Understanding 3PL Billing Rate Types

Understanding 3PL Billing Rate Types

There are different billing rate types used in Packiyo when setting up billing rate cards. Each rate type defines how warehouse activity is converted into billable costs for clients.


Common Fields

The fields below are included on most billing rate types:
  1. Active – Enables or disables the rate. Inactive rates are excluded from invoice calculations but remain available for historical reference.
  2. Name (Internal reference only) – Display name used internally for Packiyo. This name does not appear on client invoices.
  3. Invoice Code – Short code displayed on the invoice line item. Use this to align charges with your accounting system or contract line items.
  4. If no other rate of this type applies… - Designates the rate as the fallback for its type and will catch any items from that charge type that may have fallen outside of the specific setup for that rate.

Ad Hoc  

What it's for: Custom or one-off charges that fall outside of the Shipping, Picking, Storage & Packaging rate types. Examples include special projects, rework, or manual labor charges.

How it's charged:
  1. Ad Hoc charges from logged work activities are automatically included on the invoice based on the date range applied
  2. Admins can manually add Ad Hoc charges after an invoice has been generated and processing complete
Fields
  1. Active – See common fields
  2. Name – See common fields
  3. Description (Internal reference only) – Free-text notes to describe the purpose of the charge. This does not appear on the invoice.
  4. Invoice Code – See common fields
  5. Charged By – Unit used to calculate the charge. Options include:
    1. Hours – billed hourly
    2. Orders – billed per order touched
    3. Purchase Orders – billed per PO touched
    4. Units – billed per unit or item
  6. Fee – Amount charged per selected unit in Charged By

Shipping  

What it's for: Charges applied per shipping label generated and used to recover carrier costs with the option to apply a markup.

How it's charged: Once per shipping label, based on the configured matching criteria.

Fields:
  1. Active, Name, Invoice Code – See common fields
  2. If no other rate of this type applies… – See common fields
  3. Generic Shipping – Applies to shipments without a specific carrier or method that have Generic shipping set as the shipping method (orders or shipments without a label).
  4. Shipping Carriers – Select which carriers, and optionally which specific methods within those carriers, the rate applies to.
    1. Quick note: Click the fraction under a carrier name to select or deselect individual shipping methods.
  5. If Order is Tagged – Only applies when the order includes one or more of the listed tags. Used for special handling or premium service tiers.
  6. If Order is Not Tagged – Applies only when the order does not include any of the listed tags. Used to exclude certain order types from a general rate.
  7. Include flat fee charge – Adds a fixed fee to every matching label when enabled
  8. Flat Fee – Fixed dollar amount charged per matching label. Only applies when Include flat fee charge is enabled.
  9. Percentage Fee (of label cost) – Applies a percentage markup to the carrier label cost. Enter the total percentage to charge:
    1. 100 = covers the carrier cost only
    2. 110 = 10% markup
    3. 120 = 20% markup
The flat fee and percentage fee can be combined.


Picking 

What it's for: Charges based on the picking effort required to fulfill an order, such as item count, number of SKUs, and quantity tiers. Used to bill for the labor involved in order assembly.

How it's charged: Once per order, based on the order's pick profile at time of fulfillment.

Fields:
  1. Active, Name, Invoice Code – See common fields
  2. If no other rate of this type applies… – See common fields
  3. Product has tags / Product does not have tags – Applies based on whether the order includes (or does not include) products with the specified tags. Used to vary pricing by product (for example oversized, fragile, hazmat).
  4. Order has tags / Order does not have tags – Applies based on order-level tags (for example, priority orders, B2B orders).
  5. Base order price – Flat amount charged per matching order. Only applied when Use base order price is enabled.
  6. Use base order price – Enables the Base order price above.
  7. Fees table – Defines tiered pricing based on picking effort:
  8. First item – Fee for the first item picked on the order
  9. 1st item of additional SKUs – Fee applied the first time each additional SKU is picked. Enable the checkbox to activate this tier.
  10. Pick range rows (Add Fee) – Tiered fees based on quantity ranges (for example, items 2–5 at one rate, items 6–10 at another). Add as many ranges as needed.
  11. Rest of the items – Per-item fee applied to any remaining items not covered by the defined ranges

Storage  

What it's for: Charges for inventory stored in the warehouse during the billing period. Used to recover the cost of shelf, pallet, or bin space.

How it's charged: Calculated per occupied location type over the selected date range.

Fields:
  1. Active, Name, Invoice Code – See common fields
  2. If no other rate of this type applies… – See common fields
  3. No Location Type – Applies to inventory in locations that have no lwithout an assigned location type. Useful as a catch-all for uncategorized storage.
  4. Assigned Location Types – Select one or more location types the rate applies to. Rates are typically tiered by location type to reflect different storage costs.
  5. Fee – Amount charged per occupied location, per cycle.
  6. Cycle – Defines how often the storage fee is applied:
    1. Day – Charged for each day a location type is occupied during the billing period
    2. Week – Charged per week of occupancy
    3. Month – Charged per month of occupancy

Packaging  

What it's for: Charges for packaging used when shipping the client's orders.

How it's charged: Once per shipment, based on the packaging used.

Fields:
  1. Active, Name, Invoice Code – See common fields
  2. If no other rate of this type applies… – See common fields
  3. Custom Package (where enabled) – Applies to shipments packed using a customer-supplied or custom package instead of a standard box or mailer.
  4. Selected Package(s) – Select the specific shipping packaging types this rate applies to.
    1. Quick note: Click the fraction under a package name to select or deselect individual packages.
  5. If Order is Tagged / If Order is Not Tagged – Applies based on whether the order includes (or does not include) the specified tags.
  6. Include flat fee charge – Adds a fixed fee to every matching shipment when enabled.
  7. Flat Fee – Fixed dollar amount charged per matching shipment. Only applies when Include flat fee charge is enabled.
  8. Percentage Fee (of box cost) –  Applies a percentage-based markup to the packaging cost. Enter the total percentage to charge:
    1. 100 = covers the packaging cost only
    2. 105 = 5% markup
    3. 115 = 15% markup

Related Articles/Helpful Links
  1. Setting Up Billing Rate Cards
  2. Generate, Recalculate and Finalize Invoices