The cheaper storage rate that costs more in total: warehouse pricing is a five-member family — receiving, storage, pick & pack, final mile, value-added — plus the long-term storage escalator. The two pricing schools, why only your own volume model run through complete rate cards can compare warehouses, and the eight questions to ask before signing.
Everyone models the outbound costs; the money after the return rarely enters the sheet. The three exits — inspect-and-relabel, liquidation, documented disposal — why return-to-Taiwan is nearly always the costliest road, what an FNSKU refurbishment line actually involves, and how high-return categories must price reverse logistics into the margin.
With commingled inventory ending March 2026, the old first-leg question is back: direct to FBA — shortest flow, zero error tolerance, storage fees from day one — or staged through a US warehouse for inventory control, a labeling fix-it point and a returns landing place. The three conditions for going direct, the three flexibilities staging buys, and the three-dimension decision.
