The two lines you should pay for
Space occupied
What you pay to keep your goods in the warehouse. It is measured per pallet, per shelf or per square metre depending on the product, and billed on the space you actually use each month. If your sales are seasonal, the space goes down when your stock does.
Order prepared
What you pay every time an order ships: locating the SKUs, checking quantities, packing and labelling. It should include the quality check and standard packaging material. A clear per-order price lets you know your margin before you sell.
What drives the price most: where the warehouse is
Warehouse rent is a 3PL's largest fixed cost, and it is spread across the space billed to its clients. That is why fulfillment pricing changes so much depending on where the warehouse sits:
| Where the warehouse is | Rent per m² per month | What it means for your rate |
|---|---|---|
| Barcelona (Zona Franca, Baix Llobregat) | €9.25 (prime rent, end of 2025) | The most expensive logistics land in Spain, spread across your orders |
| Madrid (Henares corridor, south) | €7.25 | Second most expensive, and far from the Mediterranean ports |
| Valencia (Ribarroja) | €5.65 | Cheaper than the two capitals, but still a metropolitan park |
| Mediterranean corridor (Camp de Tarragona, Plana de Castellón) | €3.50 to €3.85 | Less than half of Barcelona, with the same AP-7 motorway at the door |
Sources and detail in the Spanish guide on logistics land prices on the Mediterranean corridor. The reading is simple: a provider in Madrid or Barcelona starts from more than double the space cost of one on the corridor, and that surcharge buys nothing. The motorway is the same and toll-free, the carriers are the same, and so is delivery time to mainland Spain.
Our warehouses are on the corridor, not in a metropolitan park, and that difference goes into your rate. Request a quote with your product and monthly orders and we will send it in writing, with a fixed price per pallet and per order.
What makes a fulfillment quote expensive
| Line | What it is | How we handle it |
|---|---|---|
| Setup fee | Upfront payment to "configure" your account | None |
| Monthly minimum | Minimum billing even if you do not sell | None |
| Lock-in | 6 or 12 month contract with a penalty | Month to month, no penalty |
| Handling surcharge | Percentage on top of shipping or on the order | Shipping at carrier rate, no surcharge |
| Per-carton inbound | Fee for every carton received | Included in the quote according to volume |
| Extra picks | Fee for every unit beyond the first | Itemised in the quote, no surprises |
How to compare with what you pay today
The usual mistake is to compare the warehouse's per-order price with "zero", because today you pack orders yourself and never invoice it. Your real cost has four parts:
- Space. The rent of the unit, or the share of your home or shop taken up by stock.
- Materials. Boxes, filler, tape, labels, printer, ink.
- Hours. Yours or your staff's, at their real cost. The part nobody counts and the largest.
- Errors. Wrong items, reshipments, returns due to poor packaging and customers who do not come back.
Add the four and divide by your monthly orders. That is the number to put next to the quote. If you ship into Spain from abroad, add cross-border transit and customs on top.
What brings the price down
- A warehouse outside the metropolitan parks. The biggest cost difference between providers, as the table above shows.
- Ambient-temperature product. Cold storage multiplies the cost; we do not run frozen or chilled, which keeps the rate low for everything else.
- Packaging agreed upfront. Defining box, filler and extras avoids variable per-order costs.
- Carrier chosen by destination. No carrier is cheap everywhere; switching per order saves on shipping. We do it with transport rules in Docklane, by weight, destination and urgency.
See how a 3PL warehouse in Spain works for EU brands, or, if you sell on Shopify, Shopify fulfillment in Spain.