Buyer's guide
How to evaluate a 3PL, before your stock moves.
Much of what decides the result lies in definitions, data and exit terms. These are the questions to ask.
A general buyer's checklist, not legal advice. Have an adviser read any contract before you sign it.
Choosing a 3PL, question by question
Words like accurate, flexible and scalable are common in this market, so they take a comparison only so far. What helps is a short list of questions whose answers can be checked, put to each provider in the same words. You can run this list on any operator, including us.
Start with your own data
A provider cannot quote or commit well without knowing your order profile, and you cannot compare answers if each one assumed something different. Before you talk to anyone, put these on one page. Ranges will do.
- Orders per month, on a normal month and in your busiest week.
- Lines per order and units per line.
- Number of active SKUs, and how many sell slowly.
- Size and weight of your largest and smallest item.
- Returns: how many, why, and what you want done with them.
- B2B orders, pallets and retailer requirements, if you have them.
- Destination countries, and who your customers expect to hear from.
A useful early signal: does the provider ask for this, or quote without it?
Scope: what the provider does not do
Ask for the exclusions in writing as well as the list of services. Which goods are refused? What happens with a product that turns out to be restricted after it has arrived? What happens to a request that falls outside the agreed scope: is it refused, quoted first, or simply done and invoiced?
Service metrics: definitions matter more than percentages
This guide gives no benchmark figures, because they say little until you know what is being counted. Ask how each number is produced.
| Metric | What to ask | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Dispatch on time | Counted from which moment? Against which cut-off? What is excluded from the count? | Orders held for stock or data problems left out of the base |
| Picking accuracy | Per order, per line or per unit? Who finds the error: the warehouse or your customer? | Measured only on errors that were caught internally |
| Stock accuracy | Counted how, how often, on which locations? Are adjustments visible, with a cause? | A count of a sample of locations reported as if it covered the whole stock |
| Returns processing time | From the parcel's arrival, or from when somebody registered it? | The clock starting after the backlog |
| Reporting | Which reports, how often, in what format? Can you see a real one? | A slide with a monthly average instead of a record you can check |
Then ask what happens when a metric is missed. Without a consequence or a review meeting, a written commitment carries little weight.
Data and the SKU master
Your SKU master, order history and stock records are what you take with you if you leave. Ask who may change a master record, how the change is logged and how it reaches your sales platform. Ask for the export format, and whether you can get a full export at any time. What a good file contains is set out in our guide to 3PL onboarding.
Access to information: systems and reports
You need to know what stock you have, what shipped and what came back. Some providers do that through a WMS login, others through agreed reports and data exchange. Either can work. What matters is whether the information arrives in time for you to act on it.
- Ask to see a real sample of every report you would receive, with client details removed.
- Ask how often stock is sent to your sales platform, and which figure is sent: physical stock or available stock.
- Ask how you find out about an exception: who contacts you, how, and how quickly it is meant to happen.
Returns: who decides, and on what evidence
Returns are a good test of a warehouse process. Ask who decides what happens to a returned item, what is recorded, and at what moment an item becomes available to sell again. Restocking on the first scan can leave faulty goods on sale. Our guides cover who decides what on a return and what evidence returns quality control should leave.
Liability and contract: ask, in writing
We do not give legal advice, and the rules depend on the contract and the country. Get an adviser to read the draft, and make sure it answers these questions plainly:
- What is the provider liable for if goods are lost or damaged in its care, and up to what value?
- Which insurance does the provider hold, and what do you need to insure yourself?
- How are count differences settled at a stocktake?
- What are the term, the notice period and any minimums?
- How can prices change during the contract?
- At exit: how quickly do you get your stock and data back, what does it cost, and can stock be held back over an open invoice?
Site visit and pilot
A visit tells you more than a presentation. Ask to follow one order and one return through the actual process, and watch what happens when something does not match. Look for separate quarantine space, labelled locations and written instructions at the point of work.
Then test before volume. Send your awkward orders through a pilot: the multi-line order, the fragile item, the return with no reference. How to set that up, and what should count as passing, belongs in your onboarding plan.
Warning signs when choosing a 3PL
- Exact performance figures with no definition behind them.
- A quote produced with no questions about your data.
- A claim to integrate with everything, with no offer to test yours.
- No written rule for what happens when an order cannot ship as written.
- Reluctance to show a real report or to walk you through the floor.
- Exit terms that are vague or hard to obtain.
A comparison sheet you can copy
Put each answer into one table, in the provider's own words where you can. Prices go in as well, but test them on your own month, as described in what 3PL providers charge for.
| Criterion | Provider A | Provider B |
|---|---|---|
| Excluded goods and out-of-scope requests | ||
| Definition of each service metric | ||
| Sample report seen | ||
| Data export format and frequency | ||
| Who decides on returns, and what is recorded | ||
| Liability and insurance, as written | ||
| Term, notice and exit | ||
| Cost of your own typical month |
How ShipRevo answers these
To run this list on us, send your data and questions through the quote form.
Updated: 2026-11-01
Next step
Put your questions to us.
Send your order profile and the questions from this list you care most about. You get written answers and a quote itemised by activity.