Fulfilment glossary for UK online sellers

October 2026 · 51 terms · Angler Fulfilment

The words this business runs on, from the warehouse floor to Amazon and EU customs, each explained in a sentence or two and linked to the page that goes further. Where a figure is ours, it is the one on our published rate card or terms.

Jump to: 0 to 9 · A · B · C · D · E · F · G · I · K · L · M · O · P · R · S · T · V · W

0 to 9

3PL

Third-party logistics: an outside company that stores your stock and picks, packs and ships your orders for you, usually also handling returns. The full explanation, with what one costs, is in what is a 3PL.

4PL

Fourth-party logistics: a firm that manages your whole supply chain on your behalf, coordinating several warehouses and carriers, rather than running a warehouse itself.

A

Account Health

Amazon’s measure of whether a seller’s performance keeps their selling privileges active, built from metrics such as cancellations, late shipments and valid tracking. How overselling affects it is in multi-channel stock and overselling.

B

B2C distance sale

A sale to a consumer who is not present, such as an online order. The EU’s €3 duty and €2 handling fee apply to distance sales of imported goods.

Barcode (EAN, GTIN)

The scannable number on a product. In retail it is usually a 13 digit EAN, one kind of GTIN, the global trade item numbers issued through GS1. Every unit a 3PL holds needs one, and it must match the barcode on your listings.

Bundling

Selling two or more products together as one listing, packed as a set. See bespoke fulfilment.

C

Carrier

The company that moves the parcel to your customer, such as Royal Mail, Evri or DPD.

CN22 and CN23

The customs forms that travel with a parcel sent abroad by post. The Post Office puts the line at £270: a CN22 below it, a CN23 above.

Commodity code (HS code)

The number that classifies goods for customs. The first six digits are the international Harmonized System; countries add more digits. It decides the duty rate, and, for the EU’s €3 duty, which item line each product falls on.

Consignment

Goods sent together to one recipient in one shipment. For an online order to a consumer, usually one parcel.

Customs declaration

The statement of what a parcel contains, what it is worth and where it was made, which customs use to work out duty and VAT. Vague descriptions get parcels held.

Customs duty

A tax on imported goods, set by the importing country. Since 1 July 2026 most small EU parcels pay a flat €3 per item line; see the EU duty calculator.

Cut-off (dispatch cut-off)

The latest time an order can arrive and still leave the same day. Ours is 2pm Monday to Friday and 1pm on Saturday; see same-day fulfilment.

Cycle count

Counting stock one section at a time on a rolling schedule, so records are checked continually rather than once a year in a full stocktake.

D

DAP (Delivered at Place)

Delivery terms where the goods arrive ready for unloading and the buyer deals with import clearance, so your customer pays any duty or VAT due before the parcel is handed over.

DDP (Delivered Duty Paid)

Delivery terms where the seller delivers the goods cleared for import and pays the duty, so your customer pays nothing at the door. See international fulfilment.

Distance selling cancellation period

In the UK a customer who buys online usually has 14 days from receiving an item to cancel, then 14 days to send it back, and the seller has 14 days to refund. The detail is in what returns really cost.

E

EORI number

The registration number a business may need to move goods between Great Britain and other countries, including the EU. Applied for through GOV.UK.

EPR (packaging)

Extended producer responsibility for packaging: businesses above set thresholds pay for the packaging they put on the market. Most small sellers are below them; see packaging EPR.

EU handling fee

A €2 fee per item line on parcels sold to EU consumers, with no value limit, set in September 2026 and expected by the European Commission to apply from 1 November 2026.

F

FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon)

Amazon’s own service: you send stock into Amazon’s network and Amazon stores it and ships Amazon orders. That stock is counted separately from stock held at a 3PL.

FBA prep

Getting stock ready to Amazon’s requirements before it goes into the FBA network: inspecting, labelling, bagging and bundling. See FBA prep.

FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant)

Amazon orders shipped by the seller, or the seller’s 3PL, rather than by Amazon.

FNSKU

Amazon’s own product label, which identifies a unit as belonging to a particular seller inside Amazon’s warehouses. The rules are in our FBA prep and FNSKU guide.

G

Goods-in

Receiving a delivery into a warehouse: checking it against what was expected, counting it and booking it into stock. Ours is done within 48 hours of the stock landing.

I

Importer of record

The party legally responsible for an import, including declaring it correctly and paying what is due.

Inserts

Leaflets, cards or samples packed into an order with the product. See bespoke fulfilment.

Intrinsic value

For the EU’s €150 test, the price of the goods themselves, excluding transport and insurance as long as those are shown separately on the invoice, and excluding other taxes and charges.

IOSS (Import One Stop Shop)

The EU scheme that collects VAT at checkout on consignments up to €150, so the customer is not asked for it on delivery. A seller with no EU establishment generally needs an EU intermediary to use it; marketplace orders usually travel under the marketplace’s own number.

Item line

In EU customs, goods in a consignment that share the same tariff classification, description and origin. The €3 duty and €2 fee are charged per item line, not per unit.

K

Kitting

Assembling several components into one finished product before it is sold, such as a gift set. See bespoke fulfilment.

L

Last posting date

A carrier’s last day to send a parcel for delivery before a holiday, usually Christmas. How to set your own last order date from it is in Christmas last order dates.

M

Multi-channel fulfilment

Shipping orders from several sales channels, such as Shopify, Amazon and eBay, out of one pool of stock. See who owns the stock count.

O

OMS (order management system)

Software that pulls orders in from every sales channel, sends them to the warehouse and pushes tracking and stock counts back. See platform integrations.

Overselling

Selling an item that is no longer in stock, usually because a channel had an out-of-date count. It leads to a cancellation, a refund and often a review.

P

Pallet

The flat platform stock is stacked on for transport and storage. The standard UK pallet is 1200mm by 1000mm.

Peak surcharge

An extra charge carriers and fulfilment providers apply during the busiest weeks of the year. Ours is 20p per order in November and December, published in advance; see Q4 parcel costs.

Pick and pack

Collecting the items for an order from storage and packing them for dispatch, usually priced per order plus each extra item. See pick and pack.

Pick bin

A container on the picking shelf that items are picked from directly. Ours is up to 60 by 40 by 40cm.

Picking accuracy

The share of orders picked with exactly the right items. Our measured picking accuracy is 99.8%, against a published commitment of 99.5% dispatch accuracy or better.

Polybag

A clear plastic bag used to protect an item, and for some products a requirement of Amazon’s prep rules.

R

Returns grading

Sorting returned items by condition. Ours are graded A (resellable), B (repackage needed) or C (damaged or unsellable); see returns processing.

RMA

Returns merchandise authorisation: a reference issued to approve a return and match it to the original order when it arrives.

S

Same-day dispatch

An order that reaches the warehouse before the cut-off leaving the same working day.

SKU

Stock keeping unit: your own code for each distinct product, so each size or colour of a product has its own SKU.

Stock pool

All the units of a product held in one place, shared by every channel selling it, so one count covers them all.

Stocktake

Counting all stock at once to check it against the records. See also cycle count.

T

Tracked and signed for

Tracked services record the parcel’s progress with scans along the way; signed for services also take a signature on delivery.

V

Void fill

Material such as paper or air pillows that fills the empty space in a box so the item cannot move.

Volumetric weight

A weight worked out from a parcel’s size rather than its mass, using a divisor the carrier sets. Carriers charge on whichever is greater, so an oversized box can cost more than a heavy one.

W

WMS (warehouse management system)

The software a warehouse uses to track where every unit is, direct picking and record every movement in and out.