Insights
E-commerce logistics guides: check before you move stock.
Working guides for merchants and operations managers, useful whichever operator you choose.
About this hub
What it covers and how it is reviewed.
What it covers
The decisions a merchant actually has to make: what data onboarding needs, who decides on a returned item, what changes when you ship into Germany, what the lines on a 3PL invoice mean, how to evaluate a 3PL and what evidence returns quality control should leave.
How it is reviewed
Each article shows the date of its last update and is checked against its sources at that point. Where a topic touches law or tax, it cites official sources and tells you to confirm with your adviser. We are not your tax or legal adviser.
Editorial rules
No market statistics without a source, no comparisons with named competitors, and nothing behind a form. How we apply these ideas ourselves is set out on how it works.
Guides
Guides to e-commerce logistics, from choice to returns.
- Buyer's guideHow to evaluate a 3PL, before your stock moves.Evaluating a 3PL comes down to whether the provider can tell you, in writing, what is in scope, how each metric is measured, who owns the data, who decides on returns and how you leave. Bring your own order data, ask for a real sample report, walk the process on site and test your awkward orders in a pilot.Read the article
- Onboarding guide3PL onboarding, from SKU file to live order.A 3PL onboarding has five jobs: clean SKU master data, a working advance notice for inbound goods, a controlled stock cutover, integration tests with real order patterns and written acceptance criteria. Each has an owner and a pass or fail test.Read the article
- Pricing guideWhat 3PL providers charge for, and how to compare.3PL charges follow activities: receiving, storage, order handling, materials, carrier costs, returns and extra work. Each has a unit, and the unit matters more than the rate. Compare quotes by pricing the same reference month from your own data on each provider's definitions.Read the article
- Returns operationsReturns disposition: who decides what.Refunds and remedies are the merchant's legal duties. Disposition is a stock decision, set by the merchant in a written procedure and carried out by the warehouse. A workable procedure runs through identity, channel, resale safety, condition and value before any route is chosen.Read the article
- Returns operationsReturns quality control: the evidence to keep.Returns quality control produces a record the merchant can act on: the identity of the item, its condition against written criteria, photographs where the procedure asks, who did it and when. The warehouse records facts and applies the scale. The merchant decides on refunds, deductions and what happens to the goods.Read the article
- Cross-border guideFulfilment from Poland to Germany: what to verify.Shipping from Poland to German consumers is intra-EU trade, not import. Check where stock physically sits, which VAT rule your set-up triggers, whether a stock transfer is involved, your German packaging registration and representative, how parcels come back, and who answers German consumer-law questions.Read the article
Next step
Reading is one thing. Your catalogue is another.
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