Jetpack 3PL: Ecommerce Fulfillment for Growing Brands

Ecommerce fulfillment is everything that happens between a customer clicking buy and the package arriving: receiving inventory from your suppliers, storing it, picking and packing each order, shipping it with the right carrier, and handling returns. Brands either run this in-house or outsource it to a fulfillment provider (a 3PL) that operates the warehouses and negotiates carrier rates. Done well, fulfillment is invisible: orders ship the same day, arrive in a couple of days, and cost less than running your own warehouse. Done poorly, it is where growing brands lose margin and reviews.

A third-party logistics company stores, picks, packs, and ships products on behalf of ecommerce brands. Instead of running your own warehouse, you outsource fulfillment to a 3PL that operates the facilities, negotiates carrier rates, and handles the physical supply chain. Most 3PLs serve brands shipping a few hundred to tens of thousands of orders per month.

Jetpack 3PL is one: brands send inventory to its 60+ warehouses, and Jetpack stores it, picks and packs each order, and ships it through its carrier partners while the brand keeps selling on its own channels. Anyone who does warehousing, fulfillment, and shipping on a brand’s behalf fits the definition, from a boutique single-warehouse shop to a global enterprise provider.

A 4PL coordinates multiple logistics providers on your behalf, adding a management layer between you and the people handling your products. Jetpack is a single 3PL: one relationship, one platform, direct access to the floor teams at all 60+ of our warehouses. We layer proprietary tech on top (ML inventory distribution, multi-carrier optimization, a dedicated team on Slack) without inserting distance.

The numbers count how many parties stand between your product and your customer. 1PL is doing everything yourself: your warehouse, your van. 2PL adds a carrier that moves your goods, like UPS or FedEx. 3PL means outsourcing storage, picking, packing, and shipping to a partner like Jetpack that runs the warehouses for you. 4PL adds a management layer that coordinates multiple 3PLs and carriers on your behalf without owning the operations. 5PL manages entire supply networks, usually for enterprises. Most growing ecommerce brands are best served by a single good 3PL: one accountable partner, no management layers stacked on top.

Not by itself. A carrier, whether UPS, FedEx, or DHL, moves parcels from point to point. A 3PL stores your inventory, picks and packs your orders, and manages shipping across many carriers on your behalf. Some carrier parents do run true 3PL divisions, DHL Supply Chain for example, but the courier you hand a box to is not one. A 4PL sits a layer higher still: it orchestrates multiple 3PLs and carriers without ever touching the freight.

Neither, exactly. Amazon is a marketplace and retailer that also sells fulfillment: FBA stores and ships your products, which is 3PL-style work, but on Amazon’s terms, in Amazon’s packaging, under Amazon’s fees. A true 3PL like Jetpack fulfills every channel you sell on, with your branding on the box. A 4PL manages other logistics providers and owns none of the operations, which Amazon is not.

3PL services fall into four categories: transportation-based (carrier and freight), warehouse-based (storage and fulfillment), financial-based (freight auditing and cost optimization), and information-based (visibility technology). Most 3PLs specialize in one or two. Jetpack 3PL unifies all four: multi-carrier optimization, cost reduction from the combined volume of 5,000+ brands on our network, and integrated OMS/IMS/RMS/WMS connecting every warehouse, carrier, and channel in real time.

Amazon FBA functions as a 3PL (it stores inventory and fulfills orders) but operates under Amazon's rules, branding constraints, and fee structure, meaning you lose control over packaging, inserts, and the unboxing experience. Many brands use FBA for Marketplace orders while partnering with a dedicated 3PL like Jetpack for their Shopify and direct-to-consumer channels, keeping brand control where it matters.

3PLs generate revenue through storage fees, pick-and-pack fees, and shipping margins (the spread between negotiated carrier rates and what they charge clients). Some pad revenue with hidden fees: monthly minimums, emergency surcharges, processing charges, setup costs. Jetpack uses all-in rate cards, with no monthly, emergency, or processing fees, and rates include standard packaging, processing, and first pick per order.

3PL pricing usually has four parts: storage, billed by the space you use; receiving, billed for the time it takes to check your inventory in; pick-and-pack, billed per order and per item; and shipping, billed by weight, size, and zone. What you pay depends on the provider and your volume. Jetpack's pricing strips out the fees most 3PLs pile on: no per-order processing fee, no charge for standard packaging like boxes and poly mailers, and no charge for your first pick. Then three levers pull the rate down: the combined volume of 5,000+ brands on our network, Carrier IQ routing every order to the lowest-cost carrier, and MultiHub IQ placing inventory closer to your buyers, which cuts zone-4+ shipments by up to 85% and overall costs by up to 30%.

Evaluate a 3PL on five things: warehouse network (more locations means faster, cheaper delivery), tech integrations (does it connect natively to your Shopify, Amazon, or ERP?), accuracy rate (anything below 99.5% costs you in returns and reviews), pricing transparency, and support model (tickets vs. real people). Jetpack scores on all five: 60+ warehouses, native integrations, 99.95% pick-and-pack accuracy, all-in rate cards, and dedicated Slack channels with a team that knows you.

The biggest risks of outsourcing fulfillment are loss of direct quality control, communication delays, and less flexibility for custom packaging or kitting. Bad 3PL relationships usually stem from poor communication: submit a ticket, wait 48 hours, get a canned reply. Jetpack mitigates these with 99.95% accuracy, real-time support via dedicated Slack channels (not ticket queues), and full kitting and custom packaging with branded inserts.

Founders keep repeating the same five: support that goes quiet for days, invoices carrying fees that were never quoted, orders deprioritized at peak, lost inventory with no accountability, and multi-year contracts that make leaving expensive. Jetpack was built against that list. A dedicated team on Slack in real time, one all-in quoted rate with weekly bill audits, the same SLA at peak, and month-to-month terms you can leave on thirty days’ notice.

Most ecommerce brands hit the inflection point between 200 and 2,000 orders per month, when self-fulfillment starts eating time that should go to product and marketing. Signals: outgrown warehouse space, missing SLAs, climbing shipping costs from negotiating as a single brand. Jetpack partners with brands shipping 1,000+ orders monthly, leveraging the combined volume of 5,000+ brands on our network for carrier rates single shippers can't access.

The best 3PL for Shopify integrates natively with Shopify's order and inventory APIs, supports multi-location fulfillment for split-shipment logic, and syncs inventory in real time. For DTC brands, one oversell or mis-ship triggers a one-star review. Jetpack imports orders via webhooks, supports Shop Promise for delivery date accuracy, and works with Shopify POS for in-store routing. Orders auto-route through Carrier IQ and MultiHub IQ across 60+ locations at 99.95% accuracy.

Three things set Jetpack apart: Jetpack Care, our IQ engine suite, and radical transparency. Jetpack Care: every brand gets a dedicated team on Slack that knows your products, workflows, and priorities, not a ticket queue, not a chatbot. Three proprietary IQ engines handle the rest: MultiHub IQ uses ML to position inventory across 60+ warehouses by customer geography; Carrier IQ optimizes carrier selection per package in real time; Delivery IQ monitors shipments in transit, flagging delays before your customer notices and auto-filing claims when eligible. All-in rate cards: no monthly, emergency, or processing fees. No long-term contracts: your inventory is yours to move whenever you want.

Yes. Jetpack handles D2C, B2B wholesale, Amazon FBA and FBM prep, and retail distribution for 150+ retailers (Walmart, Target, Costco, Ulta, Nordstrom, Sephora, Best Buy, Macy's, REI, and more). B2B orders support EDI via SPS Commerce, pick-by-lot, GS1 labeling with SSCC codes, retail-compliant palletizing, and automated routing. FBA prep handles both small parcel and LTL freight with automated shipment creation. All channels run at 99.95% accuracy.

A multi-hub warehouse network distributes inventory across multiple regional fulfillment centers, with each order shipping from the warehouse closest to the customer. Jetpack's warehouse network spans 60+ warehouses globally: 45+ across the US, 7 in Canada, 4 in the UK, 3 in the EU, 3 in Australia. MultiHub IQ uses machine learning to distribute your inventory based on where your customers actually order from, so each shipment travels the shortest possible distance. The result: up to 3X faster transit, up to 85% fewer shipments beyond zone 4, and up to 30% lower overall fulfillment costs vs. single-warehouse setups.

Jetpack natively integrates with 50+ ecommerce platforms and apps: storefronts like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Wix, and Squarespace; marketplaces including Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and TikTok Shop; plus Klaviyo, Gorgias, Loop Returns, NetSuite, ShipStation, AfterShip, and EDI via SPS Commerce. Our integrated OMS, IMS, RMS, and WMS sync inventory, orders, and returns in real time across every channel and warehouse. Carrier IQ auto-selects the best carrier and service level for each package across ground, 2-day, and overnight.

Every brand gets a dedicated Slack channel with direct access to a dedicated team that knows your products, workflows, and priorities. Jetpack Care monitors proactively and reaches out before you notice an issue: when key SKUs run low, inbound shipments are delayed, order volume surges, carriers report regional delays, or integration sync shows irregularities. No call center queue, no starting over with a new rep. Your ops team gets answers fast and keeps moving.

Jetpack offers full kitting services (assembly, de-kitting, case breakdowns) for subscription box builds, promotional bundling, sticker and label application, and custom dunnage. Custom packaging includes branded boxes, poly mailers, bubble mailers, and full-color marketing inserts printed on demand. Returns flow through our integrated RMS with up to three custom inspection steps and automated restock, quarantine, or dispose actions per your rules. All at 99.95% accuracy with same-day fulfillment for orders received by our 2PM cutoff.

Yes, fully automated. Lot-tracked products are stored separately by batch, and the system ships nearest-expiration inventory first via FIFO, so customers always get the freshest product without manual oversight. Set minimum shelf life days per SKU; units below that threshold are auto-excluded from fulfillment, so no expired product reaches a customer. Full recall readiness: trace exactly which orders received a specific batch and from which fulfillment center. Returns on lot-tracked products route to quarantine or disposal rather than restock, protecting active inventory.

Jetpack partners with ecommerce brands shipping 1,000+ orders per month, large enough to benefit from multi-hub distribution, still at the growth stage where hands-on support matters most. Onboarding takes 1-2 weeks with about 4-6 hours of your time: a dedicated team connects your sales channels, configures your SKU catalog, sets shipping preferences, and positions inventory via MultiHub IQ from your historical order data. We teach you the tools, not just deliver outcomes. Switching from another 3PL? For a limited time, we're waiving receiving fees on your initial inventory transfer, and we run a structured migration: as fast as one week for D2C, four to six weeks for B2B with EDI and retail compliance cutovers. No long-term contracts; your inventory is yours to move whenever.

Jetpack is generally built for brands shipping 1,000+ orders per month across all channels combined. That said, we love hearing from newer brands building something exciting. If you're early-stage and we believe in what you're building, we'll talk through what it would take to invest and grow together. Reach out for a conversation. Otherwise, crowdfunding fulfillment and startup fulfillment are good stepping stones until the volume catches up.

All major US and international carriers: USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, as well as regional partners like GOFO, BetterTrucks, Amazon, UniUni, and many more. Jetpack negotiates rates across all of them, then auto-routes each order to whichever carrier has the best cost-and-transit combo for that specific shipment. You get one low consolidated rate. You never have to pick a carrier per order.

60+ fulfillment centers across the US, Canada, EU, UK, and Australia, with line-haul connecting the regional hubs in each. If you're shipping across borders (US to UK, US to AU, EU to US), Global Fulfillment handles the customs, duties, and brokerage, so your customers see one clean delivery experience.

Either works. Some brands start in one warehouse and add hubs as their order distribution shows demand in other regions. Others start in two or three hubs from day one because their volume already justifies the freight economics. Same software, same carriers, same support team, whether you're in one warehouse or eight. On a quote call we'll look at your customer geography and order volume and recommend the right starting footprint.

Jetpack 3PL (legally Jetpack Ventures Inc.) is a North American third-party logistics company with global reach, running fulfillment for ecommerce brands across 60+ warehouses in the US, Canada, UK, EU, and Australia. Orders ship on the same network that handles the combined volume of 5,000+ brands, with a dedicated support team in your Slack. We are not affiliated with the WordPress plugin Jetpack or any other product using the Jetpack name. You can find us on LinkedIn, and our full operational documentation is public at help.jetpack3pl.com.