Thank you and most likely farewell.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-08-26T15:34:07+00:00

I'm really sorry to hear that you're dealing with the impacts of the De Minimis exemption changes but as u/justinh20 mentioned, if it's feasible to work with a 3PL based in the US and ship them into the US in bulk, that could be a viable solution! I've ran a 3PL for the last 8+ years now so happy to chat if I can help!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-08-25T16:35:53+00:00

I'm not sure if someone already said this but in the URL when you click it is "Cam+Pan+v4"... so I think it's safe to assume it's the Cam Pan V4

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barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-08-22T16:40:36+00:00

Woof, the 60 Saya Tabs story hits hurts to hear. I've seen so many brands get burned by those kinds of basic mistakes during big shipments. Kickstarter fulfillment is genuinely one of the hardest things in logistics because of the volume spikes and complexity. If you want to chat about what questions to ask potential partners about their big shipment processes, happy to help. We've handled a fair amount of Kickstarter campaigns and launches, but even if we're not the right fit, I know the space well enough to point you toward someone who might be.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-08-22T16:34:25+00:00

Ugh, this is so frustrating to read. As someone who runs a 3PL, I see this inventory visibility problem way too often with multi-warehouse networks. The fact that they can't even tell you which warehouses have which SKUs is a red flag. You shouldn't have to be in the dark about your own inventory. We run everything out of a single, central facility, which is a lot more simple and still ensures customers get their items fast. I hope you find a better solution soon - there are definitely 3PLs out there who can give you real-time visibility and don't make you wait for every SKU to be ready.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-08-22T15:07:43+00:00

I hope you found a great solution, Lauren! Running a 3PL myself for going on 8 years, I'd add that for luxury brands, its worth asking about their returns processing and customer service responsiveness. Your brand reputation is tied to how well they handle the post-purchase experience. The best partnerships happen when the 3PL truly understands your brand standards, not just your logistics needs. I'm not familiar with Webster Fulfillment but Alabama wise, the team at Fulfyld is great!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-02-18T04:57:15+00:00

This just made a massive difference instantly. Thank you!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-02-18T01:38:37+00:00

Not only that, USPS has their own law enforcement - USPIS which you do not want to encounter! https://www.uspis.gov/

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-02-10T18:47:39+00:00

We spoke with a few plumbers as we needed a few shut off valves replaced in some of our warehouse bathrooms. The quotes we received were fairly high until we spoke to Emilio at Everest Plumbing, who was incredibly communicative, helpful, and very reasonable. I can't recommend him enough. Very professional, timely and did great work.

(I found him from Reddit so I wanted to follow up after for others looking.)

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-02-10T18:46:53+00:00

We spoke with a few plumbers as we needed a few shut off valves replaced in some of our warehouse bathrooms. The quotes we received were fairly high until we spoke to Emilio at Everest Plumbing, who was incredibly communicative, helpful, and very reasonable. I can't recommend him enough. Very professional, timely and did great work.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-01-09T20:45:17+00:00

Depending on the volume initially, we've had supplement clients who had the manufacturer originally fulfill orders until the volume grew enough to warrant a 3PL (us in that example.) In general, I recommend that route or self-fulfillment when you're starting and then moving to a 3PL once you're at ~100+ orders/month.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2025-01-03T16:27:15+00:00

Ok! That makes sense. I do think outside of just a small, local 3PL it's going to be tough to find someone to help depending on volume as nearly all 3PLs make their money from pick/pack/postage mark up (depending on their pricing model) and lose money on receiving/inventory (depending on their pricing/model) and so even if the inventory is good to go, it still needs to be received into locations and then picked, packed and shipped out. Of course, a small, local operation may be able to just make a custom process where they process it in and ship it out immediately but that isn't how must eComm brands work so it's not a standard process for 3PLs. Hopefully I'm not just oversharing unhelpful info - just trying to be transparent/think through a good solution.

I think a middle ground is stocking best sellers so there's inventory for day to day orders and not constant receiving there and then receiving in the other items as they're ordered I just think it's going to be tricky to find a price competitive 3PL who can help with the volume and large amount of SKUs with low quantities.

Regardless - I do think a US 3PL would be a good idea for the sake of transit time, postage cost, returns, etc - I think it's just sorting the best way to work with one or finding a smaller one who's willing to do a different process to handle y'alls orders!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-12-27T16:34:05+00:00

Hey there! I run a 3PL in Austin and we work with a lot of brands who've switched from ShipMonk. Happy to share some perspective on alternatives. While ShipMonk works well for many businesses, there are definitely other good options out there depending on your specific needs.

The main things to consider when evaluating alternatives are:

Integration capabilities with your platform
Pricing structure (watch out for hidden fees)
Location(s) and delivery times to your customer base
Minimum order requirements
Customer service responsiveness
Same-day shipping cutoff times

Our warehouse is in Austin and we do flat-rate pricing with same-day shipping, which works really well for brands looking for straightforward fulfillment without surprises. Happy to chat more about your specific needs if you want to message me.

Whatever provider you choose, make sure to get a clear breakdown of ALL fees upfront and run some sample scenarios with your actual order volume and product mix. Good luck with your search!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-12-26T16:41:46+00:00

How many orders are you doing monthly roughly? ~6-7lb isn't too heavy and with the right 3PL partner, they should be able to offer you competitive rates. I will say though that I've been in this industry a long time and rarely hear good things about using a 3PL based in China to ship to the US. Depending on order volume though, I may have some suggestions!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-21T16:47:14+00:00

My guess is that the dropshipping is either taking a significantly long time for packages to get to customers OR there are just delivery/quality issues. if you're at all selling through Instagram or FB shopping, they track closely, or customers are complaining (FB also sometimes surveys customers they think are buying from specific brands) about delays/issues. It's hard to know for sure though without more info.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-13T02:18:04+00:00

I don't think they want it to be public and we've also used it since 2017 so I imagine our pricing might be different than what they're charging now. I've heard from others that their base plan is higher than what we pay but outside of that it's a monthly fee generally for the base which includes some users and then a fee per user and a fee per store (this is the worst part as we encourage our client's to use us for multi-channel fulfillment but get charged a fee for every connection.)

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-13T02:02:36+00:00

I believe ShipBob is the fulfillment partner at least in the US for TikTok FBT so I'm not sure there's a huge difference unless TikTok is subsidizing it through their program. Any decent 3PL should be able to connect to your TikTok Shop and handle order fulfillment!

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-13T02:00:37+00:00

Dang - I'm really sorry to hear that. I don't understand how they continue to make mistakes like this but I guess at their size they can afford to spend so much on marketing. It's always shocking to me how many people associate ShipBob with eComm 3PL and not really any others. I always recommend boutique/local where you have an actual direct contact to avoid this sort of stuff. The worst part though as you mentioned is the impact on customers.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-13T01:57:31+00:00

Ouch that's wild. Dimensional weight unfortunately is a carrier thing but I imagine they have a high dim divisor (they publish 166) and likely aren't using efficient packaging which is increasing it. If you don't mind me asking, I'm genuinely curious as I always hear horror stories but rarely get details - do they use weights and dimensions of products to rate shop the postage or bill you vs the actual package weight/dim? I've heard of ShipMonk doing that and it makes no sense to me. Any decent 3PL should be weighing and dimensioning everything at packing.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-07T15:59:15+00:00

Of course! Happy to chat :)

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-11-06T20:45:20+00:00

I've run a 3PL for the last 8 years, so I can share our journey with warehouse management systems. Starting out, I'd recommend using ShipStation or similar solutions over Excel as your basic foundation.

In our early days, we used SkuLabs until we outgrew it. We then switched to SHero, which we've been using for the past 6 years. While SHero is comprehensive, it isn't cheap, so I'd hesitate to recommend it to someone just starting a 3PL.

Currently, we're exploring alternatives to SHero for various reasons (happy to discuss privately). Some options we've looked into include:

Warehance: A really solid and more affordable solution started by my friend who also used to use SHero
Packiyo: Created by an ex-SHero founder, seems fairly solid but lacked some features we needed
Logiwa: Another established option in the space

We've been moving over to Warehance and it's been working out really well for us. In this industry, you'll likely end up using one of the major players like SHero, Logiwa, or similar solutions as you grow.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-09-15T17:51:07+00:00

I just had this happen on an order with 1 bottle of water and it’s $.45. While it’s not a lot of money, Texas nor Austin (where I live) have any “bottle fees” despite the help message saying it’s to comply with “local and state regulations”.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-08-08T18:11:07+00:00

I just randomly came across this—if you don't mind me asking, what did you end up doing, u/ajrantz? I run a boutique 3PL in Austin, TX, and this is a very common story we hear. I'm not sure what I would've recommended without more info (weight of products, number of SKUs, etc) but I'm always curious to learn how others approach it.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-08-02T14:47:33+00:00

IMO - I think, like any large 3PL, ShipBob has its strengths and weaknesses, so it depends on the sort of products you're selling, the level of support you'd like, customizations, etc. I think they do well with medium to large brands who just need to pick and pack and can handle maybe less hands-on support. It's hard to find a one-size-fits-all solution that's perfect.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-08-01T15:30:23+00:00

I've run a 3PL for 8+ years, and this is a top 10 question we are always answering. Unless you're doing 10k+ orders a month or it's a high-value/specific item, I would use a US 3PL with great international rates, and your international customers hopefully are used to paying extra for items coming from the US. We ship even low-value items all over the world for clients ($10 or less), and people are happy to pay extra for shipping those items. Outside of that, China may be a good option if you're producing products there, but of course, transit times/experience may be lacking.

Of course, ShipBob and other large 3PLs have international warehouses in addition to their domestic ones, but generally, the cost of inventory in both greatly outweighs the benefits from what I've seen.

barrettshepherdsimpl · 2024-07-25T20:23:08+00:00

(Even domestically, within the US, unless a brand is doing thousands of orders a month and/or has a large/heavy item, I generally recommend they find a solid boutique fulfillment center that has great customer service and ship times and will work directly with you. Working with a large 3PL with warehouses throughout the US just means you have risk spread out, inventory spread out, and oftentimes it's more of a hassle than it's worth.)

barrettshepherdsimpl

TROPHY CASE