Order Fulfilment Companies

[Tech4Homes]

I have an opportunity to expand my business significantly, however it would really mean giving up the day job. As I have a lot going on I'm not quite ready to do that so I'm looking for alternative ideas for the time being.

Does anyone use an order fulfilment company? If so does it cost a fortune and has it been reliable?

I have a close relationship with my main supplier and trust them to send out and look after my customers, I'm very cautious of losing that by using a fulfilment company but the new business model would mean having to handle shipping and deliveries myself, be it by my hands or by a fulfilment company.

The shopping cart I'm currently with keep advertising Six Works - http://www.ecommercefulfilment.co.uk they seem to talk the talk and it appears to be an ideal solution, pending costs.. it even seems I can integrate it with Opencart and orders will get shipped out without me even doing anything. But it can't be that easy, can it?

My main products are a small range, well packaged and colour coded so very easy to manage and doesn't take up a lot of space.

 

[Andy777]

It depends on your margin per item, margin per average order - if it's a very low number, chances are using a FFH is not the best way to go (it could be cheaper actually to hire someone part-time to do order processing for you).

I have used Shipwire, FBA in the past and it all worked out pretty good. I didn't use automation tools though and entered each order manually to avoid any fatal errors.

Here are two articles I wrote about FFHs on my blog:

http://andrewminalto.com/royal-mail-alternative-fulfillment-houses/
http://andrewminalto.com/fulfilment-houses-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/

You'll find some valuable advice in comments section too.

 

[kitchenaria]

We use Storeship Limited for our fulfilment, we work the cost of the fulfilment into our shipping costs that our customers dont seem to mind paying, as the discounts with their bulk buying of postal services almost cover the cost of the fulfilment.

 

[IanDade]

Please PM me if you want any advice. It can be as siple as you think. any of my customers never see their stock or orders.