A wholesale shipment is a small number of heavy boxes going to a business address that is open during working hours. A DTC shipment is a large number of light parcels going to homes. Almost every difference in how you ship follows from that one sentence.
The first practical consequence is that your Shopify shipping rates are no longer the right tool. A rate table built around a single-candle mailer will either undercharge you badly on a five-case order or quote something absurd that kills the sale.
Parcel or freight, and where the line sits
There are two ways a wholesale order leaves your building, and the boundary between them is roughly the point where a courier stops being cheaper than a pallet.
Parcel means your normal carriers, one tracking number per carton. It suits orders up to about six or eight cartons, each under thirty kilograms, going to an address with a door someone can carry a box through. Almost every first stockist order is a parcel shipment.
Freight, usually less-than-truckload, means your cartons go on a pallet and the pallet travels with other people's pallets. It suits anything from about half a pallet upward, anything too heavy to hand-carry, and anything going to a warehouse with a loading dock. Freight is quoted on weight, dimensions and distance, plus accessorial charges for the things that make a delivery harder.
The trap is the middle. Ten cartons by parcel can cost more than the same ten cartons on a pallet, and four cartons on a pallet costs far more than four parcels. Quote both whenever an order sits between five and fifteen cartons; the answer flips depending on distance and how heavy your product is.
The accessorial charges nobody warns you about
Freight quotes look cheap until the invoice arrives with extras on it. These are the ones that catch small brands shipping to independent shops.
- Liftgate. The shop has no dock, so the truck needs a hydraulic tail to get the pallet to the ground.
- Residential or limited access. A boutique on a high street, a studio, a market stall — all of these can be classed as awkward, and none of them feel residential to you.
- Inside delivery. The driver puts it through the door instead of leaving it on the pavement.
- Appointment. The shop wants to be told when to expect it.
- Reweigh and reclass. The carrier measures your pallet, finds it bigger than you declared, and rebills the difference.
The last one is entirely preventable and it is the most common. Measure and weigh the built pallet, not your estimate of it, and declare that. The dimensions you worked out when you designed your case pack packaging are the starting point, but the wrap and the pallet itself add height and weight.
Who pays: the three arrangements
Every wholesale relationship picks one of three, and it belongs in writing before the first order.
| Arrangement | Who pays | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Prepaid and added | You ship, freight goes on the invoice | Most independent accounts |
| Collect | The shop's carrier collects from you | Chains with their own freight programme |
| Freight included | You absorb it into the price | Orders over a stated threshold |
Prepaid and added is the sane default for a small brand. You control the carrier, you control the packaging, and the cost passes through at what it actually cost rather than at a guess.
Freight included is the one that quietly destroys margin. Absorbing shipping on a two-hundred dollar order to the other side of the country can take a third of the contribution on that order. If you want to offer it as an incentive, set a threshold high enough that the order carries the cost, and say so on the line sheet. The arithmetic for that threshold is in free shipping on wholesale orders, and the underlying cost picture is in wholesale shipping cost.
Quoting freight when you do not know it yet
The order form goes out before the pallet is built, which means you are quoting before you know. Two workable approaches.
Quote a flat rate per case by zone. Work out what it costs to send one case near, medium and far, round up a little, and publish it. Buyers like knowing, you like not doing arithmetic on every order, and the averaging works out across a year provided you review the numbers each season.
Or write "freight charged at cost, estimated at ship" on the form and send the exact number with the invoice. This is more accurate and slightly less comfortable for the buyer, who is approving an unknown. It works better for heavy or bulky products where a flat rate would have to be so high it scares people.
Either way, put the chosen method in your wholesale terms so nobody is surprised.
Building a pallet that arrives intact
The first time you build a pallet you will do it wrong, so here is the short version.
Use a pallet in reasonable condition, not a broken one from behind a builder's yard. Stack cartons in interlocking layers with the heaviest at the bottom and nothing overhanging the edge, because an overhang is the first thing to get sheared off by another pallet. Keep the stack square and no taller than the carrier's limit, usually somewhere near a hundred and eighty centimetres including the pallet.
Then wrap, properly: start below the top deck boards so the load is tied to the pallet, spiral up with each turn overlapping the last by half, come back down, and do enough turns that the load does not shift when you push it. Corner boards are worth it for anything fragile.
Label the pallet on two sides with the destination, the order number and the carton count, and take a photograph of the finished pallet before it leaves. That photograph settles damage claims. How the labels themselves should read is in wholesale labels.
When something arrives broken
It will, eventually, and how you handle the first one sets the tone with that account for years.
Ask the shop to note damage on the delivery paperwork before they sign, to photograph the carton before unpacking, and to tell you within a stated window — three business days is reasonable and belongs in your terms. Then replace it quickly and argue with the carrier afterwards, on your own time. A shop that has to wait for your claim to settle before getting stock is a shop that finds another brand.
Keep the claim paperwork anyway. Carriers pay out on documented claims with photographs and a signed delivery note, and they decline almost everything else. If the same lane keeps producing damage, the answer is usually packaging rather than carrier.
When to hand shipping to somebody else
Doing this yourself is right at the start. It teaches you what things actually cost, and nobody else will care about your first ten accounts.
The signals that it is time to stop are consistent: you are shipping more than a handful of wholesale orders a week, pallets are becoming normal rather than exceptional, or the packing is happening at night after the rest of the work. At that point a warehouse partner pays for itself, and choosing one is its own decision — a 3PL for wholesale orders goes through it.
If you are still building the account list that generates this shipping in the first place, paste your product link into WholesalePilot and look at the preview of retailers and distributors that stock similar products. Shipping problems are a good problem, and they start with orders.
Questions brands ask about wholesale shipping
Can I use my Shopify shipping rates for wholesale orders? Not the same ones. Set up separate rates tied to your wholesale customers, or leave shipping off the order and add it at invoicing.
Should I ship wholesale orders with the same carrier I use for DTC? For parcels, usually yes, and your existing volume discount helps. For freight you will need a different account or a broker.
What is a reasonable lead time to quote? Count production, packing and transit separately, then add a buffer. Ten to fifteen business days from payment is normal for a small brand and buyers plan around it happily when you hit it.
Do I need a pallet jack? If you build more than one pallet a month and your building has a level entrance, yes. They are cheap and the alternative is a bad back.