The short version
- Give providers the same information and a clear response format. You’ll spend less time untangling different assumptions.
- Use your own order and inventory data when comparing options.
- Agree the details with your provider before work begins.
Why 3PL quotes come back incomparable
Quotes are easier to compare when every provider prices the same work. Use a shared order profile, storage estimate, and list of services.
The data pack every bidder gets, identical
Include product dimensions, recent orders, inventory levels, inbound shipment details, and sales channels. Remove customer personal information before sharing sample data.
- 01Twelve months of order history at line level. One row per order line: order date, order ID, channel, SKU, quantity, ship-to ZIP or postal code, service level requested, and shipped weight where you have it. Twelve months so the bidder sees your seasonality rather than guessing it.
- 02Order profile distribution. A histogram of units per order and a histogram of lines per order. Not an average. The section below shows what the average hides.
- 03Product list with dimensions and weights. Length, width, height, and weight for every active SKU, plus case pack, case dimensions, and units per pallet or per layer. Missing dimensions are the most common reason a quote gets revised upward after go-live.
- 04Your fastest and slowest sellers. Rank products by units shipped over the past year. This helps the provider plan storage and the work of picking orders.
- 05Package dimension distribution. What ships in a poly mailer, what ships in each carton size, and what share of volume each represents. This is the input to dimensional weight, which is billable weight calculated from cubic size rather than scale weight, and therefore to most of your parcel spend.
- 06Storage footprint in pallets. Average and peak pallet positions, split by floor-stacked, racked single-deep, and bin or shelf. Declare stack height and whether product is stackable, because a bidder who assumes double-stack and finds out otherwise has priced half the storage they need.
- 07Seasonality by month. Orders and units per month for 24 months where you have it, plus your single best day and single worst day. Peak is where 3PL relationships break, and a bidder needs to see the shape of yours before signing.
- 08Channel mix. Share of orders and units by channel: your own store, each marketplace, retail POs, wholesale, subscription. Note which channels are growing and which you expect to add.
- 09Value-added requirements. Kitting, bagging and sealing, ticketing, inserts, gift notes, serial capture, lot tracking, QA audits, customization. State the frequency and write out the actual steps. “Kitting” means nothing. “Four components into a printed mailer box with a serial label applied to the outside, roughly 3,000 kits a month, built to order” can be priced.
- 10Returns. Rate by channel, what happens to a returned unit, who inspects and against what criteria, restock rules, and returns volume in your heaviest month rather than your average one.
- 11Growth forecast. The next 24 months by month, with your own confidence range attached. Bidders reserve capacity against this number and price implementation against it, so a forecast you do not believe will cost you either way.
- 12Compliance and constraints. Retail routing guides you must meet, EDI documents required, hazmat classes, temperature requirements, lot or expiry rules, insurance minimums, and any customer-specific packaging mandates.
Why average units per order misleads and a distribution does not
Averages can hide the work in multi-item orders, bundles, or large retail shipments. Show the range of order types as well as the overall volume.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Units per order | Brand A: share of orders | Brand B: share of orders |
|---|---|---|
| 1 unit | 78% | 55% |
| 2 units | 8% | 33% |
| 3–5 units | 9% | 10% |
| 6–10 units | 3% | 1.5% |
| 11+ units | 2% | 0.5% |
| Average units per order | 1.8 | 1.8 |
The RFP, section by section
Organize the request around your business, warehouse services, systems, service expectations, implementation, and pricing. Ask providers to mark assumptions and exclusions clearly.
The pricing response table to share with providers
Use the same pricing table for each proposal. Ask for the billing unit, included work, extra charges, minimums, and an example month using your data.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Line item | Unit of measure (you fix this) | Rate | Bidder must also state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving, palletized | Per pallet received, 48 x 40 in, under 60 in tall | $______ | Whether counting is by carton or by unit, and the rate if the pallet is mixed-SKU |
| Receiving, floor-loaded | Per 40 ft high-cube container unloaded to pallet | $______ | Free time allowed and any detention or waiting charge |
| Putaway | Per pallet or per bin put away | $______ | Whether this is included in receiving or billed on top of it |
| Storage, pallet | Per pallet position per month | $______ | Proration rules, the snapshot date used, and whether partial months bill in full |
| Storage, bin or shelf | Per bin per month | $______ | Exact interior dimensions of every bin class offered |
| Order handling, DTC | Per order, any unit count | $______ | What the fee covers: label, packing slip, carton, void fill |
| Pick, DTC | Per unit picked, from the first unit | $______ | Any tiering, and whether an additional line in the same order prices differently |
| Standard packaging | Per order | $______ | Which carton sizes, mailers, and dunnage are included at this rate |
| Branded packaging and inserts | Per order, and per insert | $______ | Whether custom carton setup is one-time or per-order |
| Kitting | Per completed kit of 4 components | $______ | Rate per additional component, and any minimum batch size |
| B2B order handling | Per retail or wholesale order | $______ | Everything included before pallet build begins |
| B2B pick | Per case and per each, quoted separately | $______ | How break-case and mixed-case picks are billed |
| Pallet build, wrap, and label | Per outbound pallet | $______ | Whether pallets, slip sheets, and corner boards are charged separately |
| Retail compliance labeling | Per carton labeled | $______ | Which retailers they label for today |
| EDI transactions | Per PO, all documents | $______ | Which documents are included: 850, 855, 856, 810, 997 |
| Returns processing | Per returned unit | $______ | Whether inspection, repack, and restock are included or billed separately |
| Freight, inbound and outbound | Pass-through, or marked up | $______ | Markup percentage if any, and whether we may use our own carrier accounts |
| Parcel | Per shipment, their accounts or ours | $______ | If theirs, the rate card applied to our actual ZIP and weight distribution |
| Account management | Per month, flat | $______ | Named contact, hours of coverage, and the escalation path after hours |
| Platform or technology fee | Per month, plus per order if any | $______ | What happens to the fee if volume falls below forecast |
| Minimum monthly charge | Per month | $______ | Which line items count toward satisfying the minimum |
| Non-standard labor | Per labor hour | $______ | Minimum billing increment and notice period required |
| Peak surcharge | Per order or percentage, stated | $______ | The exact months and the trigger that applies it |
Writing service levels you can actually measure
Define what each service measure covers and how it is reported. Include the review process and how the teams will handle missed targets.
- Order cycle time. When does the clock start: when the order is placed, when it reaches the warehouse system, or when it clears fraud and payment hold? What is the daily cutoff, and in which time zone? Do weekends and holidays count? Does an order with a backordered line stop the clock or fail the metric?
- On-time ship rate. Is an order on time if the label is created, if the carton is scanned, or if the carrier physically takes possession? Label creation and carrier pickup can be a full day apart, and only one of them is what your customer experiences.
- Pick accuracy. Per unit, per line, or per order? Accuracy measured per unit will always look better than the same performance measured per order, and the gap widens as units per order rises. Define who logs an error and whether a customer complaint without a return counts.
- Inventory accuracy. Counted how, at what frequency, and against what tolerance? By SKU, by location, or by unit? Cycle counting on a sampled basis and a full annual count produce different numbers, and the contract should say which one governs.
- Receiving turnaround. Clock starts at appointment time, truck arrival, or dock completion? Measured to inventory physically putaway, or to inventory sellable in the system? The gap between those two is where you lose selling days on stock you already paid for.
- Returns turnaround. From carrier delivery at the dock to disposition decision, or to restocked and sellable? Define disposition categories up front so “inspected” means the same thing to both parties.
- Retail performance. If you ship to retail, define on time in full against the retailer’s own measurement, not the provider’s, because the retailer’s number is the one that generates chargebacks.
A scoring rubric with weights
Weight the scorecard around what matters to your operation. Keep evidence and open questions beside the scores so the decision is easy to explain.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column
| Category | Weight | What earns a high score |
|---|---|---|
| Cost at your actual profile | 25% | Lowest modeled all-in cost per order across base month, peak month, and growth scenarios, using their rates against your real order file |
| Operational fit | 20% | Has run your order shape, SKU count, and value-added steps before, and can describe how rather than just confirming that |
| Technology and integration | 15% | Native connection to your cart and marketplaces, inventory data you can query yourself, a named integration owner and a date |
| Implementation plan | 10% | Dated plan with owners on both sides, a defined test order phase with pass criteria, and a written rollback |
| Service levels and remedies | 10% | Agrees how results are calculated, shares monthly data, and explains what happens if standards are missed |
| References and site visit | 10% | References at your size and profile, including one brand that left. A site visit that matched the story in the response |
| Network and transit | 5% | Zone performance modeled against your ZIP distribution, and a credible answer on when a second node makes sense |
| Commercial terms | 5% | Term length, escalation mechanism and cap, and exit and inventory release terms you can live with |
Timeline and process
Allow time for provider questions, a warehouse visit, reference checks, and a revised proposal. Share clarifications with every provider so the comparison stays fair.
- 01Weeks 1–2. Build the data pack. This is the longest single task and the one most often underestimated, particularly SKU dimensions. Start here, not with the question list.
- 02Week 2. Qualify and shortlist. Twenty-minute calls with eight to ten providers to confirm they run your order shape, your channels, and your value-added steps. Cut to four to six.
- 03Week 3. Issue the RFP and data pack to all bidders on the same day, under NDA, with the response deadline and the format rule stated on page one.
- 04Week 4. Written question window, closing mid-week. Publish every question and answer to every bidder in a numbered addendum. No private clarifications.
- 05Week 5. Responses due. Screen for format compliance on arrival and return non-compliant responses immediately with a 72-hour deadline rather than at the end.
- 06Week 6. Normalize and score. Run every completed pricing table against your real months, score the non-cost categories first, then open pricing.
- 07Week 7. Site visits with the top two or three, at the building your inventory will occupy.
- 08Week 8. Reference calls, including the brand that left. Clarification round on open pricing and contract questions.
- 09Week 9. Select, then negotiate terms. Implementation planning starts the day the agreement is signed, not the day it is countersigned.
What to do after the quotes arrive
Check assumptions before comparing totals. Follow up on missing charges and ask each shortlisted team to walk through the work behind its price.
How Nile answers an RFP
Share your brief with Nile. We’ll review your products, channels, volumes, and handling needs, then explain the proposed setup and the details we still need to price.