3PL (Third-Party Logistics) — Outsourced logistics provider — warehousing, fulfilment or transport run on your behalf. In e-commerce usually means a fulfilment centre that stores and ships your stock.

Why it matters to your store

A 3PL makes sense when packing consumes your day or you need inventory closer to customers. Below ~15 orders/day it's usually overhead; above ~100/day it starts paying.

This is the vocabulary every courier invoice, NDR report and rate card is written in — learn it once, save money forever.

See how →

Worked example

Ship inventory to a Bhiwandi 3PL → they pick, pack and hand to couriers → you stop packing boxes at midnight.

The bottom line

Shipping jargon is really just the billing manual in disguise — every term on this list maps to a line on an invoice or a lever on your margins. Pakka Parcel is built so you rarely have to think about it: statuses normalise, bills reconcile, and quotes already include the surcharges.