At a glance
Average all-in fulfilment cost per order shipped. Combines warehouse-pick fees, packaging, label cost, and shipping carrier charges into a single per-order figure. The “what does each parcel cost me” number for finance and the “is fulfilment getting cheaper or more expensive” number for ops.
Calculation
Calculated automatically from your ShipBob data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.Worked example
A US DTC apparel brand using ShipBob 3PL with 3 DCs. Reading taken on 12 Mar 26 for the trailing 90 days (12 Dec 25 to 11 Mar 26). Average order value is $58.
The card reads $11.95 on the trend; the alert at
>+10% vsP is just under threshold but trending up. Five things to notice:
- Q4 dragged the 90-day average up. The window includes 12 Dec 25 to 31 Dec 25 (peak rates and surcharges); a Jan-Feb-only read would be closer to $11.20. Read seasonal context, not just the headline. Compare year-over-year same-window rather than rolling 90D when peak boundaries cross.
- Carrier surcharges are 12% of the per-order cost. Residential delivery, fuel, dimensional weight each levy independently; a single oversized item can push surcharges from 2.40 without the merchant changing anything. Audit dimensional-weight charges in the portal monthly; SKUs with high dim-weight ratio cost disproportionately.
- **Multi-DC split adds 11.95 + (14.17; for single-DC orders it is 0.18 per order on average; on 24,000 orders / 90D that is $4,300 saved per quarter just from inventory-allocation changes.
- DC closest to customer ships cheapest, and not just fastest. Shorter zones cost less in base rate; Chicago shipping to the dense Midwest customer base costs ~8.10. The geographic-fit principle compounds across the cost AND the time legs.
- The headline does not surface ShipBob’s pick-rate efficiency. ShipBob discounts pick-fees at scale; a brand doing 100k orders / 90D pays ~0.95 at this brand’s volume. Negotiate annually as volume scales; the per-order line item is the easiest finance lever.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
The cost is the headline; cause analysis lives in the supporting cards:Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in ShipBob Merchant Portal: ShipBob Merchant Portal → Billing → Invoices. Each monthly invoice itemises pick fees, pack fees, packaging, shipping rates per carrier-method-zone, and surcharges. Divide invoice total by orders shipped that month for the like-for-like per-order figure. Why our number may legitimately differ from ShipBob’s portal:
Cross-connector reconciliation:
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
ShipBob vs FBA, which is cheaper per order? Depends on order shape and channel. FBA is typically cheaper for small parcels shipped via Amazon’s network for Amazon-channel customers; ShipBob is typically cheaper for DTC orders shipped to addresses Amazon does not service competitively, especially for branded packaging. Most multichannel brands run both. Track each separately; do not blend. How does ShipBob choose which DC ships my order, and how does that affect cost? Closest-DC-with-stock; multi-DC splits when no single DC has all line items. Far-zone shipments cost more in base rate; multi-DC splits add transfer cost. Reducing split rate is the second-largest cost lever after method-mix. SLA-vs-carrier-tracking discrepancy, why is my Overnight cost-per-order so high? Three reasons. (1) Overnight base rate is 2 to 5 times Standard. (2) Overnight surcharges (Saturday delivery, residential, fuel) compound. (3) Many merchants over-promise Overnight in checkout copy and end up shipping Overnight on orders that did not strictly need it; track the subset that actually needed Overnight (placed after standard cutoff with tight customer expectation) versus the subset that did not. Perfect-order rate vs cost, what is the relationship? Inverse. Hitting perfect-order requires faster shipping methods, more careful packaging, and tighter address validation; each adds cost. Aim for the cost-quality balance that maximises gross margin, not the lowest cost or highest perfect-order in isolation. How do I plan for Q4 / BFCM peak using cost-per-order? Negotiate carrier rates and capacity holds with ShipBob’s account team in Q3. Pre-buy packaging at off-season rates. Pre-position inventory by mid-October to reduce multi-DC splits. Communicate the 8 to 25% Q4 cost inflation to finance so it is in the plan, not a surprise. Multi-DC inventory split optimisation, how much can I save? Reducing split-rate from 18% to 10% (typical achievable) saves 0.30 per order on a 100k-order quarterly basis. The portal’s “Inventory Distribution” engine recommends per-SKU allocation. Re-read this card 14 to 30 days after rebalancing to confirm savings landed. How do returns flow through cost? Returns incur reverse-shipping cost (carrier label back to DC) and re-receive / re-stock fees (Return Processing Time tracks the time leg). Reverse-shipping cost is NOT in this card; it is in the dedicated returns cost cards. Net fulfilment cost = forward (this card) + reverse (returns module) + restock fees. Why does ShipBob’s invoice show shipped but Shopify still says unfulfilled? Webhook sync lag. ShipBob firesshipment.created to Shopify on label-print; ShipBob immediately bills the cost on its own ledger. Shopify’s displayFulfillmentStatus flips to FULFILLED once it processes the webhook (typical lag 2 to 6 hours, longer in Q4). Cost-per-order in the ShipBob portal is current; Shopify’s order status is delayed.
The cost spiked but I did not change anything. Why?
Three usual reasons. (1) Carrier surcharge increase (UPS, FedEx, USPS post fuel and demand surcharges weekly during peak; quarterly off-peak). (2) Mix shift; one big customer or campaign changed ship-to geography or method. (3) Dimensional-weight reweigh; a product audit re-classified an item as oversized, retroactively applying higher rates. Pivot to Cost Outliers to find which shipments drove the spike.