What Is a 3PL — and When Do You Actually Need One?
A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) stores your inventory and ships your orders for you. As your store grows, doing this yourself eats time you should spend on product and marketing. Here's when a 3PL starts to make sense — and what a good one does.
What a 3PL actually does
- •Receives and stores your inventory in a warehouse
- •Picks, packs, and ships orders across your sales channels
- •Negotiates carrier rates (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL) on your behalf
- •Handles returns, kitting, and special projects
- •Gives you real-time inventory and order visibility
Signs you've outgrown self-fulfillment
You're spending hours a day packing orders, running out of storage space, struggling to offer fast shipping, or selling across multiple channels that are hard to manage from your garage. Those are the classic signals it's time for a 3PL.
Choosing the right 3PL
Look for location near your customers (a NJ/NY-metro warehouse ships the East Coast in 1–2 days), multi-channel support (Amazon, Shopify, eBay, Walmart), transparent pricing, and the ability to also handle Amazon FBA prep so you can run a hybrid model from one partner.
That's exactly what PackShip does from Fairfield, NJ — 3PL fulfillment plus FBA/WFS prep under one roof.
Frequently asked questions
What does 3PL stand for?
Third-Party Logistics — a provider that stores your inventory and fulfills your orders so you don't have to.
When should I switch to a 3PL?
When order volume eats your time, you're out of space, you need faster shipping, or you're managing multiple sales channels. A 3PL lets you scale without doing fulfillment yourself.
Can a 3PL also do my Amazon FBA prep?
The good ones can. PackShip runs both 3PL fulfillment and FBA/WFS prep from one NJ facility, so you can use FBA and multi-channel fulfillment together.