Deliverr Overview
Deliverr is a 4PL that connects you with their network of e-commerce fulfillment centers to provide 3PL services. They started in 2017 and have grown exponentially over the past three years. In 2021, Deliverr raised $170 million to fund further growth. Their model is based on providing strictly direct-to-consumer fulfillment services through a variety of independent warehouses within their network to obtain a higher percentage of 2 day shipping options (although they do not make the cut for Amazon’s new SFP guidelines).
Deliverr Pricing
Deliverr breaks their pricing into 2 categories: fulfillment and storage costs. While receiving costs are normally an auxiliary service fee, Deliverr includes them in their fulfillment pricing. If you would like to send product to Deliverr, you will have to schedule an inbound shipment which does involve separate fees. These will depend on your shipment and can be viewed in your seller portal.
Fulfillment Costs
Deliverr has a flat-fee based fulfillment pricing model that varies based on the # of units, dimensions, and weight of your product. The fees included in their fulfillment costs are receiving, pick & pack, packaging, and shipping fees. While it is nice to have fees simplified into 1 number for fulfillment, this may be more beneficial for some clients than others. Pricing will vary based on the dimensions, weight and characteristics of your product. You can use their price calculator to determine the rate for common products.
However, this rate does have some exclusions. First, it only applies to domestic orders. For international shipments, Deliverr charges a per unit fee that is only disclosed in your Deliverr Seller Portal and varies based on the product. If your product contains batteries or involves hazardous materials, you will be charged an additional $0.11 per unit. Lastly, if your product requires additional protective material (Kraft paper, bubble wrap, etc.), you will be charged an additional per unit fee that is only disclosed in your Deliverr Seller Portal and varies based on the product.
Storage Costs
As for storage fees, they charge $0.75/cubic foot from Jan-Sep, while rates get over 3x more expensive during holiday season at $2.40/cubic foot. They also have long-term storage rates of $6.90/cubic foot, with a per unit minimum of $0.15/unit.
Deliverr 2-Day Shipping
Deliverr offers 2-day shipping options that allow customers to have badges on certain selling platforms which are meant to improve conversion rates. This is meant to work similar to Amazon Prime’s service. However, 2-day shipping is not guaranteed like Amazon Prime so you are at risk of disappointing customers if you promise 2-day shipping.
"Does Deliverr guarantee delivery SLAs? No. Deliverr does not generally provide any guarantees or remedies towards shipments that miss SLAs. We make our best efforts to meet the delivery SLAs and continually strive to improve upon them."
Additionally, their cutoff time is not a promised standard in their delivery SLA. So, while they make their best efforts to meet their SLAs, there is no guaranteed reimbursement if the delivery timelines are not met.
"[...] 11AM PST / 2PM EST will typically ship the same day, if not the next business day."
And they have added another caveat where shipments may take an additional 1-2 days to ship. So, while Deliverr advertises 2-day shipping, they make it very clear that their badges and 2-day shipping are by no means guaranteed.
"Starting February 2020, due to Covid-19 pandemic some deliveries may take 1-2 more days due to congestion at carrier networks."
When considering offering 2 day shipping, it can be less expensive if you have multiple locations because you can utilize cheaper ground shipping methods since your packages don't have to travel as far. Although multiple locations for higher percentages of 2-day shipping sounds nice, it is not for everyone.
According to our connections at Growe Network: as a general rule of thumb, if you are doing less than 3,000 orders per month you are likely going to be spending more splitting your inventory than you will save on shipping costs. After 3,000 orders per month, savings can be marginal until you are closer to 10,000 orders per month and must be weighed against the complexities of managing inventory across multiple locations.
Deliverr does make this a bit easier to split inventory by now offering the ability to forward your inventory to other locations for an additional fee. Since every product is unique, this is something to discuss with Deliverr about if/when they will split your inventory across multiple locations.
Deliverr Services
Deliverr has a very strict list of service offerings. At this time, they only offer direct-to-consumer fulfillment. That may mean Deliverr is not a good option for your brand.
Deliverr does not offer:
Returns
Shipments to FBA
Kitting
Custom Packaging
Inserts
Wholesale Fulfillment
Note: If you do need any of the above services in addition to DTC fulfillment, click here.
Deliverr's Fineprint
One big thing to note is that Deliverr does not process returns back into sellable inventory. Deliverr will accept the return but will place your inventory into unfillable inventory. Items will not be put back into sellable inventory and to remove them you are subject to removal or disposal fees. If you don’t remove them, you will be subject to Deliverr’s storage fees.
Summary
Overall, Deliverr is part of the new wave of 4PL's that consist of networks of independent warehouses! Their unique feature is the potential for 2-day delivery badges on certain selling platforms that they claim boosts conversion rates. They advertise 2-day shipping, although explicitly state that it is not guaranteed and is not generally remedied if they miss the delivery timeline. Their pricing is fairly straightforward, but the limited number of services Deliverr provides may not make them the best fit for your business.
We recommend you check sites like Reddit, TrustPilot, and Google for honest Deliverr fulfillment reviews. As always, it is best to compare many 3PLs as pricing and pricing models can vary greatly between different fulfillment centers.
If you're looking for alternatives to Deliverr, click here!
Did You Know?
The average ecommerce brand goes through at least two 3PLs before they find the right fit? Until it happens, most companies don't realize that moving to a new warehouse can be costly. It can easily add up to tens of thousands of dollars. We know you want to find the right 3PL, but focusing solely on cost is a surefire way to turn into the average ecommerce brand we just described. Don't make the same mistake the average ecommerce brand does.
If you need help comparing fulfillment centers, we've created a helpful 3PL Comparison Template that calculates your total fulfillment costs with different fulfillment partners and outputs weighted rankings based on the most important factors to you.
If you're still browsing 3PLs and have questions about fulfillment services, contact our team of experts at OTW Shipping and we can walk you through anything you may need.
We designed OTW Shipping to emulate in-house fulfillment. This means you'll have your own personal channel with direct access to our warehouse, support, and leadership.