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In-house fulfillment vs 3PL cost calculator

Compare the cost of doing the work yourself with an outsourced fulfillment quote. Include the labor, storage, returns, and minimum charges that make small-volume comparisons misleading.

Replace the example with your costs

All amounts are USD. Defaults are fictional, not ShipBob or carrier rates. Inputs stay in your browser. Use comparable services and destinations on both sides.

Order profile
In-house fulfillment
3PL quote

The minimum applies only to the handling-per-order field. If your quote bundles handling, standard packaging, and postage, put that combined amount in handling and set included fields to zero; set the minimum to zero unless it applies to that entire amount. If the contract uses a different minimum basis, obtain the monthly top-up and put it in other fees instead.

In-house / month

$5,095.00

$10.19 per shipped order

3PL / month

$5,050.00

$10.10 per shipped order

3PL is $45.00 lower per month under these assumptions.

3PL handling minimum top-up included: $0.00. Expected returns: 25.

If your volume changes

Half, current, and double your order volume, keeping unit costs and monthly fixed costs unchanged. Storage or staffing may need different assumptions as volume grows.

OrdersIn-house3PL

A worked example you can audit

At 500 orders, four minutes of labor at $24/hour costs $1.60 per order. Packaging adds $0.75 and postage $6. With a 5% return rate, 25 returns cost $6.40 each ($2.40 labor plus $4 postage). Add $760 in monthly space, storage, and software. Total in-house cost: $5,095.

The fictional 3PL handles 500 orders at $2.80 each, above its $1,000 handling minimum. Separate packaging and postage add $6 per order; 25 returns cost $7 each. Monthly storage, receiving, and account fees total $475. Total: $5,050. The $45 difference is too small to settle the decision without checking service and operational fit.

Download the cost example (CSV) ↓

The formulas and their boundaries

In-house = monthly fixed costs + orders × (minutes ÷ 60 × hourly labor + packaging + postage) + expected returns × (return minutes ÷ 60 × hourly labor + return postage).

3PL = monthly fixed costs + max(orders × handling fee, handling minimum) + orders × (separate packaging + separate postage) + expected returns × (return handling + return postage).

Enter loaded labor cost including employment costs and the value of owner time. Keep space and additional storage mutually exclusive. Amortize onboarding or integration costs over your chosen period in monthly other fees. Taxes, inventory capital, lost sales, and service failures are excluded unless you include them in an input.

Shippo or ShipBob: different jobs

Shippo belongs on the in-house side when staff still store, pick, and pack orders and need shipping software. ShipBob belongs on the outsourced side when a fulfillment provider performs those physical tasks. Compare a written quote for your real order profile.

Check receiving turnaround, cutoff times, destinations, returns grading, peak surcharges, and how exceptions are handled. A model of average monthly cost cannot establish delivery quality. The existing ShipBob review also includes a worksheet for a quoted monthly bill.

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