I run a small Shopify shop. I sell home items and a few fitness bits. Think shelf brackets, bands, planners. Cute, light, and pretty simple SKUs. I pack well. But last spring, I hit 300 orders a month. My living room said, “Please stop.” So I tested 3PL drop shipping. If you want the blow-by-blow numbers of that trial, you can peek at my full recap of how I tried 3PL drop shipping for my store.
Was it perfect? Nope. Did my back stop hurting? Yes. You know what? That alone felt huge.
Why I Even Went 3PL
I needed faster ship times. I wanted clean packing slips. No “Thanks, Mom” notes. I also needed help with returns. My USPS line was getting awkward. I don’t love small talk at 7 a.m.
Also, my sales were lumpy. Big spikes on TikTok, then quiet. A 3PL could flex up and down. Well, that’s what they promised. Doing my homework first helped; the resource library over at CandyPress had a great primer on fulfillment terms that saved me from sounding clueless on my first sales call. For a deeper dive into the nuts and bolts of working with outsourced logistics, this comprehensive guide on 3PL drop shipping walks through setup, inventory rules, and fulfillment workflows in detail. (If you’re still debating whether to outsource or build, this guide on how one founder actually ran an ecommerce warehouse is a solid reality check.)
My First Run With ShipBob
I sent in 7 SKUs. About 1,200 units on two pallets. I booked a dock time. I made an ASN (that’s a heads-up sheet with counts and SKUs). They checked in my stuff in 48 hours. Not bad.
Orders started flowing the next day. First pick/pack was included. Extra picks cost a bit. Storage was by bin and pallet. Postage was standard carrier rates. My average all-in per order (pick, pack, label, mailer) landed near $5.20, plus shipping. Ground to most of the U.S. hit 2–4 days. My old average was 5–7.
What I liked:
- The dashboard showed inventory in real time.
- I could add gift notes and stickers. They actually used them.
- Two warehouses (PA and NV) cut West Coast times a lot.
What bugged me:
- My first Q4 storage bill jumped. Bins add up. Pallets too.
- A Saturday batch got stuck in “picking” till Monday. Support replied Monday morning. Not helpful on Sunday.
- One SKU barcode printed too light. They had to relabel 200 units. It delayed orders by a day. Totally on me, but still a gut punch.
Real win? My East Coast customers got orders two days faster. My refund emails dropped by half.
Flexport/Deliverr Gave Me the “2-Day” Boost
I tried Deliverr (now under Flexport) for my top two SKUs. They offered a 2-day badge on my Shopify store. The badge wasn’t magic, but it nudged clicks.
We placed inventory in their network. Orders routed smart from the closest node. My average ship time for those SKUs went from 3.8 days to 2.1. Conversion on those pages rose about 11% over four weeks. Small store, small sample, but still nice.
One hiccup: during their system change, I had a 4-hour sync lag. Stock showed “available” when it wasn’t. I oversold 19 units. I sent apology codes and split shipments. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was a sweaty afternoon.
ShipMonk Was My Kitting Helper
I also do a monthly “reset” box. It has a planner, pen set, and a tiny candle. It needs kitting. ShipMonk set a neat SOP. They added a branded card, folded tissue, and sealed with my logo sticker. (If you’ve ever thought about turning candles themselves into a standalone offer, this story of someone who tried drop-ship candles is a fun rabbit hole.) My rep, Maria, sent photos of the first build. That saved me from a crooked sticker problem. Sounds small. Looked sloppy on camera.
During my December spike, they kept a 24-hour SLA on kitting. Their damage rate on that batch stayed under 0.2%. I checked. I’m a little nerdy about numbers now.
A Hybrid That Actually Worked
Here’s a twist. Not every product sat in a 3PL. My rustic floating shelves ship from a wood shop in North Carolina. They drop ship for me. We used neutral packing slips. At first, the box had their logo tape. A customer asked, “Who’s this?” We switched to plain tape and it fixed the fuss. (Blind drop shipping can be risky—this candid take on blind drop shipping breaks down why customers notice more than you think.)
So my setup looked like this:
- 70% inventory at a 3PL
- 30% drop shipped by a trusted vendor
- One order router in Shopify that split items by location
It sounds fancy. It wasn’t. But I did have to test a lot. If you’re leaning eco-friendly, check out how another merchant ran an organic drop-shipping store for fresh ideas on packaging and sourcing.
Real Numbers From My Store
Before 3PL:
- Average delivery time: 6.2 days
- Order defect rate: 2.1% (late, lost, or damaged)
- Shipping cost per order: about $8.90
- Hours I spent packing each week: 12–14
After 60 days with 3PL + vendor drop ship:
- Average delivery time: 3.7 days
- Order defect rate: 0.8%
- Shipping cost per order: about $7.40
- Hours I spent packing: 2–3
I’m not Amazon. Those numbers felt good.
Stuff That Bit Me
- DIM weight got me. I used a box that was too tall by one inch. My band kits got billed like bricks. I moved to a shorter mailer. Saved about $0.70 per order.
- Q4 storage rates rise. I should’ve run tighter stock. I held 90 days on hand. I now hold 45.
- Alaska and Hawaii. My “2-day” badge didn’t cover them. I had to set fair rules and clear shipping options. No more angry emails from Maui at midnight.
- If you ever end up sifting through classified-style marketplaces for supplier leads, especially the adult-oriented boards that popped up after Backpage vanished, this rundown of the best Backpage replacement sites to hook up tonight breaks down which directories still have a pulse, which ones look sketchy, and the red-flag patterns that can help you dodge scammy listings.
- While browsing those adult-oriented directories, I also discovered that some entrepreneurs study regional “sugar” economies to gauge luxury-gift spending; the localized overview at Sugar Baby Columbus offers insider statistics on how high-end allowances and gifting trends play out in central Ohio, insight you can repurpose when crafting premium bundles or influencer campaigns aimed at aspirational shoppers.
- I also kept this horror story of getting burned by drop-ship scams in mind whenever a “too good to be true” supplier emailed me.
Support, People, and Pace
ShipBob had decent weekday support. Flexport answered faster in chat. ShipMonk was best on kitting questions. I asked for a Slack channel with my main 3PL. It helped. Quick photos. Quick answers. Fewer tickets. If you can get one, ask.
I also placed test orders every month. I used a friend’s address in Ohio and my aunt’s place in Texas. I watched tracking, box quality, and how the packing slip read. Boring? Maybe. It caught two label mix-ups before they turned messy.
Who Should Try 3PL Drop Shipping
Still deciding if a third-party partner is the right move? An up-to-date look at the benefits and best practices of 3PL fulfillment services highlights the key features you should demand from any provider.
- You ship 200+ orders a month and feel stuck.
- Your SKUs are simple. Not 19 parts per order.
- You care about 2–4 day speed but don’t need same day.
- You can handle setup time. It’s a few weeks, not a day.
Who should wait:
- You ship