High point
Charge for the most pallets or locations the client used at any point in the period. Recovers the cost of space you had to keep free for them.
Billing and client profitability
Bill every job. Know every client’s margin.
Stockist captures billable work as your team does it, prices it from each client’s rate card, and shows the work behind every invoice line. Month end takes hours, not days, and disputes are settled with evidence instead of credit notes.
In development
Billing is being built now. Credit holds and client accounts are available today.
How billing works in Stockist
Step 1
The work is recorded as it happens
When your team receives a pallet, stores it, picks an order or does special work, Stockist raises a billable activity for the right client at that moment. Nobody has to remember to write it down.
Step 2
It is priced from the client’s rate card
Each client has its own rate card, cloned from your standard rates and changed with an effective date, so a price rise never needs a spreadsheet.
Step 3
Finance reviews a draft, not a blank sheet
At the end of the period each client has a draft invoice. Finance looks at the exceptions, approves, and the invoice is locked. Corrections are made with credit notes, so the record always stands.
Step 4
Invoices go to your accounting package
Approved invoices are exported with VAT to your accounting package, so nobody retypes them.
Storage charged the way your contracts say
Storage is most 3PLs’ biggest line and the easiest to get wrong. Charge daily, weekly on a chosen weekday, or monthly on a chosen day or the last day of the month, using any of three methods.
Value on the day
Charge for what is in stock on a set day, such as every Monday or the last day of the month.
Part-period
Any pallet held on any day of the week or month is charged for the whole period. Common for block-stacked stock and handling-heavy clients.
Pallet charges apply to any kind of container, from UK and Euro pallets to totes. A per-location charge on the high point (to cover your building) and a per-pallet part-period charge (to cover handling) can sit on the same rate card.
Every way you price, on one rate card
Every charging unit is available to every client, so a contract never has to bend to fit the software.
- Activity-based
- A rate for each job: per pallet in, per order picked, per label, per hour of special work.
- Flat fee
- A fixed monthly charge, such as account management or a minimum spend.
- Percentage of sale
- A share of the value of each order you ship.
- Cost-plus
- Open-book pricing: your costs plus an agreed margin.
Profit by client, without the spreadsheet
Because Stockist records the work and the time it took, it can set what each client pays against what each client costs you. See margin by client, by service and by type of work, refreshed daily.
Shared costs, such as rent and indirect labour, are split by the floor space each client uses, so the client taking a quarter of your racking carries a quarter of the building.
For the owner
Which clients make money, which barely break even, and why.
For the finance manager
Evidence behind every charge, and an invoice run that takes hours.
For the account manager
A renewal conversation backed by real numbers.
Finance stays in control
Approval limits
Manual charges and credit notes above a limit need approval. Set it once, override it per client.
Gaps flagged, never blocking
If a job can’t be priced yet, the warehouse keeps working and finance sees the gap to fix before the invoice goes.
Credit holds the warehouse enforces
Put a client on hold and deliveries and despatch stop, with a polite message to the client. Available now.
Questions
What is 3PL billing software?
3PL billing software turns the work a third-party logistics business does for each client, such as storage, goods in, picking, packing and special projects, into invoices priced from that client’s rate card. Good 3PL billing captures every billable job automatically, so nothing is missed, and shows the work behind every charge.
How much revenue do 3PLs lose to unbilled work?
Vendor estimates put revenue lost to unbilled or under-billed work at between 3% and 15% for 3PLs that bill from spreadsheets or paper records. The usual causes are special work that is never written down, storage counted on the wrong day, and rate changes that never reach the invoice.
How should a 3PL charge for pallet storage?
Most UK 3PLs charge per pallet per week, measured either on the high point in the week, on a set day, or for every pallet held on any day of the period. Stockist lets each client’s rate card use whichever method its contract says, and can combine a per-location charge with a per-pallet charge on the same rate card.
When will billing be available in Stockist?
Billing is in development and arrives in stages: contracts, rate cards and storage billing first, then activity charges and accounting export, then freight, percentage-of-sale and cost-plus pricing, then profitability dashboards. Founding partners help decide the order and get each stage first.
Will Stockist put a client on hold automatically if they don’t pay?
No. Overdue invoices alert your finance manager, who decides. When finance places a credit hold, the warehouse enforces it: no new deliveries and nothing despatched, while storage carries on. Credit holds are available in Stockist today.
Tell us how you bill today
Founding partners shape how billing works before it ships, and get it first. Half price for a year, and a fixed price for two.