Shopify Fulfilment Pricing in South Africa — What Does 3PL Actually Cost?
TL;DR: JLog’s e-commerce fulfilment pricing scales with your volume — a transparent monthly service fee, plus itemised handling, with no setup fees, no minimums and no lock-in. A typical Shopify store doing 200 orders/month pays R4,500 in monthly service fees, plus pick & pack and courier billed at cost. The headline cost is the tier; pick & pack and courier are itemised on top so you always know what you’re paying for. For most stores the fulfilment-only portion is less than what they pay PayFast or PayGate in transaction fees.
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E-commerce fulfilment — we plug into your store and dispatch from Cape Town
Shopify, WooCommerce, Takealot — drop your store URL, platform and monthly volume and we’ll come back inside 4 business hours with a tier appropriate to your stage. Pricing is ongoing-relationship, not piece-by-piece.
Get an e-commerce fulfilment quote
Shopify, WooCommerce, Takealot — we plug into your store and dispatch from Cape Town.
What “Shopify Fulfilment” Actually Means
Shopify manages your storefront, takes orders, and processes payments. Fulfilment is everything after the order is placed: picking the item, packing it, labelling it, and handing it to a courier. Shopify itself does not fulfil orders in South Africa — you either do it yourself or use a 3PL that integrates with your Shopify store.
JLog Pricing — Tiered Service Fee, Itemised Handling
JLog’s pricing is built around a monthly service fee that scales with your volume, billed separately from pick & pack, storage, and courier so nothing is hidden:
Monthly Service Fee (the headline price)
| Orders per month | Service fee (ZAR) |
|---|---|
| 0–50 | R2,000 |
| 51–100 | R3,500 |
| 101–200 | R4,500 |
| 201–500 | R5,500 |
| 500+ | priced on request |
Itemised, Billed Separately
- Pick & pack: R15 per order (+R5 per additional item).
- Storage: R250 per unit per month (0-20 units), stepping down to R220 (21-60) and R200 (61+), or R300 per shelf. All VAT-inclusive.
- Courier: actual cost + 10%. You always pay the real carrier rate, never a marked-up parcel fee.
- Returns: R30 processing + courier + 10%.
- International orders: +15%.
No setup fees. No minimums. Month-to-month, 30 days notice if you want to leave.
Real Example: 200 Orders per Month
A Shopify store doing 200 orders/month, average 0.5kg, 80% Cape Town + 20% Gauteng, on 1 pallet of storage:
- Service fee (101–200 tier): R4,500
- Pick & pack (200 single-item orders × R15): R3,000
- Storage (1 pallet × R150): R150
- Courier (200 × actual cost + 10%): billed at cost, varies by carrier and destination
The fulfilment-only portion (R4,500 service fee + R3,000 pick & pack + R150 storage = R7,650) is typically less than what the same store pays in PayFast or PayGate transaction fees on the same orders. The big cost in e-commerce fulfilment is the courier; the operational handling is small.
Courier Rate Reference
| Destination | Courier | Typical Rate (0.5kg) | Transit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Town metro | Bob Go / Courier Guy | from R65 (billed at actual cost + 10%) | Next business day |
| Johannesburg / Pretoria | Bob Go | R75–R110 | 1–2 business days |
| Durban | Bob Go | R75–R110 | 1–2 business days |
| Rest of South Africa | Bob Go | R90–R140 | 2–3 business days |
| UK / Europe | FedEx / DHL | R650–R950 | 3–5 business days |
| USA / Canada | FedEx | R750–R1,100 | 4–7 business days |
All courier rates billed at actual cost + 10% on your monthly invoice. International orders carry an additional +15% margin on the service component for the extra paperwork and customs handling.
What’s NOT Charged
- Setup / onboarding: none.
- Minimum monthly spend: none — the Starter tier covers 0–50 orders at R2,000.
- Shopify and WooCommerce integration: included.
- Lock-in: none — month-to-month, 30 days notice if you want to leave.
How Shopify Integration Works with JLog
- Connect your Shopify store to JLog via API — typically 30 minutes with our onboarding team. You provide your Shopify API credentials (generated in your Shopify admin); we configure the rest. No plugins to install, no developer work on your side.
- Orders appear automatically in JLog’s fulfilment dashboard.
- Orders placed before 11am are dispatched same day.
- JLog picks the item, packs it (standard, branded, or custom), applies the shipping label, and hands it to the courier.
- Tracking numbers are pushed back to Shopify automatically — your customer gets a dispatch notification with live tracking.
- Inventory levels sync in real time between JLog’s warehouse and your Shopify store. When stock runs low, you see it in your Shopify admin and know when to reorder.
Zero manual CSV exports. Zero spreadsheet errors. Zero order-entry mistakes.
Get a custom quote — we reply within 4 business hours: info@jlog.co.za | 021 300 6099
JLog (JetLog Pty Ltd) — Unit 12C, Nearby Industrial Park, 10 Railway Street, Woodstock, Cape Town, 7925. No contracts. No minimum volumes.