Two Steps Forward Logistics

Leave the heavy lifting to us 💪

Running an eCommerce brand is hard enough without the stress of storage, packing, and shipping. Our Melbourne 3PL warehouse takes care of the logistics so you can focus on growing your brand.

From secure storage and fast order fulfilment to reliable shipping across Australia - we’ve got your back. Whether you’re scaling up or just starting out, our local team makes fulfilment simple, efficient, and stress-free.

Ready to free up your time and scale smarter?
DM us or visit our site to see how we can support your eCommerce business.

The brands ready for November decided in July.

Peak and holiday returns run well above the annual average. Not a little above — meaningfully above. And a returns process that holds up on a normal week can fall apart completely when volume doubles and the team is already stretched.

What "not being ready" actually looks like: customers chasing refunds that aren't processing. Returned stock not making it back to the shelf during the exact period when demand is highest. Margin walking out the door because the system wasn't built for the load.

We had a client who sold on a "limited stock / no restock" model — selling out of new releases within minutes. When returns came back in, they couldn't relist without damaging the brand's limited-edition positioning. The fix came from understanding their customers' buying habits and restructuring the model. Returned items now sell to customers who missed out the first time. Revenue up. Holding costs down.

That kind of decision doesn't get made in December. It gets made in the quiet months, with time to think it through.

Capacity, grading rules, restock speed, return data — sorted ahead of time. A returns process you only think about under pressure isn't a process. It's a gap waiting for peak season to expose it.

If "we'll sort returns when it gets busy" is the current plan, that's the gap.
Worth a conversation now, not in November.

Most 3PLs will say yes to everything. The difference shows up when you ask for the specifics.

Reverse logistics is one of the most under-scrutinised parts of a 3PL contract.
Brands ask about dispatch times, pick accuracy, storage costs. Far fewer ask how often returns get processed, what reporting comes back, or what the 3PL actually does when something can't be resold.

The questions that matter: How fast does returned stock get back to sellable? Days sitting uninspected is cash frozen. Do they inspect and grade returns daily — or batch them at the end of the week? Can they handle your peak-period returns spike, not just your average week? What data do you get back on return reasons, by SKU? And is reverse logistics a designed service, or something bolted onto the outbound operation?

Most 3PLs will tell you they handle it all. Before you believe them, ask for evidence — how often, what process, what reporting format, and what it costs when an item can't go back to stock.

Get the details before you sign. The brands that treat returns as a designed system before they choose a partner are the ones who don't find out at peak what the gaps were.

Save this before your next 3PL conversation.

We wrote the full version — what to actually verify before you hand over reverse logistics. Link in comments.

8.3 days average delivery time down to 2.5. That's not a tweak — that's a different operation.

Before TSF, this brand was dispatching every 3–4 business days. Domestic delivery was taking up to 8 days. Customers were waiting. Repeat purchase was being quietly eroded by an experience that felt slow and unpredictable.

After onboarding: dispatch under 24 hours. Most orders delivered in 1–2 business days. Shipping costs down 27%.

What changed wasn't effort — it was infrastructure. Dedicated systems enabling faster and more accurate picking. Inventory data that was actually reliable. A warehouse layout built for dispatch speed. Carrier relationships that allow more frequent freight collections throughout the day.

The result: last-mile delivery time cut by over 60%. And fast, reliable delivery became a genuine commercial point of difference for this brand — not just something that didn't cause complaints, but something that drove repeat purchase.

If your delivery times are costing you customers before they've even reordered, that's fixable, fast. DM "fulfilment" or use the link in bio.

Fashion accounts for 56% of all online returns in Australia. The brands that manage it well aren't lucky — they're built differently.

The numbers behind fashion's return rate aren't surprising once you understand the category. Customers buy multiple sizes. Colour looks different on screen. Sizing charts aren't always reliable. The result: 20–40% return rates, with some segments hitting 50%. That's not a customer service problem. It's an operational one.

What separates the brands that protect margin from the ones that bleed it is speed. Speed from return arriving at the warehouse to inspection. Speed from inspection to sellable. The longer stock sits in limbo, the more likely it gets marked down or written off rather than resold.

At TSF, we process fashion returns daily with detailed reporting on return reasons — so brands can see which SKUs are coming back, and why. That data is the difference between making operational decisions and guessing.

63% of shoppers now "bracket" — buying multiple sizes with the intention of returning the rest. Building a returns operation for your actual volume, not the volume you wish you had, is the margin decision most fashion brands haven't made yet.

We broke down why fashion sits at the top of the return charts, and what separates brands that bleed margin from ones that don't. Link in comments.

Most ecommerce brands track refunds. Almost none track the full cost of a return.
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁 $𝟭𝟬–$𝟲𝟱 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.
𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗹𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝟰𝟬% 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿.
And most of that cost sits in a column nobody's labelled.

There's a gap between what shows up in the P&L and what a return actually costs to process. Return shipping. Handling. Inspection. Restocking. Stack those up across a 20% return rate and the number is bigger than most brands want to know.

What we see when brands come to TSF: they don't yet know why customers are returning.
Size runs smaller than listed online.
Quality differs from expectation.
Product looks different to what's shown.
That information exists — it just hasn't been captured.
And without it, you can't reduce the rate.
You can only absorb the cost.

The new financial year is the right moment to make this visible.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗼𝗻𝗲: know your actual return rate, landed cost included.
𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝘁𝘄𝗼: know what's normal for your category.

We wrote up what counts as a normal return rate by industry.
Link in comments.

Most 3PL contract problems show up months after signing.

The costs brands do not expect are rarely in the headline rate. They are in the cost schedule — reworking fees when stock arrives unlabelled, receiving surcharges for unexpected deliveries, minimum order or storage commitments that carry penalties when not met.

Before you sign, get clarity on four things: what the SLAs actually cover (and how the 3PL handles volume spikes), where the hidden costs are, what exit looks like, and whether the 3PL has the technology and account management to support you during peak season.

On product insurance: do not assume your stock is covered under the 3PL's policy.
TSF carries marine and public liability insurance — but not insurance for clients' products.
That responsibility sits with the brand.

A good 3PL should be transparent about all of this upfront.
If they are not, that is itself useful information.

Save this before reviewing your next 3PL agreement.

A bundle that sells well can still create a returns problem.

Subscription boxes, gift sets, and promotional packs are great for average order value. But only when the kitting process is accurate, consistent, and repeatable at scale.

The most common breakdown: no written instructions with clear visuals of the expected standard, and no quality checkpoint before the full batch is completed. By the time errors are spotted, the damage is already done.

Before any kitting run, brands need a bill of materials, clear specs for every insert and marketing material, a plan for whether pre-kitting makes sense for the launch, and a dekitting process in case components also sell individually.

At TSF, we kit in small batches, work from a visual SOP, and have a quality control officer check the first assembly before the rest of the batch proceeds. Errors are caught and corrected before the entire run is finished — not after.

Consistent kits. Accurate orders. Faster post-launch fulfilment.

If you sell bundles or subscription boxes, what matters most: speed, accuracy, or presentation?

A return does not end when the customer drops the parcel off.

It triggers receiving, inspection, stock assessment, refund processing, and a restocking decision — often all at once. For most eCommerce brands, there is no formalised process for any of that.

No designated returns area. No SOP for condition assessment. No system tracking what comes back and why. Which means returned stock sits. And sitting stock is cost.

The most pressure comes from slow refund processing. The most avoidable costs come from the absence of a clear returns policy — one that defines what is and is not an acceptable return, and makes that visible to customers before they purchase.

A well-run returns process recovers sellable stock quickly, closes refunds fast, tracks return rates per product, and generates data that helps identify quality or supplier issues before they compound.

If your returns volume increased tomorrow, would your process protect margin or create more work?