Storage looks like the simplest line on a fulfillment quote. It is usually the most conditional one. Providers quote a rate per cubic meter, then bill against pallet counts, bin rentals, long term surcharges, and a monthly minimum that quietly sets the floor.

Here is how to read a storage quote, what each line means, and the six questions that turn a rate into a number you can forecast.

Storage is rarely one number

A single storage rate answers one question: what does a cubic meter cost for a month. It does not answer how the cubic meters are counted, when they are counted, or what happens when your stock sits.

A typical storage invoice, one SKU

Storage invoice, 1 SKU, 600 units on hand, 31 days

Line Basis Amount
Standard storage 1.4 m3 38.60
Pallet handling, inbound 2 pallets 24.00
Bin rental, small parts 6 bins 9.00
Long term surcharge (>180 d) 0.4 m3 22.00
Monthly minimum top up to 75.00 11.40
Cycle count, quarterly 1 SKU 5.00
------
Total 110.00

The headline rate produced 38.60 of that invoice. The other 71.40 came from lines that were never in the quote. None of them is dishonest. All of them are conditional, and conditions do not appear in a rate card.

The six lines to ask about

Measurement basis

Cubic meter, pallet, and bin are three different bases, and a provider may use all three on the same account. Ask which basis applies to your product size, and ask whether partial pallets round up.

Measurement date

A snapshot taken on the first of the month prices your peak inventory for a month you may have spent selling it down. A daily average prices what you actually held. The difference is often 20 percent.

Long term surcharges

Stock that sits past 180 or 365 days attracts a multiplier. This is the line that punishes a product that did not sell, at exactly the moment you can least afford it.

  • Ask at which day the surcharge starts.
  • Ask whether the clock resets when a unit is picked, or only when the SKU goes to zero.
  • Ask what it costs to remove the stock instead of paying the surcharge.

A monthly minimum is not a storage fee. It is a subscription with a warehouse attached.

Operations lead, ShipBee fulfillment desk

Monthly minimums

A minimum converts a variable cost into a fixed one. If your stock only occupies 30 of a 75 minimum, you are paying 45 for space you do not use, every month, including the slow ones.

Inbound handling

Receiving is separate work: unload, count, inspect, and put away. Some providers include it, some price it per pallet, and some price it per carton. Ask what a mixed carton costs, because that is what most inbound shipments actually contain.

Counting and reporting

Cycle counts keep your stock numbers honest. Ask how often they run, whether they cost extra, and how a discrepancy gets resolved. A warehouse that cannot tell you what it holds will eventually oversell your store.

What free warehousing means here

ShipBee does not charge for storage, inbound handling, or a monthly minimum. You pay per fulfilled order and nothing else, so holding depth on a product that is selling costs the same as holding it on a product that is waiting for a campaign.

Forecast the total, not the rate

Take your current inventory position and price it under the quote you are holding. Do it three times: at your slowest month, your average month, and your peak.

  1. Measure the packed volume of one unit for each of your top five SKUs.
  2. Multiply by the units you hold at each of the three points.
  3. Apply the rate, then add every conditional line the provider named.
  4. Compare the slow month total against your gross margin in that month.

A storage model that is comfortable at peak and painful in January is a model that will decide your buying for you. Find that out on a spreadsheet rather than on an invoice.

Send us your current storage invoice with the amounts removed. We will map every line to what it would cost under per-order pricing, so you can compare the two on the same inventory.