# 3PL

> A 3PL is a company that stores your stock and ships your orders, so you do not run a warehouse yourself.

- Source: https://storestandards.com/glossary/third-party-logistics/
- Also called: Third-party logistics
- Updated: 2026-08-14
- Author: Nia Chambers, Product, Store Standards

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You send them pallets. They send your customers parcels.

## What they take on

- Receiving your deliveries and putting them away
- Holding the stock
- Picking, packing and shipping each order
- Returns, usually for a fee per parcel

Most connect to Shopify directly, so orders flow out and tracking flows back
without anyone rekeying anything.

## When it makes sense

When packing orders is eating days you should spend buying and selling.
Somewhere north of a hundred orders a day is the usual crossover for a small
team, though a bulky product moves that line a long way down.

It also makes sense when you need next-day shipping and cannot staff it.

## Where it goes wrong

You lose the ability to walk to the shelf. When a count looks wrong, you can
no longer go and look, so your
[stock accuracy](https://storestandards.com/glossary/stock-accuracy/) is now their accuracy, reported
back to you at whatever interval they choose.

Ask before you sign: how often do they cycle count, what happens when a
delivery arrives without an
[advance shipping notice](https://storestandards.com/glossary/advance-shipping-notice/), and who pays
when a [pick list](https://storestandards.com/glossary/pick-list/) sends the wrong size. The answers
vary far more than the price does.

## Related terms

- [Putaway](https://storestandards.com/glossary/putaway/): Putaway is moving stock from the receiving area onto the shelf it will be picked from, and recording where it went.
- [Pick list](https://storestandards.com/glossary/pick-list/): A pick list is the sheet or screen that tells someone which products to collect for an order, and where each one is.
- [Stock accuracy](https://storestandards.com/glossary/stock-accuracy/): Stock accuracy is how often the number on screen matches the number on the shelf, counted line by line rather than in total.