Fulfillment Service F.A.Q.

Fulfillment Service F.A.Q.

Am I too small to use a fulfillment service?

We service fulfilment accounts accounts ranging from a handful of orders, up to several hundred a day so there is no ‘right size’ for fulfillment service. If you are shipping more than a lot of orders every month then will certainly be able to help reduce your costs and increase your capacity.

WHY DO ALL FULFILLMENT SERVICE HOUSES PRICE DIFFERENTLY?

Because the process can be broken down in many different ways, inevitably there are many ways to price. Some fulfillment service companies will give a single fee per order for everything which is simple, but a little unfair on everyone as it will be overpriced to ship just one item in an order, yet underpriced to ship many items in the same order. Others charge for everything (and I mean everything, the worst case I’ve seen they charged for an address label separately, and then another 0.5p to print on it!).
At Best West Direct we have tried to keep things both fair and simple.

How is fulfillment service different to drop shipping?

Drop shipping is when you advertise a product that someone else is selling. While you handle the transaction, the real seller has the stock and does the shipping on your behalf.
A fulfillment service house works as part of your business, storing and despatching your products to your specification. You keep control of how goods are despatched and more importantly have a much better ability to provide excellent customer service. If a drop shipper loses a parcel, it can be a slow process to find out what happened to it and resolve who sends the replacement.

Do you run your own delivery fleet?

We do whatever it takes to get the lowest delivery prices for you, but running our own fleet of trucks will never be cheaper than the commercial rates of local, national and international couriers. They already have thousands of vehicles out there as well as a world wide network of hubs.

 What exactly is a fulfillment company?

A fulfillment service company manages the complete process from order receipt to delivery of your product to the end customer. Inventory is stored in a distribution center, as orders are received the fulfillment service process begins by processing orders, picking product, packaging product, then after it passes quality control it is shipped through a local, regional, or national carrier.

What types of products do you handle?

We handle all types of various products with the exception of environmentally hazardous substances and those products of questionable ethical or moral content. Popular products are nutraceuticals, promotional products, cosmetics, pet toys, office supplies, gaming, CD’s, DVD’s, Books, beverages, energy drinks, supplements, surfboards, apparel, literature and the list continues.

What are the costs?

Every clients needs are unique and can require special solutions. As an extension of your company, our flexible suite of services are customized and priced according to your needs. We offer volume discounts, as your business grows your fulfillment service costs decrease. Generally, fees for a fulfillment service occur when receiving your product, order fulfillment, and monthly storage. Marketing support services, such as kitting, light assembly, or POP/POS displays would be priced upfront to avoid any surprises.

 What is your order fulfillment service process?

 Innovative order flow begins when an approved order is received from your shopping cart, customer service or inbound call centers. Every order is inspected and signed off by a member of our Quality Control Team to ensure the accuracy of each order. Our systems are scale-able to handle a wide variety of  orders per month with the ability to manage multi-channel distribution and continuity orders.

How are orders communicated?

Included in our consultation is to draft a plan that will optimize your order management process. There are several variables that need to be identified in streamlining your order process. We will look at your business requirements, the functionality of your ERP, Accounting Systems, and shopping cart, order frequency and understand the process how you currently receive the orders from your clients. We can integrate with shopping carts and ERP’s for both custom and out-of-the-box applications, we can upload batch files daily, our account managers can enter orders or someone on your staff can enter orders into our Free order management software.

Is my company big enough?

No company is too small to benefit from an outsourced fulfillment service. Whether your project or program is small or large our pricing for a fulfillment service is a direct cost per unit. Typically, we can do it quicker, better, and cheaper than it would take for you to use your internal resources. We combine the strengths of the fulfillment service industry best-practices, pooled labor, equipment, and facilities to deliver your needs with success.

When should fulfillment service get involved?

By speaking with one of our fulfillment service experts in the planning stage of your project or program you can plan properly to improve final production quality, reduce costs, avoid mistakes, and set proper time lines of production. We offer tips involved with the overall strategy of production, which in turn will set proper timeliness, improve final product quality, and cost-saving tips surrounding packaging, kitting, shipping, and materials.

Does your fulfillment service handle returns?
Yes, we can receive returns from customers. Every return is inspected and anything that is unopened and unused will be returned to stock automatically. Opened or used products will be quarantined and we can either send you a photo or return these items to you for re-conditioning.

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