3PL vs In-House Fulfillment
3PL vs In-House Fulfillment: Which Is Right for Your Business
Answer first: in-house fulfillment can still work while your catalog is simple and stable enough to run by hand. Once labor, software, supervision, and idle warehouse space start adding up, a 3PL replaces that whole stack with one flat per-order rate you can calculate before you sign anything.
Free quote · Reply within one business day · No sales call
Get a fulfillment quote in 24 hours
Tell us what you sell and your monthly volume. A real person replies within one business day with exact numbers.
Before you request a quote
Know the cost. Check the fit. Plan your first shipment.
Start with a small shipment or an established operation. There is no minimum volume. Tell us what you sell so we can confirm the handling, space and shipping you actually need.
What will my first month cost?
Example: 500 single-item orders under 5 lb × $2.00 full-service handling = $1,000. At $0.25 per mailer add $125; two full billable pallet-months add $50 and one inbound pallet adds $20. Total: $1,195 BEFORE postage, returns or extra work.
Examples use standard storage in the first three months. Long-stay pallet rates are $28/month in months 3–6 and $32/month after six months. Your written quote separates receiving, storage, handling, materials and shipping. Build your own estimate.
Why are there two handling prices?
Under 5 lb, Lean FBA is $0.50/unit and Lean FBM is $1.75/order when goods arrive pre-packed and ready to label. Full-service handling is $0.75/FBA unit or $2.00/FBM order; materials and postage are separate. These are service tiers, not automatic volume discounts.
Heavier items use different weight bands; over 15 lb or bulky items need a written quote. See the complete rate card.
Can you handle my products and platform?
Share your product type, packed dimensions and weight, sales platform and expected volume. Small batches and returns-only enquiries are welcome. Batteries, liquids, food, supplements, temperature-sensitive, hazardous or oversized items need acceptance and handling requirements confirmed before you ship.
For Shopify, Amazon, Walmart or another platform such as Amboras, tell us how orders and inventory are exchanged. The team confirms the connection or file workflow before onboarding; a platform name alone does not guarantee a supported integration.
How do I send inventory?
- Send your SKU list, dimensions, weights and carton/pallet count.
- Receive the written scope, rates and product-acceptance confirmation.
- Confirm account setup, labeling and receiving instructions with the team before dispatch.
- Send shipment details and tracking; agree the first prep job or order workflow.
Receiving location: 6117 Long Dr, Houston, TX 77087. Confirm inbound instructions before sending goods.
What about shipping and storage dimensions?
For a shipping estimate, send origin and destination ZIP codes, packed dimensions, weight, parcel count and desired delivery speed. Handling prices do not include carrier postage. Storage is charged only by carton or pallet. Bin and shelf storage is included in our standard pick-and-pack rate, with no separate charge. Send product dimensions and quantities so the team can confirm usable space, availability and the applicable carton or pallet storage rate in writing.
After you enquire: a real person from our Houston team replies within one business day, confirms any missing details and sends itemized pricing. You can ask for a written quote without booking a sales call. Unsure of volume? Select “Not sure yet” in the quote form.
The Real Cost of In-House Fulfillment
In-house fulfillment isn't just rent. It's rent, plus the labor to receive and pick and pack, plus someone to supervise so the wrong SKU doesn't ship, plus software to track inventory, plus insurance, plus the founder hours spent solving the exceptions nobody budgeted for. None of that shows up as one clean line item until volume gets uneven — and you're paying for idle space in slow weeks and overtime in busy ones.
Supervision is the part that catches most operators off guard. Someone has to check that labels are right, that a return actually gets inspected before it's restocked, that Amazon prep doesn't collide with a same-day DTC order. At low volume, the founder does this personally. Past a certain point, that's a dedicated job — and that job needs a backup for when the person is out sick or on vacation.
None of this means in-house is wrong. It means the real comparison isn't "warehouse rent" versus "3PL rate." It's the full operating stack — labor, software, supervision, and the founder's own time — against one flat, published number.
Comparing 3PL quotes? Get ours in writing.
Enter your email. A person on our Houston team sends the itemized numbers within one business day. One field, no call needed.
Free · No spam · No sales call unless you ask for one
When In-House Still Makes Sense
Answer first: in-house still wins when the catalog changes constantly, handling is unusually delicate, or the team needs the physical product in hand every day for quality checks, photography, or local pickup.
Early-stage brands also lean in-house when the SKU structure isn't settled yet. If packaging changes weekly, if bundle configurations are still being tested, or if nobody has written down the actual receiving and packing steps, that's a sign the process isn't ready to hand off — to us or to anyone.
Control only helps if the team can maintain discipline with it. A messy in-house operation isn't more strategic than a clean outsourced one; it's just closer to the founder's desk.
What a 3PL Actually Costs: The Published Rates
Answer first: KAK runs on one public rate card — the same numbers whether you ship 10 orders a month or 10,000, with no minimums and no setup fee to start.
| Service | Rate | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon FBA prep | $0.75/unit | FNSKU labeling and prep labor included — polybags and bubble wrap $0.20 each when used |
| FBM/DTC pick, pack, ship — up to 5 lb | $2.00/order | Packaging materials from $0.25 |
| FBM/DTC pick, pack, ship — 5–8 lb | $2.75/order | Packaging materials from $0.25 |
| FBM/DTC pick, pack, ship — 8–15 lb | $4.00/order | Packaging materials from $0.25 |
| FBM/DTC pick, pack, ship — over 15 lb | Custom quote | Packaging materials from $0.25 |
| Pallet storage | $25/pallet, billed monthly | Climate-controlled; pay for the fraction of the month you actually use |
| Receiving | $20/pallet ($5/carton) | Charged on every inbound |
| Returns processing | $1.50/return | Inspection included |
No minimums, no setup fees, no contracts — everything runs month-to-month. Full breakdown on our pricing page and complete price list.
What a Month Actually Costs: A Worked Example
Answer first: a DTC brand shipping 300 orders a month, storing 10 pallets, and processing a handful of returns pays about $1,322.50 through KAK — and can see that number before committing to anything.
| Line item | Volume | Rate | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pick, pack, ship (under 5 lb) | 300 orders | $2.00/order | $600.00 |
| Pallet storage | 10 pallets, 2 months | $25/pallet/mo | $500.00 |
| Receiving | 10 pallets inbound | $20/pallet ($5/carton) | $200.00 |
| Returns | 15 returns (5%) | $1.50/return | $22.50 |
| Total | $1,322.50 |
Run the same math against what a small in-house setup spends on rent for that pallet space, a warehouse hand's wages, packaging supplies, and the founder hours spent supervising it, and the comparison usually isn't close once volume is steady. We don't know your local rent or wage, so we won't guess a number for you — but you can build your own version of this table from the price list and see exactly where the line lands for your business.
A different weight mix, order volume, or pallet count changes this number. Get a quote with your real numbers and you'll have a total in 24 hours.
Buyer Due Diligence: What to Ask Before You Switch
Answer first: ask about minimums, setup fees, contract terms, and how storage and receiving are actually billed — those four questions expose more about a 3PL than its headline per-order rate does.
Minimums, setup, and contracts
We don't require a minimum order volume, a minimum spend, or a minimum SKU count — you can start with a single unit. There's no setup fee and no long-term contract; everything runs month-to-month.
Receiving and storage billing
Receiving is $20 per pallet ($5 per carton). Storage is $25 per pallet per month, so a partial month costs a fraction of the rate rather than a full month's charge. Inventory sits in a 32,000 sqft, climate-controlled, 24/7-monitored facility — more on our storage page.
Packaging, carriers, and markups
Packaging materials run from $0.25 per order on top of the pick-pack rate. Postage runs at discounted USPS, UPS, and FedEx rates passed through at cost, with no markup added. Kitting, bundling, subscription-box assembly, and custom inserts are available but custom-quoted, since they depend on your specs — ask and you'll have a number within 24 hours.
Returns and inspection
Returns processing is $1.50 per return, with inspection included in that rate — we don't charge separately to check condition before a decision on restocking.
The Hybrid Path: Switching One Workflow at a Time
Answer first: you don't have to move everything to a 3PL at once — you can shift a single workflow first, starting with whatever is creating the most drag, and decide later whether to move the rest.
- Identify the workflow costing the most founder time — usually Amazon prep, overflow storage, or DTC parcel shipping.
- Move that one lane first — there's no minimum, so you can test the process on a single pallet or a handful of orders before committing further.
- Watch turnaround and accuracy for a full cycle — inventory or orders in before the 2pm CT cutoff, Monday through Saturday, ship or get prepped the same day.
- Decide whether more of the operation should move, or whether the hybrid split is the permanent setup.
There's no penalty either way. Because it's month-to-month, testing one workflow doesn't commit you to moving everything.
What's Easy to Underestimate About the In-House Column
Answer first: real-time inventory visibility, insurance, and lot/expiration tracking are the three line items brands most often forget to price into an in-house build — all three come standard here.
Every shipment we handle is covered up to $500,000, and we carry full liability for our own handling. Inventory is tracked in real time through our WMS dashboard, with lot-number and expiration-date tracking available for brands that need it. Building that stack in-house — software, insurance, monitoring — is its own budget line most spreadsheets leave out entirely.
If you're running Amazon FBA alongside a DTC or wholesale channel, see how the two workflows fit together on our 3PL warehouse service page, or compare providers on our 3PL comparison guide. If you'd rather just talk through your specific numbers, contact us and we'll walk through them with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the minimum order volume to move from in-house to a 3PL?
Are there setup or software fees to switch?
Do we have to sign a contract?
How is storage billed compared to renting our own space?
What does receiving cost, and how fast is inventory available to ship?
How much does pick-and-pack cost per order?
What about Amazon FBA prep specifically?
What happens with returns?
Can we move part of our operation to KAK and keep the rest in-house?
What's a realistic monthly cost at low volume?
Ready when you are
Get a fulfillment quote in 24 hours
Lean handling under 5 lb: FBA $0.50/unit or FBM $1.75/order for pre-packed goods. Full service: $0.75/FBA unit or $2.00/FBM order. Materials and postage are separate; storage is $25/pallet/month.