Minimums, peak windows and dispute windows: the contract terms that decide your credit

Most disputes over 3PL invoices are about prices. The ones brands lose are usually lost on three other terms: how the monthly minimum is billed, when peak surcharges may apply, and how long you have to dispute. Find these three in your contract before you need them.

The monthly minimum

Almost every 3PL has one. What matters is how it is billed:

• Pay-the-difference. The minimum is a floor. If your fees for the month are $420 and the minimum is $750, you pay $750 in total: your $420 plus a $330 top-up. In a month above $750, no minimum line should appear.
• A fee on top. The minimum is charged in full, whatever your other fees. This is rarer and much more expensive in a slow month.
• What counts toward it. Some contracts count only fulfillment fees toward the minimum, some count storage and receiving too. The difference decides whether a top-up was due at all.

On the invoice, check that the top-up equals the minimum minus the fees that count toward it, and that it is missing in months above the minimum.

Peak windows

Peak surcharges are allowed only in the window the contract sets, for example from 1 November to 31 December. Two things go wrong:

• The surcharge starts early or ends late. A peak fee on orders shipped in October, or in January, is outside the window.
• The surcharge never ends. A peak fee that is still on the March invoice is a recurring charge the contract does not allow.

Write the window's dates on your rate card, and check the charge date of every peak line against them.

The dispute window

Many contracts give you a fixed number of days after the invoice date to dispute a charge, often 30 or 60. After that, the invoice counts as accepted. Two consequences:

• Audit every invoice when it arrives, not once a quarter. A quarterly review can find errors that are already outside the window.
• Dispute in writing, with the details. Name the invoice, the line, the amount and the reason. Keep the email: its date proves you disputed in time.

Where to find these terms

They are rarely in the price table. Look in the sections on billing, invoicing and payment terms, in the footnotes of the quote, and in the 3PL's terms of service, which many contracts include by reference.

Get them checked

Our free quote to rate card tool lists the minimums, peak windows and exclusions it finds in your contract, each with the text it comes from. A free audit checks your latest invoice against them.