You signed up for a fulfillment quote of a few dollars per order. Three months in, your invoice is 40% higher than you expected. The base rate was real. The fees buried under it were not on the front page.
E-commerce founders lose more margin to surprise warehousing charges than to almost any other line item. Here’s where the money goes, and what to ask before you sign.
Receiving fees that scale the wrong way
Some 3PLs charge per item to receive inventory. Send in 5,000 units of a low-cost SKU and the receiving bill can wipe out the margin on the whole batch. Ask whether receiving is priced per pallet, per carton, or per unit. For most pallet-based inventory, per-pallet receiving is far cheaper.
Storage minimums you’ll never use
A common trap is a fixed monthly storage minimum that assumes peak inventory year-round. If your stock drops to a third of its volume in Q1, you’re still paying for the full footprint. Storage should track your real pallet count month to month.
Pick fees that punish bundles
If you sell multi-item kits or bundles, ask exactly how picks are counted. Some providers charge a full pick fee for every single item in a bundle, turning a $25 kit into a fulfillment loss. A fair pick structure prices the order, not every component inside it.
Surge and peak surcharges
Q4 is when you make your year, and it’s also when hidden surcharges hit hardest. Read the peak-season clause before you sign. A 3PL that doubles per-order rates from November through January is taking a cut of your best months.
Account management you pay extra for
Some contracts bill separately for the basic act of talking to a human. You should be able to reach your account contact without a per-incident charge. At 6G we handle shipping coordination and account questions as part of the service, not as an upsell.
Long-term storage penalties
If a SKU sits past a certain window, some warehouses hit it with escalating long-term storage fees. That’s fair in principle. The problem is when the threshold is short and the penalty is steep. Know the window before inventory ages into it.
How to protect your margin
Before you sign any 3PL agreement, ask for a sample invoice using your real order profile. Plug in your actual SKU count, average order size, and seasonal swing. The base rate tells you almost nothing. The all-in cost per order tells you everything.
We run receiving, storage, pick and pack, palletization, and shipping coordination across four Southern California facilities, with pricing built around your real pallet count instead of inflated minimums.
Get a real all-in quote
Send us your SKU list and a month of order data. We’ll come back with a transparent quote that shows every line, no buried fees. Email info@6glogistic.com or request a quote at 6glogistic.com.