Cosmetics 3PL Fulfillment in Houston — What FDA-Compliant Actually Means

There's no such thing as "FDA-approved cosmetics"

Direct answer: the FDA doesn't approve or certify cosmetics, and it doesn't certify warehouses that store them either. If a fulfillment company tells you they're "FDA-certified for cosmetics," ask what certificate they mean — there isn't one to hold.

What the FDA actually regulates is labeling — ingredient list, net weight, business name and address, required warnings — and, since the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) took effect in 2022, facility registration and product listing for companies that manufacture or process cosmetics. That obligation generally lands on you as the brand, or on your contract manufacturer, not on a pick-pack-ship warehouse that never touches your formula or packaging design.

Our job as your 3PL is different, and honestly simpler: store your finished goods correctly, handle them carefully, track them accurately, and ship them fast. We're not a substitute for your own regulatory homework, and we won't pretend to be. If you're unsure where your brand's MoCRA obligations start and stop, that's a conversation for your regulatory counsel — we're glad to send over our facility details if your compliance file needs them.

What we actually do inside the warehouse

Direct answer: climate-controlled storage, 24/7 monitoring, lot and expiration-date tracking on request, and insurance on our own handling — the parts of compliance that live inside a warehouse's walls.

Cosmetics are more sensitive to heat and humidity than most DTC products — formulas can separate, packaging can warp, labels can lift. Our 32,000 sqft facility in Houston is climate-controlled and monitored around the clock. If your SKUs carry lot numbers or expiration dates, our KAK WMS dashboard tracks both, so you can pull a report by lot if a formula ever needs a recall or a customer asks a question. We also carry insurance coverage up to $500,000 per occurrence for our own handling, and we're fully liable for anything that happens on our watch.

None of this replaces your own ingredient safety substantiation, adverse-event reporting, or MoCRA filings — those stay with the brand. We handle the physical side.

What cosmetics fulfillment costs at KAK

Direct answer: $0.75 per unit for Amazon FBA prep, $2.00 to $4.00 (custom-quoted over 15 lb) per order for FBM/DTC fulfillment depending on weight, and $25 per pallet per month. Full detail on our price list or pricing page.

Kitting, subscription-box assembly, custom inserts, container devanning, LTL freight, and white-glove handling are all available but priced per job — tell us the specs on our quote form and you'll have real numbers in 24 hours.

What a month actually costs

Direct answer: a skincare brand sending 500 units into Amazon FBA and running a Shopify store on the side lands around $665/month in recurring fulfillment cost, once the one-time setup work is done. Here's the real math, using only the rates above.

Say you send us 500 units for FBA prep, keep 6 pallets of backstock in our warehouse, and run 250 orders a month through your Shopify store, most parcels under 5 lb, with roughly a 4% return rate for the sake of the example:

No line item there is a guess or an "industry average" — it's the published rate multiplied by real volume. Change the order count or pallet count and the total moves in the same straight line. Run your own numbers on the pricing page, or send your SKU list through get a quote and we'll do the math for you.

Questions cosmetics brands ask before they sign

Direct answer: no minimums, no setup fees, no contracts — and the specifics buyers actually care about are below, in the order they usually come up.

• Minimum order volume or SKU count? None. We take brands starting with a single unit up through large catalogs.
• Setup, onboarding, software, or account-management fees? None. There's no setup fee — no separate line for it.
• Contract length or cancellation penalties? Month-to-month. No contract to break.
• Receiving cost and time-to-available? $20 per pallet ($5 per carton) to receive; once it's checked in it's live in the KAK WMS dashboard.
• Storage billing basis and climate control? $25 per pallet per month, prorated for partial months, climate-controlled throughout.
• Lot and expiration-date tracking? Available on request, tracked in the same dashboard you use for inventory.
• Per-order pick-pack for small orders, and bundle pricing? Flat per-order rate by weight — $2.00–$4.00 (custom over 15 lb) based on what the box weighs — plus $0.25 × the item count when a box holds two or more items.
• Preassembled kits vs. pick-on-demand? We pick and pack per order at the flat rates above by default — no forced preassembly. If you want kits built ahead of time, that's available and custom-quoted.
• What packaging is included, and what do branded inserts cost? Packaging materials are billed at cost — standard mailers from $0.25, polybags $0.20, never marked up. Branded boxes, custom inserts, and thank-you cards are custom-quoted.
• Carrier mix and rate pass-through? Discounted USPS, UPS, and FedEx rates, passed through at cost — no markup on postage.
• Returns fees and inspection? $1.50 per return, inspection included.
• Sales channel integration? Shopify, TikTok Shop, Walmart, eBay, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Etsy, Magento, and Amazon FBM all run through the same warehouse and dashboard.
• Turnaround and support? Same-day for anything in before our 2pm CT cutoff, Monday through Saturday. Call +1 832 759 1368 or email sales@kaksourcing.com; walk-ins welcome with 24 hours' notice.

Anything not on the published list — kitting specs, freight, custom packaging — gets a real number within 24 hours once we see your SKUs. We don't invent a price to sound helpful. We quote it properly or say so.

How to move your cosmetics inventory to KAK

Direct answer: send your SKU list, we quote it in 24 hours.

1. Send your SKU list, current unit counts, and sales channels through our quote form or to sales@kaksourcing.com.
2. We reply with line-item pricing — FBA prep, FBM rates by weight tier, and pallet storage — within 24 hours, no discovery call required.
3. Ship inventory to our Houston facility (6117 Long Dr, Houston, TX 77087); receiving posts to your WMS dashboard as it's checked in.
4. Orders start flowing the same day, ahead of the 2pm CT cutoff, Monday through Saturday.

For the broader picture, see how this fits inside our 3PL warehouse service or compare it against FBA prep for other product categories — same rate card, different angle. Questions before you ship anything — contact us directly.

Cosmetics 3PL FAQ