What does self-fulfilling actually cost?
Enter your volume, product type, and what your time is worth. The model prices both paths with the same math: your true cost to pack orders yourself, and typical market rates for a 3PL. Market figures, not a quote, and not our pricing.
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1,000orders / mo
5010,000
The verdict at 1,000 orders
A 3PL now costs less, and locks you in less.
A typical 3PL runs about $2,933 a month less than doing it yourself at this volume, without the lease or the deposit.
Your crossover is around ~500 orders a month. Below it, self-fulfilling wins. Above it, a 3PL costs less and locks you in less.
This line moves with what your time is worth. Change the hourly figure and watch the crossover shift.
Self-fulfillment
$12,433/ mo
$12 per order
- Rent (all-in)$2,500
- Insurance$300
- Software$500
- Payroll (all-in)$1,133
- Shipping labels$7,000
- Materials$1,000
Typical 3PL
Lower cost$9,500/ mo
$10 per order · Illustrative market rates
- Storage + account floor$1,500
- Pick and pack$2,500
- Shipping (negotiated)$5,500
Share of revenue
Fulfillment eats ~28% of your revenue at this volume if you self-fulfill, ~21% with a typical 3PL, on $45,000 a month in sales.
Your time
At this volume the model assumes hired packers. The job you keep is management: space, staffing, carriers, and claims.
Same job, two commitments.
The 3PL floor is real money, but it is smaller and month to month. The self-fulfillment fixed block is larger and signed for.
Self-fulfillment
- Monthly cost
- $12,433
- Fixed, owed in any month
- $3,300 (27%)
- Lease commitment
- 1 to 3 years
- Upfront deposit
- $5,000
- Can you leave next month?
- No
Fixed 27% · variable 73%
Typical 3PL
- Monthly cost
- $9,500
- Fixed, owed in any month
- $1,500 (16%)
- Lease commitment
- None
- Upfront deposit
- $0
- Can you leave next month?
- Yes
Fixed 16% · variable 84%
How we calculated this
- Self-fulfillment space: below 500 orders a month you run it from home at no rent. From 500 orders the model steps up commercial space (1,000 sqft, then 2,500, then 4,000, then 1,000 sqft per additional 1,500 orders past 5,000) at $1.00 per sqft per month all-in, with a $2.00 per sqft deposit due at each step-up.
- Self-fulfillment labor: below 1,000 orders a month, packing is your own time at 15 orders per hour, valued at the hourly figure you set. From 1,000 orders the model assumes hired labor at the same throughput and $17.00 per hour all-in.
- Self-fulfillment overhead: insurance ($300 per month) and software ($500 per month) apply once the operation is at or above 500 orders a month.
- Self-fulfillment shipping uses aggregator or near-retail label rates ($6.00 supplements, $7.00 apparel, $10.00 home goods per order) plus materials of $1.00 per order ($1.50 for home goods).
- The 3PL column uses typical market figures, not Pack'N pricing: a storage and account-management floor that scales gently with volume, pick and pack of $2.50 to $3.00 per order, and negotiated shipping of $4.50 to $8.00 per order by product type.
- Fixed cost means dollars owed in a month regardless of that month's sales. For self-fulfillment that is rent, insurance, and software under a 1 to 3 year lease. The 3PL floor is smaller and month to month.
- Returns are not modeled on either side. A meaningful return rate adds cost to both paths and usually more to the self-fulfilled one.
- All figures are monthly estimates for comparison, not quotes.