Choosing a fulfilment partner is one of the highest-trust decisions a small brand makes: you are handing over your entire stock and your customers’ experience. These ten questions surface the differences that matter before you commit.
The 10 questions
Put these to every provider you shortlist, in writing, and keep the answers:
- 1. What is your full price list — including goods-in, returns, and every surcharge?
- 2. Are there setup fees, minimum volumes, or minimum monthly billing?
- 3. What is the contract notice period, and what does leaving cost?
- 4. Which of my channels do you integrate with directly?
- 5. What is your dispatch cutoff — orders by what time ship the same day?
- 6. Can I see my live stock levels and shipments in a portal?
- 7. How do you handle returns, and what does each one cost me?
- 8. Who do I actually talk to when something goes wrong, and how fast do you respond?
- 9. How do you handle a sudden spike — can you triple my volume next week?
- 10. What happens if you lose or damage my stock?
Red flags
Walk away from: pricing that only exists after a sales call, 12-month lock-ins for a small seller, "integration coming soon" for a channel you depend on, and any provider that takes days to answer questions during the sales process — because that is them at their most attentive.
Green flags
Itemised quotes without chasing, no minimums, month-to-month terms, a live portal, a named human who replies quickly, and honest answers about what they are not good at. A partner confident enough to say "we are not the right fit for frozen goods" is one you can trust about everything else.
Ask us all ten — we will answer every one in writing, with an itemised quote, within one working day.
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