For small items on orders of £22 or more, FBT (Fulfilled by TikTok) is usually cheaper: £1.08 pick and pack plus £1.99 shipping gets a size S item delivered for £3.07 all-in, while a UK 3PL charges £1.50 to £2.20 to pick and pack at starter volume before postage even starts. A 3PL wins on bulky items, branded unboxing and multichannel stock. Updated July 2026.
What does FBT actually cost in 2026?
All rates from Z MEDIA's TikTok Shop fees guide:
Operations fee per item: £0.78 (XS), £1.08 (S), £1.80 (M), £3.00 (L).
Shipping: £1.99 per order when the basket is £22 or more. Below £22 you pay £0 and the buyer pays £3.99.
Storage: from £0.24 per CBM per day, higher in peak season, and aged stock climbs to £3.15.
Returns handling: £1.80 per unit.
FBT launched in the UK in August 2023 with same day dispatch for orders placed by 7pm, Monday to Saturday.
What does a UK 3PL cost in 2026?
Per the Eightx UK 3PL cost index: pick and pack runs £0.45 to £2.20 per order, with single-item DTC orders at £1.50 to £2.20 at starter volume, falling towards £0.45 to £1.00 once you clear 10,000 orders a month. Storage is £3 to £5 per pallet per week for mid-market B2C fulfilment. Expect £2 to £6 all-in per order before postage, and postage itself is a separately negotiated carrier rate on top.
How do FBT and a 3PL compare line by line?
Cost line | FBT | Typical UK 3PL |
|---|---|---|
Pick and pack, small item | ||
Pick and pack, larger item | Same range, falling to £0.45 to £1.00 at 10,000+ orders a month | |
Outbound shipping | Carrier postage on top, negotiated separately | |
Storage | ||
Returns | Quoted separately, check the rate card | |
Packaging | Standard TikTok Shop packaging | Fully brandable |
Channels served | TikTok Shop only | All channels from one stock pool |
What do the sums look like per size?
Size S item, £25 order. FBT: £1.08 + £1.99 = £3.07 delivered. A 3PL at £1.80 pick and pack would need postage under £1.27 to match, and no tracked UK parcel service gets there at starter volume. FBT wins.
Size S item, £14.99 order. FBT charges you £0.78 to £1.08 and £0 shipping, but your buyer pays £3.99 delivery on a £14.99 basket, which suppresses conversion on impulse SKUs. The fix is bundling to clear £22, covered in our break even calculator.
Size L item, £45 order. FBT: £3.00 + £1.99 = £4.99. At scale, a 3PL picking at £0.65 to £1.00 with a negotiated carrier rate can undercut that, and bulky or irregular items often sit outside FBT's sweet spot entirely.
Storage check. A standard pallet is roughly 1.5 CBM, so FBT storage at £0.24 per CBM per day is about 1.5 × £0.24 × 7 = £2.52 per pallet-equivalent per week, against £3 to £5 at a 3PL. FBT is cheaper until stock ages: slow movers can be charged up to £3.15 per CBM per day, which is a 13x penalty. FBT rewards velocity and punishes dead stock.
When does FBT win?
XS and S items with an AOV of £22 or more: the £1.99 flat shipping is very hard to beat.
High velocity SKUs: fast stock turn keeps you at the £0.24 base storage rate.
Gold and Diamond volume tiers: FBT's seller tiers carry volume rebates that lower the effective per-item rate, per the fees guide.
Operational simplicity: same day dispatch protects your shop performance metrics, which feed the algorithm that drives affiliate, organic and paid reach.
When does a 3PL win?
Bulky items: size L at £4.99 delivered leaves room for a negotiated carrier deal to undercut it at volume.
Branded unboxing: FBT ships in standard packaging. If your repeat rate depends on the unboxing moment, that matters.
Multichannel inventory: one stock pool serving TikTok Shop, Amazon, Shopify and retail beats splitting inventory, especially with CRSSBRDR style cross-border plans in the mix.
Slow movers and seasonal ranges: 3PL storage pricing does not spike the way aged FBT stock does.
Frequently asked questions
Is FBT cheaper than a 3PL?
For XS and S items on orders of £22 or more, usually yes: £3.07 all-in delivered beats typical 3PL pick and pack plus postage at starter volume. For bulky items, multichannel stock or branded packaging, a 3PL usually wins.
What happens to FBT orders under £22?
You pay £0 shipping and the buyer pays £3.99, per the fees guide. That protects your margin but taxes conversion on low ticket impulse buys, so bundle towards £22 or more.
Does FBT affect how much TikTok Shop takes overall?
Yes. Fulfilment sits on top of the 9% commission, affiliate and ads, taking the typical all-in to 20 to 35% of GMV. The full stack is in how much does TikTok Shop take from a sale.
Can I use FBT and a 3PL together?
Yes, and many scaled sellers do: FBT for fast moving hero SKUs sold on TikTok Shop, a 3PL for everything else. Compare full platform economics in TikTok Shop fees vs Amazon FBA.
Z MEDIA plans fulfilment as part of the whole engine, affiliate, organic and paid included, as a full service TikTok Shop agency, from £5k/month. To model FBT against your current 3PL rates, book a strategy call.
About Z MEDIA: Z MEDIA is an official TikTok Partner and a founding TikTok Shop agency in the West, with $100M+ TikTok Shop GMV delivered across 300+ brands.
