ShipBob Review 2023: Best 3PL & Fulfillment for Small Business

Every ShipBob account receives free cloud-based software to manage orders and inventory as well as handle other operations. The software provides visibility into your stock levels across warehouse locations and reports expected depletions—ensuring sufficient stock to always meet demand. You can also see where each active order is within the facility as it is processed and follow shipment tracking.

Multichannel sellers can manage orders on a unified dashboard or refine reports by channel for further insight.

The billing tab allows you to toggle between shipping carriers and speeds to view different cost options. It also provides a detailed itemization of each cost on your fulfillment invoice—visible down to each item on each order—and is updated daily.

ShipBob’s fulfillment software allows you to manage returns and refunds easily, although users also have the option to let ShipBob handle returns for you. It also integrates with leading ecommerce returns platforms, such as Happy Returns and Returnly, to streamline the returns process.

ShipBob’s software (Source: GetApp)

ShipBob has 35 warehouses positioned across the US, and its network is still growing. Many competing providers, such as Red Stag and ShipHero, have a limited network of five or fewer fulfillment centers. ShipBob’s wide network allows for practical inventory distribution, which gives you faster shipping speeds at lower costs.

Clients can store their inventory across as many warehouses as makes logistical sense for their customer base, which gets orders delivered to shoppers as quickly as possible. This includes eight international warehouses for sellers with a global footprint.

ShipBob works with a wide scope of shipping providers—plus smaller regional carriers—to allow for a range of speed, cost, and route options for each order.

ShipBob’s wide warehouse network allows for strategic and simple inventory distribution that can be managed from your fulfillment software. (Source: ShipBob)

ShipBob’s 2-Day Express Shipping Program relies on a proprietary algorithm that uses a combination of ground, air, and regional carriers to provide high on-time delivery rates for two-day orders, while still being a cost-effective solution.

The company’s impressive shipping offers work in tandem with its fast turnaround times. All orders placed before noon are processed and shipped out the same day; later orders are processed the following day. ShipBob also guarantees that inventory shipments will be fully received and processed within five business days of arrival.

ShipBob measures and publishes data on its shipping speeds on the ShipBob Status page, where you can see weekly insights on carrier performance, receiving times, and more.

ShipBob tracks key metrics and data for each account to offer advanced reporting within its software. This gives business owners insights to help make strategic decisions and promote growth.

Reports can be generated on peak fulfillment times, promotional impact, expense breakdowns, revenue of orders shipped by day, sales by channel, forecasted demand, sales and quantity of orders by zone, and much more.

Two of ShipBob’s shipping and sales reports (Source: ShipBob)

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ShipBob’s cost analysis (Source: ShipBob)

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ShipBob offers some of the best connectivity in its class, delivering prebuilt, turnkey integrations with over 75 partners. These direct integrations are free and take only 30 seconds to three minutes to connect, and most are two-way compatible.

The company also offers application programming interface (API) capabilities for custom connectivity with platforms it hasn’t yet developed turnkey integrations for. This process takes longer and incurs an additional cost.

Here’s a current list of ShipBob’s available integrations:

• Ecommerce platforms and marketplaces: Shopify, Shopify Plus, Amazon, BigCommerce, eBay, Magento, Squarespace, Square, Walmart, Wix, WooCommerce, and NetSuite
• Operations, inventory, and order management: Brightpearl, Brij, ChannelApe, Cin7, Cogsy, Cymbio, Fulfil.io, Inventory Planner, Linnworks, Logicbroker, Order Desk, PackageBee, Shypyard, Skubana, SPS Commerce, and Zentail
• Returns management platforms: Happy Returns, Loop Returns, Returnly
• Freight and shipping solutions: DHL, FedEx, UPS, USPS, AfterShip, Anvyl, Echo Global Logistics, EasyPost, FlavorCloud, Flexport, Freightos, Route, Rush, Shippo, and ShipStation
• Ecommerce marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), and customer support: CartHook, CheckoutChamp, EcoCart, Gorgias, Klaviyo, OctaneAI, Okendo, Omnisend, Ordergroove, PageFly, Privy, Quartile, Recharge, Rise.ai, Sezzle, Shop Circle, Simplr, Skio, Smartrr, TalentPop, Tydo, Zaius, and Zip
• Custom packaging and design solutions: Arka, Noissue, Packhelp, and Packlane
• Branding, marketing, and web development agencies: adQuadrant, Blanka, BVACCEL, eHouse Studio, Envoy, Eventige, Hawke Media, Priceless Consulting, The Stable, MuteSix, ROI Revolution, and SeaMonster Studios
• Accounting, tax, and financing: Avalara, Avask, Bookkeeper360, Canusa Logistics, Clearco, DSP Insurance Services, Firstbase.io, Go Global Ecommerce, Kickfurther, Mercury, OFX, Rho, SimplyVAT, TaxJar, and ZonKeepers

ShipBob supports both cross-border shipping and international fulfillment.

Sellers can store their products domestically and use Delivery Duty Paid (DDP) services that display shipping, tax, and duty costs at checkout—eliminating unexpected fees upon delivery. ShipBob leverages strong partnerships to offer discounted cross-border shipping rates, allowing sellers to reach buyers in other countries.

Alternatively, businesses can opt for localized international fulfillment by storing a percentage of their inventory in any of ShipBob’s eight non-US warehouses. This way, most orders don’t have to go through cross-border customs or be subject to certain import taxes.

Localized fulfillment can help businesses successfully expand into new foreign markets with fast delivery and low shipping costs. Most small business-friendly 3PLs don’t have a global warehouse network to accomplish this, which is why ShipBob is our top pick for international expansion.

Unlike most fulfillment companies, ShipBob is happy to work with businesses of all sizes. Its Growth Plan is designed for nascent operations fulfilling fewer than 400 orders per month, and there’s no order volume requirement to enroll.

The Growth Plan is a self-service platform that enables businesses to tailor ShipBob’s services to their needs and make adjustments as they scale. Straightforward and detailed resources are provided to help newcomers understand the fulfillment process and make the most of their investment.

ShipBob offers a Customization Suite to create a customer experience that stands out. Businesses can use the services to integrate branding at multiple touchpoints throughout the order and develop a memorable unboxing experience.

ShipBob clients can:

• Use custom boxes, mailers, and other shipping supplies
• Add marketing inserts to orders
• Have customer gift notes printed during packing
• Add a business name to shipping labels
• Specify how kitted orders should be packed through video instruction

Custom packaging ShipBob uses for beverage brand Mad Tasty (Source: ShipBob)

ShipBob can’t design or create custom-printed packaging materials, but staff can help you find the right provider through its partner ecosystem. Additionally, users can integrate with third-party solutions like AfterShip to create branded tracking pages. ShipBob can automatically send tracking emails once each order has shipped.

ShipBob also offers FreightBob—an end-to-end managed freight and inventory distribution program for importers, powered by Flexport. ShipBob users that import stock from China can use FreightBob to reduce time-in-transit, lower freight costs, and distribute inventory strategically across ShipBob fulfillment centers.

This program leverages faster ships with priority discharge in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, ports to shorten transit time to 15 to 30 days. Staff books your less than container-load (LCL) freight on 100% guaranteed weekly sailings at highly competitive rates, even for shipments as small as 1 cubic meter. These shipments can clear customs during transit as well as skip destination transload and container freight station (CFS) steps—making the journey even faster (and more predictable.)

ShipBob delivers EDI compliance and unique programs to support omnichannel sellers through retail dropshipping and B2B distribution.

The company’s dropshipping solution enables you to sell products directly on a partnered retailer’s online store and have ShipBob fulfill those orders directly to the end customer. This feature can help traditional sellers increase their sales by expanding into stores that work through dropshippers. ShipBob is partnered with dozens of participating retailers, with more being added each week.

ShipBob’s retail distribution solution automates fulfillment of B2B orders coming from wholesale and retail partners. 70-plus retailers are currently connected to ShipBob’s B2B program, allowing your store to reach new channels.

In addition to outsourced fulfillment, ShipBob can support in-house fulfillment through full-stack fulfillment and warehouse management software.

The software (called Merchant Plus) gives you ShipBob’s proprietary WMS for superior control over your own in-house operation. This solution can replace multiple inventory-, order-, and shipping-management platforms to streamline in-house fulfillment and help businesses scale.

Merchant Plus comes with all of ShipBob’s extensive turnkey integrations. It also allows you to leverage ShipBob’s global fulfillment network when needed for flexible hybrid fulfillment.

ShipBob provides third-party distribution and order fulfillment services for retail businesses, including ecommerce brands, B2B sellers, subscription box companies, and dropshippers.

When businesses have too many orders to fulfill themselves, they can hire ShipMonk to handle their inventory storage, order processing, packaging, and delivery.

ShipBob also provides freight management services for importers as well as WMS software for other 3PLs.

ShipBob’s biggest competitors are Amazon FBA and ShipMonk. These companies are frequently compared to ShipBob because they use a similar infrastructure and offer similar order fulfillment services geared toward ecommerce sellers.

Read our review of the 4 best ShipBob competitors to learn more.

Other competing fulfillment companies include:

• Red Stag Fulfillment
• ShipHero
• Saltbox
• Whitebox
• Deliverr
• ShipNetwork (Rakuten Super Logistics)
• Huboo
• eFulfillment Service
• Ships-a-lot

ShipBob’s pricing is mostly based on usage, so your total bill will depend on a few factors, including order volume, shipping speed, shipping distance, and amount of inventory in storage.

Here’s a summary of ShipBob costs:

• Receiving: $35 per hour for the first two hours; $45 per hour following
• Storage: $40 per pallet, per month; $10 per shelf, per month; or $5 per bin, per month
• Pick and pack: $0 for the first four picks; 25 cents per additional pick
• Shipping: Varies depending on package size, weight, zone, and speed; discounted rates available

Overall, ShipBob is an affordable 3PL for most small businesses, but it charges higher storage rates than many competitors. For this reason, it may be more expensive for large or slow-moving goods.

ShipBob is designed for SMBs that sell physical products. You may be a good candidate for ShipBob if your store processes more orders than you can—or want to—fulfill on your own.

It’s also a good fit for businesses that want to expand internationally or offer affordable, fast shipping options.

The company specializes in DTC ecommerce sales but works with brick-and-mortar retailers and B2B sellers as well.

• ShipBob is not well-suited for Amazon sellers who rely on the Prime badge to stay competitive.

Since the company isn’t SFP-eligible, you would need to either lose your Prime designation or use FBA in tandem with ShipBob. Ultimately, an alternative like ShipMonk or FBA is a better option if you need Amazon Prime eligibility.

• Sellers dealing in products that require special handling should also seek an alternative fulfillment solution. ShipBob doesn’t offer liability insurance, services for goods like ammunition, or economical storage for oversized goods. We recommend Red Stag Fulfillment for these needs.