FAQ

National Fulfillment Services offers U.S. warehouses in Aston, Pennsylvania and Reno, Nevada. In Canada, we have facilities in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta. Our customers can utilize a single-site, bicoastal or multi-site fulfillment solution.

The contact center is open 24/7, with the exception of a few national holidays. Our warehouse is open from 8:30 am to 6:00 pm Monday – Friday and Saturday/Sunday from 7:30 am - 4:00 pm. We operate on an extended schedule Black Friday through Christmas. Our Receiving department is open Monday – Friday 8:30 am to 3:30 pm, by appointment only. Standard office hours for other departments are Monday – Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00.

Occasionally, we offer a trial period so a potential company can experience our service. This is handled on a case-by-case basis and is largely determined by the project’s scope.

Primarily, we manage mid-sized to large accounts. However, we can also support growing businesses with average monthly order volumes of 2,500 or more.

Our system displays item pricing, inventory availability, product information and tracking numbers.

Our system supports credit cards, PayPal, checks, Bill-me, installment and “no charge” payment methods.

We can assign multiple “ship-to” locations to a single “bill-to” address.

We can change ship-to and bill-to addresses.

The NFS portal provides access to customer order data.

Our online portal allows for consumer and B2B order entry.

We can cancel a backorder or reserve order at any time. Prior to the picking process, we can hold, modify or cancel orders.

Customers can enter gift messages, promotional codes and special comments according to your specifications.

NFS can automatically release additional product(s) based on a source code or total dollar requirement. At the customer’s request, we can insert a free gift or promotional item into each order.

Order holds can take place from credit index files, internal fraud tables, and value (amounts) on checks. We have the ability to use both check clearing and bad debt clearing systems.

Yes, National Fulfillment Services can process and ship foreign orders.

Every order can include a duplex (double-sided) printed, customizable packing slip. Our packing slips can be order attribute driven with personalized images, logos and messaging.

Yes, we offer live chat services.  Hours of availability are specific by client and are based on both volume and coverage needs.

For shared support services, operations are open 24/7 with the exception of certain holidays. For dedicated support, we will work with you to determine windows of operation. Ordering support will still be 24/7.

Our contact center in operated in-house from our main campus in Aston, Pennsylvania.

English and Spanish speaking agents are available.

NFS performs daily training reviews to ensure optimal service is provided. Training occurs on a one-to-one and classroom basis. Additionally, supervisors continually monitor employees to perform quality control checks on accuracy and message delivery. We welcome our clients participation in training sessions and strongly recommend this during the implementation process.

We offer dedicated, shared and blended agent groups. A dedicated agent handles customer service for a specific brand. A shared agent works for several clients. To determine which option is best, we analyze your inbound flow and volume.

We conduct physical inventories on an annual basis. Additional physicals are available by request.

We update inventory levels in real-time.

After receiving new inventory, we release backorders in order of receipt. Customers receive an email notification informing them of their order status.

We can invoice customers on your behalf either prior to, or following shipment. The NFS system can also manage open receivables.

We can transmit bad debt accounts to a collection agency.  We can process payments received against any previous flagged bad debt accounts.

We ship globally.

NFS ships through a variety of carriers to accomplish the objective of efficient delivery, good cost profiles and trackability. These include:

• Canada Post
• USPS
• Globegistics
• Purolator
• Asendia
• DHL
• FedEx

We fulfill orders for both U.S. and internationally based companies.

Our receiving department can unload ocean freight containers.

We can store and ship some HAZMAT products like nail polish, aerosols and other non-toxic materials. Our company will access each product on a case-by-case basis to determine specific risks.

With NFS, you have the option of using our shipping supplies or sending us packaging supplies. If we use your supplies we will inform you when your inventory is low.

You can use your carrier shipping accounts or use ours. USPS shipments are managed through NFS. We help create solutions that provide you with the best cost/shipping effectiveness to customers.

Our Receiving department inspects inbound products. We can perform quality control and inspection based on the products likelihood of having defects.

We complete a CN-22 or similar document when shipping overseas.

We offer conditioned storage ranging from 55 to 72 degrees.

Yes, condition reporting is standard for returns.

Yes, many reports are selectable by date range.

We tailor the daily report to our client’s needs. The standard daily reports contains:

• Inventory : balance on hand, adjustments, retail cost, backorder dates, last sold date
• Receiving : units, date, PO number, vendor
• Open purchase orders
• Orders by day
• Backorders

Connecting our order management and distribution center to e-commerce carts, ERP systems and services like Amazon and eBay is a hallmark of the technologies offered by NFS. With an in-house IT department NFS can create a multichannel logistical processing environment with a centralized view of inventory.

We typically support ongoing fulfillment, but occasionally handle one-offs for larger run sizes.

We can induct orders through API, EDI, .csv and secured FTP uploads.

With our integration expertise, we offer real-time connectivity to a wide variety of commodity-based or proprietary shopping carts. We have prebuilt integrations and our in-house tech team can develop additional connections for your cart system.

After picking, packing and scanning an order, our system can automatically confirm the shipment back to your eCommerce cart system. The order confirmation contains carrier tracking IDs and can trigger shipping confirmation emails to the consumer.  NFS can also email shipment confirmations directly to consumers.

We offer specialized kitting and assembly services for marketing/consumer sampling companies.

We do not offer customs brokerage services. We can suggest companies that offer this service who would deliver the freight to us, but our customers are responsible for transporting their goods to our facility.

We can insert samples, informational documents and free products into each order.

We do not print books, nor do we print on demand.

We can in some cases. More details on your specific program are necessary.

Generally, we handle finished goods. In some cases we have repackaged products.