3PL Selection Checklist: What New Brands Need To Score Before Signing

In this article, learn about: 

• How to turn the standard 3PL vetting questions into a helpful checklist 

• What to put in a fee audit before you compare quotes 

• Which EDI capabilities to confirm before signing 

When you sign with a 3PL, they handle the physical work of storing and shipping your product, but the retailer will still hold you accountable when something goes wrong. If an order ships late or a shipping notice doesn't match what actually went out, the retailer's chargeback goes to you, not to your 3PL.  

Score Accountability and Data Capability Before You Sign 

Accountability and data capability determine whether you know what's happening to your inventory once it's in someone else's warehouse or whether you find out only after a problem reaches your retailer. Score each 3PL candidate on these questions: 

• Does the 3PL confirm shipments and inventory counts electronically, on a fixed schedule, rather than by email or phone? 

• Can you see their inventory data yourself, in your own systems, without logging into a separate portal? 

• Do they proactively flag discrepancies before you find them in a retailer chargeback? 

• Will they commit to a written service level for order accuracy and on-time shipping, with real numbers from the last 90 days? 

True Brands added a 3PL for its Walmart business and automated data flow between the two systems, eliminating manual entry on more than $5 million in annual orders and cutting the chargebacks that used to arrive months after the fact with no record to dispute them. Score each candidate 1 to 5 on the four questions above before moving to fees. 

Related Reading: Choosing a 3PL: What New Brands Need to Know Before Signing 

Audit the Fee Schedule Before You Compare Quotes 

Sales conversations tend to cover the base rate. Invoices tend to include the fees that weren't mentioned in that conversation, like accessorial charges for oversized items or extra handling on returns.  

Use the table below as a template: leave it blank for now, then fill in a fresh copy for every quote you get, using the provider's actual rate sheet rather than their summary pitch. 

Liability caps, shrinkage allowances, and contract termination clauses vary by provider and carry real financial exposure. Take those specific terms to your own counsel before signing, the same way you would with any vendor contract. 

Confirm These EDI Capabilities on the Call 

If a 3PL can't exchange shipping and inventory data with your systems electronically, someone on your team will end up re-entering that data by hand, which is slower and more error-prone, and the errors are what generate retailer chargebacks. Ask a first-time buyer's version of these directly, and expect a yes or no, not a maybe: 

• EDI 940 (warehouse shipping order): Does the 3PL accept this from your system automatically? 

• EDI 945 (warehouse shipping advice): Do they send this back to confirm a shipment, so you can generate an accurate ASN? 

• EDI 846 (inventory inquiry and advice): Is this real time, or updated once a day? 

• Inventory visibility: Can you check stock levels 24/7 from your own dashboard, or do you have to call and ask? 

If a provider says no to any of these, ask what they do instead. A common answer is manual data entry by their staff, which reintroduces the same error risk you're trying to eliminate. Ask who is responsible for catching those errors before they reach your retailer. 

Check Who Owns the 3PL, and What Happens if They Sell 

This criterion is missing from most vetting checklists, and it matters more this year than in past cycles. According to Capstone Partners' June 2026 3PL market update, 3PL merger and acquisition activity is up 20% year over year, and the top nine 3PL companies now control roughly half of total market share. Two of 2026's largest deals illustrate why: Thoma Bravo's roughly $5 billion acquisition of WWEX Group, merged into its Auctane logistics-technology platform, and Echo Global Logistics' acquisition of ITS Logistics, creating a combined platform with an estimated $5.2 billion in pro forma revenue. Capstone Partners reads the motive behind these deals as a push to control data, workflow, and the customer-facing technology layer, not simply to add trucks and warehouse space. 

That matters to you because the 3PL you sign with can become part of a different company within twelve months. When that happens, your account may move to a new team, your pricing may be renegotiated, or the technology features you were relying on may get deprioritized in favor of integrating with the acquirer's systems. Before you sign, ask directly: What happens to my account if you're acquired? Who owns the roadmap for the systems I'm relying on? Has this happened to you before, and how did it go for your existing clients? 

Score Your Options With a Simple Weighted Rubric 

Once you have three to five quotes, assign each criterion a weight from 1 to 5 based on how much it matters to your business, score every candidate 1 to 5 on that criterion, then multiply the weight by the score to get the weighted score for that row. 

A high total score doesn't automatically make a candidate the right choice. If one candidate scores very low on a criterion that's non-negotiable for your business, such as EDI capability for a retailer that requires it, that low score should rule them out regardless of how the total compares to other candidates. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Should I switch 3PLs if my current one can't pass this checklist? 

Not automatically. Score your current provider the same way you'd score a new one. If the gaps are in areas like EDI capability or fee transparency, and those gaps stem from something fixable, like a setting your current provider hasn't turned on, raise it directly before assuming a switch is necessary. 

How much weight should ownership stability get in the scoring rubric? 

There's no universal number. A brand that depends on a 3PL's proprietary technology, such as a custom inventory dashboard, should weight ownership stability higher than a brand using the 3PL mainly for basic storage and pick and pack, where switching providers later would be less disruptive. 

Ready to Keep the Data Moving After You Sign? 

Whichever 3PL scores highest on your rubric, that score only holds up if the data connecting your systems, your 3PL, and your retailers stays accurate as your order volume grows. SPS Fulfillment / EDI automates that data exchange, so the accountability and EDI capability you scored a candidate on continue to hold up after you sign.