Glossary
3PL (Third-Party Logistics)
Also calledthird-party logistics3PL provider3PL fulfillmentoutsourced fulfillment
Definition
A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) is a company that stores your inventory, picks and packs your orders, and ships them to your customers. Ecommerce brands hand fulfillment to a 3PL so they can put their time into product, marketing, and growth instead of packing boxes.
How 3PL Fulfillment Works
You send your inventory to the 3PL's warehouse. They receive it, count it, and store it in mapped locations. When an order comes in from your store, the system pulls it automatically, a picker gathers the items, a packer boxes them, and the order ships with a tracking number. You watch it from a dashboard instead of a garage full of boxes.
A 3PL handles the parts of fulfillment that don't scale well in-house: warehouse space, labor, packing materials, carrier accounts, and the software that ties them together. Most connect directly to your store, so orders flow in without manual exports, and inventory counts sync in real time so you know what's in stock before you run a promo.
Good 3PLs also handle the messy edges. Returns, kitting, custom packaging, FBA prep, and B2B orders that ship to retailers on their own routing rules all live under the same roof. The point is to take fulfillment off your plate without losing visibility into it.
At Simpl, orders received before 12pm CT ship the same day, and every shipment moves on UPS, USPS, or FedEx with live tracking.
3PL in Ecommerce Fulfillment
For a growing ecommerce brand, a 3PL is usually the first real operations hire, except it's a partner rather than a person. The math is simple. Once you're shipping more orders than you can pack at a kitchen table, the cost of doing it yourself (rent, labor, mistakes, your own time) climbs past what a 3PL charges per order.
A 3PL built for ecommerce plugs into Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and the marketplaces you sell on, then ships under your brand. Your customer sees your packaging and your return slip, not the warehouse behind it.
Most of the brands Simpl ships for are founder-led teams of one to three people. Our guide to 3PL fulfillment covers the types of providers, how to choose one and what getting started involves, and the 3PL pricing guide breaks down the fees you'll see on a quote.
Common Questions About 3PL
- What does 3PL stand for?
- 3PL stands for third-party logistics. It's an outside company that handles warehousing, order fulfillment, and shipping for your business so you don't have to run those operations yourself.
- How much does a 3PL cost?
- Pricing varies by provider. A 3PL quote can include separate charges for receiving, storage, picking, packing, postage and returns, plus a monthly minimum, so compare the total cost per order rather than one line item. Simpl starts at $7/order, all-in: pick, packing, packaging and postage. Carrier surcharges, when they apply, are billed per our terms. Standard ecommerce fulfillment accounts have a $750 monthly minimum, billed pay-the-difference: if a month's order billing comes in under $750, we bill the shortfall so order billing reaches $750; storage is billed separately.
- When should I switch to a 3PL?
- Most brands move to a 3PL when packing orders themselves starts eating time they'd rather spend on product and marketing, or when order volume outgrows their space. There's no fixed number. If fulfillment is your bottleneck, it's time.
- Is a 3PL the same as a fulfillment center?
- They're closely related. A fulfillment center is the warehouse where orders are stored, packed, and shipped. A 3PL is the company that runs that fulfillment center and manages the whole process for you.
Looking for a 3PL that ships same-day?
Simpl picks, packs and ships ecommerce orders starting at $7/order, including packaging and postage. Orders in by 12pm CT ship the same day.
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