Fulfillment partner insolvent? Your shipping continues with us

Within a few days, we can take over your fulfillment at short notice

How quickly we can take over your fulfillment at short notice depends primarily on how accessible your goods still are. If the inventory is freely available, we usually plan delivery and storage within 3 to 5 business days. If an administrator has already been appointed, the date depends on their approval. Once the fulfillment partner is insolvent, the old warehouse’s willingness to release any shipments at all also decreases.

What happens to the technology? Whether your fulfillment partner is insolvent or you have terminated the contract properly makes no difference for the data transfer. We do not prescribe any particular software: we connect to whatever you already have running, whether it is a shop system or an ERP. We assign items without a barcode using your own numbering logic. This keeps your own system landscape untouched, which experience shows shortens the handover by weeks. To learn how we work as a fulfillment service provider in principle, please visit our services page.

Who owns your goods if the service provider is insolvent?

As a rule, your stored items remain your property, because the logistics provider merely stores them. If the fulfillment partner is insolvent, this does not initially change the ownership situation. Legally, it concerns the right of separation under Section 47 of the German Insolvency Code (InsO). However, this presupposes that you can also prove a right to precisely these items.

Release therefore does not happen automatically. Those who present inventory lists, storage receipts, and delivery notes in good order typically get their goods released faster than someone who first has to gather documents. A current inventory extract from your own system is helpful, because the administrator reconciles it against the debtor’s warehouse accounting.

There is also a point that many overlook: under Section 475b of the German Commercial Code (HGB), a warehouse keeper may have a lien on the stored goods as long as claims from the storage contract remain outstanding. In that case, release also depends on this item. Whether a fulfillment service provider is insolvent or merely temporarily unable to deliver makes a considerable difference here. We do not replace legal advice; if in doubt, you should have a lawyer review which claims apply in your case.

What about your data? Inventory levels, open orders, and return transactions are in the previous provider’s system, access to which often ends abruptly. If it is established that the fulfillment partner is insolvent, you should therefore pull exports immediately. Anyone wondering what to do in a fulfillment insolvency is best advised to tackle three steps in parallel rather than one after another: secure the goods, secure the data, book replacement capacity. Before transport is even organized, we commit the receiving space to you. A sober fulfillment provider comparison can help you assess possible alternatives.

Reachable around the clock when you need immediate fulfillment assistance

Immediate fulfillment assistance rarely fails due to space, but rather because no one answers the phone. Our phone numbers are forwarded to mobile devices, so you can reach someone with decision-making authority even in the evenings and on weekends. The same person remains responsible afterward, not a rotating service desk. When a fulfillment partner becomes insolvent, that is exactly what you need: a decision instead of a hold queue.

In an emergency, fulfillment also depends on flexibility regarding quantity. We accept small remaining stocks as well as full pallets; the minimum is 10 units. Our heated storage space measures more than 3,000 sqm, so even temperature-sensitive product ranges such as cosmetics or food supplements can be accommodated. For product ranges with a best-before date, we keep batches separate and dispatch them according to the first-expired-first-out principle so that no goods age on the shelf. Every shipment undergoes a second inspection before dispatch, because zero-error tolerance matters especially in a tense situation.

One call is enough, and we will assess your situation as early as today

What your situation requires can be clarified in one conversation: where the goods are located, how many items there are, when the next order wave starts. After that, we will tell you specifically when we can take over and state the costs openly instead of quoting a flat rate. If your inventory is spread across several warehouse locations, we plan deliveries in stages rather than in a single wave. The fact that your fulfillment partner is insolvent does not have to cost you your Christmas business.

If, on the other hand, your switch is coming up without time pressure, our guide switching fulfillment providers shows you all the steps from termination to inventory handover. This does not change the result, only the pace.

If your fulfillment partner is insolvent, the next step should happen today and not next week. Briefly describe your case to us via the contact form or by phone at +49 7563 9110-0, gladly also outside office hours. Futura Marketing will get back to you on the same business day with a reliable assessment.