Since Flexport doesn't publish standard pricing, what should a mid-market Shopify brand ask for in an initial quote conversation?
Short answer
A first Flexport quote needs three things in writing: your own rates, how the $5,000 monthly minimum applies (Flexport Help Center, October 2026), and the notice and exit terms. Your own rates matter because Flexport's fulfillment fees sit in a portal rate card (Flexport Help Center, October 2026). Fee changes take effect 30 days after notice (flexport.com, October 2026).
- Where fulfillment fees live
- A rate card inside the Flexport portal"To view the fulfillment fees, navigate to the billing tab in the Flexport Portal and download your rate card"; that card "may be incorrect for discounted merchants".Source: Flexport Help Center (Flexport Omni-Channel Fulfillment Pricing Overview)
- Fee change notice
- 30 days, then accept or leaveFulfillment fee changes take effect 30 days after notice, and if a change isn't acceptable, "your only remedy is to stop using the Services".Source: Flexport (Deliverr Terms of Service for Distribution and Fulfillment Services)
- Published storage rate
- $0.81 per cubic foot per 30 daysJanuary to September; $2.40 from October to December, plus a $0.10 daily storage floor per product since 5 February 2026.Sources: Flexport Help Center (Flexport Omni-Channel Fulfillment Pricing Overview, 2026 Flexport Fulfillment Pricing FAQs)
- Monthly minimum
- $5,000 since 1 January 2026Flexport bills the gap between a month's qualifying spend and $5,000; direct-to-consumer storage doesn't count toward it.Source: Flexport Help Center (Monthly Minimum Fee)
Deploi’s call
With fulfillment fees you only see inside Flexport's portal, the negotiation is not about the rates. It is about the change clause, the minimum and the exit terms. Win those three and an ordinary rate card is survivable. Lose them and a good rate card is temporary.
WaitHold the signature until the quote shows
- Your own fulfillment rates, not the downloadable rate card, which "may be incorrect for discounted merchants" (Flexport Help Center, October 2026).
- Your slowest month's invoice in dollars, with any shortfall against the $5,000 minimum (Flexport Help Center, October 2026).
- Inventory removal timing and fees, because leaving is your only remedy when fees change (Flexport, October 2026).
BuySign with Flexport when
- Flexport and ShipBob have quoted the same twelve months side by side, as the ShipBob vs. Flexport record advises (October 2026), and Flexport still wins in your slowest month.
- Every negotiated term sits in a writing signed by both parties, which Flexport's fulfillment terms require for changes (Flexport, October 2026).
- Inbound freight and fulfillment must sit with one vendor, the case the record keeps for Flexport (October 2026).
Basis: ShipBob vs. Flexport on Shopify: Which 3PL Wins?, our Build vs. Buy decision record, scored BUY.
Why does the notice period matter more than the rate?
The notice period matters more than the rate because three Flexport pricing changes took effect between July 2025 and February 2026. Flexport began enforcing a $500 monthly minimum on 1 July 2025 and raised it to $5,000 from the start of 2026 (Supply Chain Dive, August 2025). A merchant on the Shopify Community forum wrote that Flexport announced the increase "within weeks of that taking effect" and called it "a bait and switch" (Shopify Community, August 2025). We don't adjudicate that charge.
Flexport then emailed merchants on 6 January 2026 about fulfillment rate increases that took effect on 5 February 2026 (Flexport Help Center, October 2026). Its fulfillment terms make fee changes effective "thirty (30) days after we post or send you notice". If a change isn't acceptable, "your only remedy is to stop using the Services" (Flexport, October 2026). So your protection is contractual, not competitive. The wider decision, whether Flexport adds anything for a US-domestic-only brand, comes first.
What should a brand bring to the first Flexport call?
A brand should bring the data a Flexport quote is priced on, because Flexport can't quote what you can't describe:
- Twelve months of orders, month by month, with your worst month marked.
- Units per order as a distribution, not an average, so multi-unit orders price correctly.
- Unit dimensions and weights for your top 50 stock-keeping units (SKUs). Flexport will "round item dimensions to the nearest inch during outbound item billable weight calculations" (Flexport Help Center, October 2026).
- Your catalog count and its slow-moving share, because storage carries a daily floor per product.
- Days of inventory on hand and your peak position. Storage costs $2.40 per cubic foot per 30 days from October to December, against $0.81 from January to September (Flexport Help Center, October 2026).
- Return rate, kitting, inserts and custom packaging. When a brand actually needs kitting is its own decision.
- Ship-to zone mix, plus any wholesale or retailer orders.
Which line items should the Flexport quote spell out?
The Flexport quote should spell out every line that Flexport's pricing overview leaves to your account, because Flexport publishes some fees and not others:
| Line item | What Flexport publishes | What to get in writing |
|---|---|---|
| Fulfillment | A rate card inside the Flexport portal | Your per-order rate on your own order profile |
| Receiving | Included in base domestic fulfillment rates | What counts as standard receiving, and the fee for the rest |
| Storage | $0.81 per cubic foot per 30 days, January to September; $2.40, October to December; $0.10 minimum per product a day | Whether any of it counts toward the minimum |
| Long-term storage | $6.90 per cubic foot per 30 days after 365 days | When the 365-day clock starts |
| Card processing | 3% on card and PayPal payments, 4% on international PayPal; no fee on bank deposits | The terms allow PayPal fees up to 5.0% |
| Monthly minimum | $5,000; direct-to-consumer storage excluded | The offset list for your account, and your slowest month's invoice |
| Fee changes | Effective 30 days after notice; leaving is the only remedy | Any longer notice or price hold, signed by both parties |
| Exit | Inventory removal fees in the pricing overview | Release timing and cost for all of your stock |
Which three questions reveal more than the rate card?
Three questions reveal more than the rate card, because each one turns a contract term into dollars:
- "Which of these lines changed in the last 24 months, and by how much?" Flexport's minimum went from $500 to $5,000 within six months of the $500 minimum starting (Supply Chain Dive, August 2025). So the change history predicts more than today's number.
- "What does my invoice look like in my slowest month?" That forces the minimum into the open as a dollar figure rather than a clause. The store size at which Flexport's minimum stops biting shows the month-by-month test.
- "What is the exit process for my inventory, and who pays for it?" Flexport's fulfillment terms let you cancel "at any time" with a cancellation request (Flexport, October 2026). Your stock still has to leave the warehouse, so get removal timing and fees in writing before you sign.
Should a brand run the same brief past ShipBob?
Yes: a brand should run the brief it gives Flexport past ShipBob and every other shortlisted third-party logistics (3PL) provider, because a comparison only holds when every vendor quotes the same data. ShipBob is also quote-only: "All quotes are customized for each customer" (ShipBob, October 2026). Our ShipBob vs. Flexport record says to get both quotes in writing, with per-order, pick, storage, minimum-term and cancellation terms side by side (October 2026). Use the same twelve months of orders and the same assumptions for both, or the comparison means nothing.
What won't Deploi publish about Flexport pricing, and why?
Deploi won't publish a typical monthly total for Flexport or any quote-only third-party logistics (3PL) provider, because no public fulfillment rate card exists to build one from. Flexport's Rate and Quote Terms, which apply to "any Flexport entity providing services", tell customers to "keep all rate sheets and quote(s) confidential" (Flexport, October 2026). So customers who accept a Flexport quote under those terms agree to keep it confidential, and a benchmark would need exactly those quotes. A "typical" figure built from assumed rates would carry our name and nobody's data. Your own twelve months, quoted by both vendors, produce a real number; a benchmark would produce a comfortable one.
Deploi’s point of view
Our own position, from building on Shopify. Kept apart from the sourced facts above.
- Where we disagree
- Procurement advice for third-party logistics fixates on cost per order. Cost per order is the most negotiable line and the least stable one. The terms that decide three-year cost are the minimum and the notice period, and Flexport's fulfillment terms set that notice at 30 days, with leaving as the only remedy.
- What we add to every quote comparison (Deploi judgment)
- The slowest month, the minimum and the surcharge schedule. A comparison without those three compares headline rates, which is the part of a quote that matters least over three years.
- What this page adds
- The parent asks whether Flexport adds anything for a US-domestic-only brand. This page is the next step for a brand still pricing Flexport: what to bring to the first call, which line items Flexport publishes and which need a written quote, and the fulfillment terms (fee changes 30 days after notice, changes signed by both parties) that decide three-year cost.
Decision records behind this answer
When this answer changes
- Flexport changes its fee schedule, its 30-day notice term or its $5,000 minimum.
- Flexport publishes its fulfillment rate card outside the portal.
- Flexport changes its storage rates or the $0.10 daily storage floor per product.
- ShipBob publishes rates instead of quoting every customer.
Related questions
- What Shopify plan or store size does a merchant typically need before Flexport becomes a realistic fulfillment option?
Flexport fulfillment needs no particular Shopify plan; its gate is a $5,000 monthly minimum spend, billed as the shortfall since 1 January 2026 (Flexport Help Center, October 2026).
- What is kitting in a 3PL context, and when does a Shopify brand actually need it versus just selling components separately?
Kitting is the assembly of several stock-keeping units (SKUs) into one unit by a third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse, ahead of orders or at pick time.
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. Official and vendor pages are checked on the date shown; Deploi records are our own published decisions.
- Flexport Help Center, Monthly Minimum Fee
- Flexport, Deliverr Terms of Service for Distribution and Fulfillment Services
- Flexport Help Center, Flexport Omni-Channel Fulfillment Pricing Overview
- Flexport Help Center, 2026 Flexport Fulfillment Pricing FAQs
- Supply Chain Dive, Flexport ups monthly minimum fee for fulfillment customers
- Shopify Community, Flexport (SFN) to charge $5,000 monthly as of 2026
- Flexport, Rate and Quote Terms and Conditions
- ShipBob, ShipBob Pricing: ShipBob's Outsourced Fulfillment Service Costs
- Deploi Build vs. Buy, ShipBob vs. Flexport on Shopify: Which 3PL Wins?