3PL stands for third-party logistics. A 3PL is a company that manages warehousing, order fulfillment, and shipping on behalf of another business. Instead of storing your products in your garage or renting your own warehouse, you send inventory to a 3PL and they handle everything from receiving to delivery.**What Does a 3PL Actually Do?**A full-service 3PL handles: receiving your inventory when it arrives from your supplier, storing it in their warehouse, picking and packing individual orders when customers buy from your store, shipping those orders via their carrier network, managing returns from customers, and giving you real-time visibility into inventory and order status.**How Does a 3PL Connect to Your Store?**Modern 3PLs integrate directly with eCommerce platforms. When a customer places an order on your Shopify store, that order automatically appears in the 3PL's warehouse management system (WMS). The team picks, packs, and ships it — and tracking pushes back to Shopify automatically so your customer gets a notification. No manual steps.**What Does a 3PL Cost?**3PL pricing typically includes: a receiving fee per unit or per pallet, monthly storage fees per cubic foot or per pallet position, a pick and pack fee per order, and shipping at discounted carrier rates.For a standard eCommerce brand shipping 500-2,000 orders per month, all-in costs including shipping typically run $8-18 per order depending on product size, weight, and destination.**When Should You Move to a 3PL?**The right time to move to a 3PL is usually when: you are spending more than 15 hours per week on fulfillment, you have had shipping errors that caused refunds or negative reviews, you want to take a vacation but someone has to ship orders, or you are expanding to new channels and need multi-channel inventory management.Most brands hit this point around 150-300 orders per month.**3PLCity: Full-Service 3PL Since 2014**3PLCity has been providing eCommerce fulfillment from our Los Angeles area facilities since 2014. We connect to Shopify, Amazon, Walmart, WooCommerce, and 50+ other platforms, ship same day, and give you real-time inventory visibility.