Is this a warehouse management system?
No. Courier Billing doesn't run pick, pack or stock. It's for the shipping recharge: courier costs in, client charges out, with margin in between.
3PL billing software for the shipping recharge
Storage and pick already have a process. Shipping often doesn't. Courier Billing is for the bit where carrier costs have to become client charges, with a margin you can see.
Recharging shipping is its own billing job
A 3PL already invoices for space, labour and sometimes packaging. Those lines are usually under your control. Shipping isn't. The courier decides the cost. The client agreement decides the charge. Your job is to join the two without spending the week in a spreadsheet.
The warehouse system knows the order. The courier invoice knows the cost. The client invoice is a third thing, with its own rates. Twenty clients and more than one courier, and that third thing is where the week goes.
This isn't a WMS. It won't tell a picker where to walk. It takes courier billing data, applies each client's shipping arrangement, and gives you a draft you can invoice from.
How this usually goes wrong
One client has a clean national tariff, clear weight breaks, fuel agreed. Easy to bill — until a surcharge arrives that the original quote never mentioned.
Another negotiated something awkward. Different zone mix, a higher break, extra charges that have to appear as their own lines. Their invoice can't look like the first client's.
A third is growing quickly. The recharge still goes out, but nobody is sure about the margin on the transport. Only that the vans went out.
Then there's overflow, a specialist service, or a second carrier for a region. The client still wants one shipping recharge. You still need both costs.
Different clients, different shipping rates
Fulfilment contracts rarely copy the courier tariff. Some clients want a simple recharge plus a handling fee you already bill elsewhere. Others want a marked-up shipping invoice that looks like they have their own carrier account.
Courier Billing holds pricing per customer. Service, zone, weight band, POD, fuel and extra charges can all differ. You choose which charges appear on the invoice the client receives.
- Multiple clients on their own rates
- More than one courier in the same run
- Fuel and extra charges where the agreement says so
- Draft review before the recharge is sent
See the margin on the transport, not only the warehouse
Storage can look healthy while shipping is quietly losing money. If the recharge is a rough average, you won't see that until the courier bill is much larger than the shipping income.
Once the courier file is in and the client rates are applied, you can see revenue, courier cost, gross profit and margin. Look at it by customer and courier. See consignments that don't match a rate, or have no cost attached.
Parcel brokers need the same picture. You need it for a different reason: shipping is a recharge on top of a fulfilment contract, and it has to stay under control as volumes grow.
Invoices clients will actually pay
Fulfilment clients notice shipping lines. If the recharge is late, or the file doesn't match what they thought they agreed, it becomes a credit-note conversation.
You review the draft first. Unmatched rates stay at £0 until you confirm them. Then you export an Excel pack from your template. Same invoicing path, used here for shipping recharges rather than a broker's parcel book.
Questions
Questions from 3PLs
Can each client have a different shipping tariff?
Yes. Pricing is per customer. One client on a tight national rate, another on a different zone mix, a third with fuel treated differently. That's normal.
What do clients receive?
An Excel invoice pack from your template, after you've reviewed the draft. You still post it into accounts yourselves.
We already invoice storage and pick. Why not leave shipping in Excel?
You can, while volume is small. Shipping files grow faster than storage lines. They come with surcharges, weight breaks and more than one courier. That's the part that usually outgrows the workbook.
Get the shipping recharge out of the side spreadsheet.
Book a demo and bring a courier file and a couple of client rate cards. We'll show the billing run from there.