Guide · Fulfillment models
Once you rule out handing your suppliers to a sourcing platform, two China-leg models remain: forward each supplier parcel as it arrives, or hold your own stock at the warehouse. The common mistake is treating this as a store-level either/or. It is a per-SKU decision — and with per-line routing, the same order can use both.
Last updated: 2026-07-27
| Supplier-direct forwarding | Stocked fulfillment | |
|---|---|---|
| Cash committed up front | None — you buy after the customer orders | Stock purchase + itemised storage while it sits |
| Dispatch trigger | Supplier parcel arriving at the warehouse | Order reserves stock already on the shelf |
| Best for | Long-tail, test products, volatile demand | Steady sellers where the supplier leg is the bottleneck |
| Prep work (relabel, polybag, FNSKU) | Per parcel, as it passes through | Once at intake, amortised across orders |
| Risk if demand vanishes | None beyond the single order | Stock and storage fees until withdrawn |
| Evidence trail | Receiving scan + photos per parcel | Ledger entries per movement + cycle counts |
One clarification that trips people up: “supplier-direct forwarding” does not mean your supplier ships to your customer. The parcel stops at your China warehouse address first — that stop is what makes inspection with photo evidence, consolidation and a measured quote possible.
Zero commitment: list it, sell one, buy one, forward one. A SKU that never sells costs you nothing but the listing.
Sell-through per month and reorder frequency. When a SKU repeats predictably and the supplier leg is your slowest step, it is a stocking candidate.
Register the SKU, pre-alert the inbound, keep everything else on forwarding. The store changes nothing; routing follows inventory.
If stock runs out mid-demand, lines fall back to forwarding (or pause for your call in mixed orders) instead of overselling silently.
No. Goods stay merchant-owned the entire time, and inventory levels plus the monthly statement are computed from the same immutable stock-movement ledger — what you are billed for and what you believe you hold cannot drift apart. You can withdraw or transfer stock, and each movement is recorded.
It depends on the SKU, and any page that gives you one number is guessing. Forwarding avoids storage fees but every order waits on a supplier shipment; stocking removes that wait but ties up cash and accrues itemised storage. The honest comparison is per SKU: sell-through rate and reorder frequency against your storage line items.
Yes — routing is per order line, not per store. A stocked bestseller and a forwarded long-tail item can share one order; when that happens the order pauses for your explicit choice (forward all, wait for stock, or re-evaluate) rather than being split automatically.
Register the SKU, pre-alert an inbound shipment so the warehouse receives against an expectation, and once counted in, orders for that SKU reserve stock automatically. Switching back is just letting stock run out or withdrawing it — the routing follows live inventory either way.
Anything still being tested, seasonal items past their window, and goods whose storage cost outweighs the dispatch-time gain — typically oversized or slow movers. The point of per-SKU routing is that these keep working as forwarded parcels with zero stocking commitment.
Open the account, run forwarded orders, and stock a SKU only once you can see it repeating.