TL;DR
If a 3PL isn’t transparent about invoicing, run. Ask for real sample invoices and specific shipment quotes to expose hidden fees and vague billing practices. You’re trusting them with your logistics — but also your margin. This post outlines exactly how to test for financial trustworthiness.
By Nish George · CEO, Fetch Fulfillment · Published May 2025
Could you imagine getting a credit card statement with 1 line on it: “Services: $50K”, with no detail for where that $50K went? Unacceptable, right? Unfortunately, that’s exactly how some 3PLs bill their brands. They hate answering billing questions, so they make it as painful as possible for you to analyze your invoice and hold them accountable to your agreed rates.
Without invoice transparency, you:
As a brand owner, you need to understand your exact costs for each individual order.
If a 3PL refuses to provide one — even with redacted client info — it’s a red flag.
🚩 Red Flag #1: No Sample Invoice
They may lack accurate or itemized billing practices.
A trustworthy 3PL should gladly show you what their invoicing format looks like.
Provide a few real-world shipment examples from your brand.
🚩 Red Flag #2: Refuses Shipment Quotes
This usually means either:
The only situation where fulfillment quoting is time-intensive is if you have a truly custom packout, i.e. custom inserts, different packing slips for different sales channels, extra quality-control checks before shipping, etc.
The only valid reason to decline is if your fulfillment is hyper-custom — otherwise, quoting should be easy.
What does the invoice show?
🚩 Red Flag #3: No Line-Item Breakdown
This is the billing equivalent of that $50K “mystery charge.”
If your 3PL won’t break it down, you can’t build trust — run far away!
At Fetch Fulfillment, we’ve partnered with Rails to build a metered billing system that shows brands their exact cost per order — every single day.
You get:
You should never have to guess what you’re paying for.
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Fetch Fulfillment offers daily cost visibility, metered invoicing, and zero surprises. We don’t just send bills — we earn your trust.
Be confident in your 3PL. Book a call today!
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Fetch Fulfillment is a New Jersey-based 3PL for brand owners who want direct-to-consumer fulfillment to be the least stressful part of their business. Most 3PLs are good at one thing, like shipping on-time, or having modern tech, or picking up the phone. What makes Fetch unique is that it's stellar at all 3: it provides high-end boutique-grade customer service -- as seen in its glowing reviews and +92 net promoter score -- combined with its real-time cutting-edge tech and well-managed operation, with 99.2% same-day shipping and 99.95% order fill-rate. The Fetch team lives by its motto: they are Your Brand's Best Friend.
