’s flat-rate shipping prices may provide an inconsistent value, depending on where your customers order from and the location of your inventory.

Red Stag Fulfillment allows you to partner with it risk-free for 30 days to see if it’s a good match for your needs. If you’re unsatisfied with its people, processes, and services at the end of the guarantee period, it won’t bill you for any of your fulfillment service fees.

• Service guarantees: Red Stag is so confident in its storage, packing, and tracking systems that it will remedy issues for free and pay you $50 for any errors on its part. It also has guarantees for receiving and unloading inventory within 48 hours of the shipment arriving at Red Stag warehouses.
• Turnaround times: Same-day fulfillment is offered for orders placed before 5 p.m.; compare this to ShipBob, which has same-day with a cutoff of noon.
• Integrations: 30+ turnkey integrations, including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, eBay, and Amazon—plus custom solutions.
• Mobile-friendly fulfillment software: Red Stag’s RSF OPS software is specifically designed for use on mobile. Although we didn’t find it as user-friendly as others, it would be helpful if you frequently work on the go.
• Management and quality control: Red Stag has video tracking throughout its warehouses to prevent losses through damages, mistakes, or theft.

It only has warehouses in Salt Lake City, UT, and Knoxville, TN, which means only 96% of its shipments are two-day. ShipBob, Deliverr, and FBA offer more locations and two-day delivery or better in at least the continental US and often elsewhere.

While prices are listed, actual bills lack full transparency—detailed fulfillment and shipping cost breakdowns aren’t provided by default but rather prepared on a case-by-case basis upon request and charged at a “Special Projects” rate.

There’s a minimum requirement of $250 in pick and pack costs to use ShipMonk’s services—which is a low threshold, but it still cost the company points in our evaluation. It also lacks a widespread global warehouse network. Because of this, nascent small businesses, startups, and brands expanding internationally would be a better match for ShipBob’s partnership.

The billing portal on ShipMonk’s software features a detailed breakdown of your monthly fulfillment costs, offering transparency in each invoice. However, users report running into unexpected costs from fuel surcharges and contract complications. Pricing details hidden in fine print can impact your bottom line if you’re not careful, so be sure to understand your fulfillment agreement thoroughly.

*Prices displayed are for clients processing 0–500 orders per month. Volume discounts are available for businesses shipping 500+ monthly orders. Visit ShipMonk for more information.

ShipMonk’s pricing model is highly scalable, with volume discounts that apply on a sliding scale. That being said, fragile items and items heavier than 5 pounds will incur additional charges—so Red Stag Fulfillment is the more cost-effective choice for these goods.

• Subscription Services: While others on our list can handle subscriptions, ShipMonk offers this as a specialty, with special pricing, inventory forecasting, kitting, custom packing procedures from wrapping to inserts, and more.
• Shipmonk has acquired Ruby Has Fulfillment: the combined companies will have a greater workforce and complete North American reach to support DTC brands and ecommerce retailers.
• Integrations: 75+ turnkey integrations including Groupon, Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce, Amazon Marketplace, Magento, eBay, PayPal, and more.
• Advanced automation: State-of-the-art warehouse automation technologies increase ShipMonk’s efficiency and effectiveness, which provides clients with quicker fulfillment times, higher picking accuracy, cheaper fulfillment costs, and more secure storage.
• Quality control: ShipMonk assures order accuracy with features like “Snap n’ Pack,” which takes a photo of packed orders before they’re shipped, and automatic reshipment of orders whose tracking number hasn’t been updated.
• Duty-free import with Section 321: Sellers can ship merchandise to ShipMonk’s Mexico location and then incrementally import it into the US, divided into multiple $800 portions. This eliminates duties for volume importers.

ShipMonk’s pricing makes it a poor fit for high-value, heavy, fragile, or oversized products. Red Stag Fulfillment is a better choice. It also has very limited infrastructure for local international fulfillment, whereas providers like ShipBob and FBA have extensive global networks.

Recent reviews have been extremely negative, with headers like “Stay away” and accusations of overcharging. Positive reviews praise onboarding and specific Happiness Engineers.

Deliverr’s pricing structure is nearly identical to that of FBA—but total costs come out to be more affordable in most cases. This especially applies to multichannel sellers. Like FBA, Deliverr’s storage costs fluctuate greatly during peak season. This can easily lead to surprise charges, so users must examine their budget carefully.

Note that items containing batteries or anything deemed hazardous will incur extra charges. Visit Deliverr for more information.

• Social selling: In addition to Shopify, Etsy, Walmart, and the other venues most on our list offer, Deliverr also works with Facebook, Instagram, and Google.
• Prime-like badges: Deliverr equips your marketplace listings with badges to advertise fast shipping offers. Eligible customers on qualifying venues to see badges promoting next-day or two-day delivery automatically.
• Fulfillment network: Deliverr maintains 40+ warehouses across the US. Only Amazon boasts a larger network.
• Shipping carriers: The company works with 12 shipping carriers, including FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL. There have been complaints about some of the carriers it uses not ensuring the quick delivery it promises, however.
• Marketplace optimization: Deliverr is designed to boost your success in competitive marketplaces like Walmart, Wish, and eBay. Improve your marketplace SEO through Deliverr’s badging features and shipping guarantees.

Like ShipHero, Deliverr’s simplified shipping costs can make overall expenses more predictable, but may also detract from the service’s overall value.

Its features are strongly geared toward competitive marketplaces and strip the seller of control—so sellers running their own online store would likely benefit from a cheaper and more straightforward service. Plus, Deliverr doesn’t allow for custom packaging elements, so branding and unboxing experiences are compromised.

Deliverr receives a mix of highly positive and highly negative reviews. The one-star reviews cite severe shipping issues: “pay for 2-day delivery; expect 2-week delivery.” Others said they lost inventory and were denied reimbursement.

FBA’s pricing structure is complicated, especially if you’re using FBA to fulfill orders from channels other than Amazon. Plus, its fees are slightly higher if your products are apparel or what it considers to be dangerous goods (which is anything that includes lithium batteries or magnetized material).

To address this, Amazon offers a host of useful fee tools to provide transparency and predictability for existing clients and potential customers estimating their profitability.

See how FBA’s pricing and features compare to the top-ranking company in FBA vs ShipBob.

• Huge international fulfillment network: FBA has over 110 warehouse locations in the US and 75 international fulfillment centers. This blows away the competition.
• Quick delivery: Shipping times are driven by the Amazon Prime shipping guarantees, which have set the industry standard. Shoppers can select their delivery speed too, and Amazon orders largely arrive as expected.
• Scalability: Sellers that move from 10 products to millions of products monthly can use Amazon FBA. It’s important to monitor stock levels closely to optimize costs as you grow, but you won’t outgrow FBA’s fulfillment capacity.
• Integrations for multichannel sales: Although not as wide-reaching as others, FBA nonetheless has a multichannel fulfillment portal to ship orders received on other channels like eBay, Etsy, or your own online store website.
• Specialty services: FBA items are eligible for Amazon’s gift services, and offering this doesn’t add to your fulfillment costs. Amazon does manage customer service and refunds for orders it fulfills, which is not typical.
• Search rankings: Amazon’s product-search algorithm favors products that are fulfilled by FBA, which can boost visibility and sales of your goods.

Due to its multichannel fulfillment fees, FBA is simply not cost-effective unless 80% to 90% of your sales come from Amazon. If you sell on other competitive marketplaces, Deliverr is a better service with many similarities.

Unlike many of our other top picks, FBA doesn’t allow much room for customization and branding, especially when it comes to outer packaging. Another risk to your brand is that Amazon uses commingling for its inventory storage, picking, and packing.

ShipNetwork does not disclose its pricing online—all onboarding, receiving, storage, pick and pack, and account management costs are custom-quoted.

Contact ShipNetwork for a quote.

• Xparcel: This program lets you compare quotes to choose the fastest and least expensive carrier. Others, like Deliverr, choose the shipping service for you.
• Freight forwarding: ShipNetwork’s in-house team of freight experts can handle your domestic and international freight service needs.
• Customer support: US-based client service: Unlike many large-scale 3PLs, ShipNetwork does not outsource its customer service outside the US. Clients can receive support via live chat, phone, and email during standard business hours.
• Ecommerce smart tools: ShipNetwork provides online tools, including a shipping optimizer and customs guide with clearing support.
• Lot tracking: Manufacturers and retailers can work with ShipNetwork to track, fulfill by expiration/freshness dates, and properly recall product lots along the supply chain.
• Temperature control: The company offers climate control and refrigeration in some of its facilities. While others like ShipBob, Saltbox, FBA, and Red Stag claim climate control, ShipNetwork is the only one with refrigeration capabilities.
• Guaranteed accuracy: ShipNetwork promises 100% order accuracy and 100% of orders shipping within a day.

ShipNetwork doesn’t support custom packaging at this time, so it’s a poor fit for businesses with strong branding or those that promote a custom unboxing experience. It also has business-only customer support hours and lacks international warehouse locations.

What do you want from a fulfillment service? Some ideas include:

• Expanding market reach
• Improving shipping efficiency and turnaround time
• Handling increased demand
• Cutting costs
• Qualifying as an Amazon Prime supplier

Be sure to prioritize your goals and only consider fulfillment partners that can meet your requirements.

Providing fulfillment services is a big commitment for the fulfillment company as well. As such, they will want to know a lot about you. Before making a request for information or securing a quote, have this information about yourself ready:

• Your ultimate goal for fulfillment services
• Your budget and financial information
• Average monthly, weekly, and daily order volume—note any major seasonal fluctuations
• Number of SKUs
• Sales channels
• Technical requirements
• Timeline expectations
• Weight of your products
• Where most of your customers are located or where most of your orders ship to
• Your current shipping carrier and rates

Having this data on hand will also help you understand if what a fulfillment company is offering will actually save you time or money compared to your current operations.

Make use of your sales and fulfillment teams to be sure you address their concerns, too. Some questions you might consider are:

• Cost and how pricing works
• How billing works
• Tasks accomplished
• Warehouse locations
• Inventory tracking and compatibility with any current systems
• How shrinkage is handled
• Custom packaging needs
• Alerts
• Returns and reverse logistics
• How inventory is divided across warehouse locations
• Shipping partners and rates

Once you know what you need and have your information ready, start your research with the nine providers listed above. Keep in mind that while we recommend certain providers as best for specific situations, this does not mean the others don’t tackle that same task well. You can also go to WarehousingAndFulfillment.com, which can match your needs with information from over 500 services.

A fulfillment company is a service provider that specializes in storing inventory, processing orders, and shipping goods for other businesses.

These companies have purpose-built infrastructure—including warehouses, loading docks, packing stations, and trained employees. This allows them to store and ship large volumes of products quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively.

Click here to read about how fulfillment centers work.

A 3PL is a general term for any company that delivers an outsourced logistics service—such as order fulfillment, shipping, freight distribution, or import/export. It stands for third-party logistics.

Fulfillment companies are 3PLs, but not all 3PLs perform order fulfillment. Other examples of 3PLs include shipping carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS, and freight brokers.

As a typical ecommerce retailer, the total cost owed to your partner fulfillment company mostly breaks down into four fees: inventory receiving, storage, pick and pack, and outbound shipping. In many cases, packaging materials are also part of the fulfillment outlay.

The periodic cost of each of these processes depends on order volume and complexity, as well as product specifications. Additional services—like custom boxes, special handling, and item assembly—can also contribute to your fulfillment expenses.

To learn more about fulfillment services pricing and see cost examples, read our guide to order fulfillment costs.

FedEx has been on our lists for 3PL and order fulfillment in the past; however, it’s difficult to get information on its services. Check out our detailed review of Federal Express Fulfillment for more information on why we don’t currently recommend FedEx.

But, keep in mind that the information may be different for your situation. You will need to contact them for specifics and a quote.