Payments and logistics in e-commerce — what fulfilling one order really costs

Payments and logistics in e-commerce are four costs you pay on every order, not once a month: the payment processor's fee, packaging, shipping and, on some orders, a return. On top of that there's the time someone spends picking and packing each parcel. A platform subscription shows up as a single line on a single invoice. These four costs are scattered across hundreds of small amounts, which is exactly why they're easy to overlook — and at a low basket value, they're what decides your margin.

This article maps the payments-and-logistics part of the section. It shows each of the four costs with a dated, sourced number, works through one illustrative order for PLN 150, and points to six articles that go deeper on each topic. Prices come from price lists read on 30 September and 1 October 2026; price lists change several times a year and some figures are negotiable, so open the current version before you decide.

Payments in numbers: BLIK and the fee on every transaction

BLIK belongs in the starter kit of every Polish shop. According to the operator's statement of 20 August 2026, in the first half of 2026 there were 1.6 billion BLIK transactions worth PLN 244.8 billion, and e-commerce accounted for 48.5% of them. There were 766.7 million online payments worth PLN 124.5 billion in total, averaging PLN 162. At the end of June BLIK had 21.6 million active users (BLIK statement). That is the operator's own data, not an independent measurement.

For every online payment you pay the payment gateway operator, usually a percentage of the amount plus a fixed fee per transaction. Przelewy24 charges 1.29% + PLN 0.30 for an online transfer, BLIK and a card. Its price list does not say whether that is a net amount, and notes that "fees and charges may be subject to individual negotiation" (Przelewy24 fee table, read 30.09.2026). On a small basket the fixed fee weighs more than the percentage, so work out the cost of payment on your own average order value.

Two items are easy to miss:

• The platform may take its own share. Shopify's Basic plan adds 2% of sales if you accept payments through an outside gateway, and IdoSell's Business plan charges PLN 1.59 net on every store order (price lists of 30.09.2026: Shopify, IdoSell, PDF effective 1.08.2026) — a second cost on the same order, charged by the platform rather than the processor.
• The money does not reach your account at once. Under the Przelewy24 general terms (version dated 16.09.2024), funds are available for payout "no later than the end of the next Business Day", and by default a payout happens once the sum of unpaid payments reaches PLN 1,000. The threshold can be changed after registration (Przelewy24 terms, § 10). Check the contract, not the marketing page.

Two protections apply EU-wide regardless of which PSP you use. Under PSD2, a seller cannot charge the customer extra for using a card whose interchange fee is capped by EU regulation — in practice, standard consumer debit and credit cards (Art. 62(4), Directive (EU) 2015/2366). And under the regulatory technical standards on strong customer authentication, a remote card payment up to €30 can skip two-factor authentication, cumulatively up to €100 or five consecutive transactions (Art. 16, RTS (EU) 2018/389) — not €50, which is the separate exemption for contactless payments made in person, under Art. 11.

The rates of nine operators, additional fees and what a shop may not add to the customer's bill are compared in the payment gateway guide; the methods themselves — BLIK, cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, fast transfers, buy-now-pay-later and cash on delivery, with the cost and risk of each — are in online payment methods.

Shipping in numbers: the market, parcel lockers and the price of a parcel

The parcel market is growing, while an operator's average revenue per parcel is falling. According to the “Report on the postal market in 2025” of the Office of Electronic Communications (Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej, UKE), published on 29.05.2026 on the basis of operators' reports, 1,397.7 million courier items were handled in 2025, 14.3% more than a year earlier. At the end of 2025 there were 67,060 postal parcel machines of six operators in Poland, 29.7% more than in 2024. The average net revenue of an operator per courier item fell to PLN 10.7 (UKE report). That is operators' revenue, not the price for your shop — a small shop usually pays more than a large sender.

For buyers, parcel lockers are the standard: according to the Gemius report “E-commerce w Polsce 2026”, 84% of buyers used them in the past year (Gemius; a CAWI survey of 1,874 internet users aged 15+, 14–22 July 2026).

Only some carriers publish a public business price list. In its “Paczkomaty dla biznesu” (Parcel lockers for business) section InPost gives size A at PLN 14.55 net, B at PLN 16.51 and C at PLN 21.04, plus a 13% fuel surcharge (InPost price lists, read 30.09.2026). So compare offers including the fuel surcharge, not the base rates alone. DPD, DHL and Pocztex publish retail price lists only and prepare an individual quote for businesses — get a quote from your own carrier or broker and use that as your real number. Carrier comparisons, brokers, volumetric weight and shop integrations are in shipping in e-commerce.

Returns in numbers: how many customers send goods back

Almost one in two buyers returned something in the past year. In the Gemius 2026 survey, 46% of online buyers returned at least one item in the last 12 months, and 29% did so more than once. Returns most often go through a parcel locker — 72% of returners used one. The lack of a free return as a reason to switch shops was named by 27% of respondents, and unclear returns and complaints rules by 26% (Gemius report, pp. 58 and 158–164). Gemius measures the share of people who returned something, not the share of orders returned. Neither Statistics Poland (Główny Urząd Statystyczny, GUS) nor Eurostat publishes the latter for Polish shops.

The cost of a return depends on who pays for sending it back. Under the Consumer Rights Act (ustawa o prawach konsumenta), "the consumer bears only the direct cost of returning the goods", unless the shop agreed to bear it or did not inform the customer about it (Art. 34(2)). The shop, for its part, refunds all payments, including the cost of delivering the goods to the customer (Art. 32(1)); this is the national version of the rule in Directive 2011/83/EU, Arts 13 and 14. If you offer a free return, you pay for the label — with InPost "Szybkie Zwroty" (Quick Returns) size A costs PLN 12.84 net, excluding the fuel surcharge (InPost price lists, read 30.09.2026). On top of that comes work in the shop: unpacking, checking the goods, repacking, restocking, refunding and contact with the customer. We found no reliable valuation of these steps, so count them on your own time. The 14-day right, the model withdrawal form and the exceptions (personalised goods, perishables, unsealed hygiene items) are set out step by step in returns and the legal guarantee.

Packaging: a cost that is easy to forget

A box or a mailer costs pennies, which is why it rarely makes it into the calculation. Packaging affects the bill in three ways:

1. The price of the packaging itself — it depends on type and quantity. In the manufacturer's shop Kartony24 a 310×420 mm poly mailer costs PLN 47.97 net per pack of 100 when you buy one pack, about PLN 0.48 per mailer; a 300×200×150 mm flap box costs PLN 1.33 net each at 20 pieces and PLN 0.90 at 2,040 pieces (mailer, box, catalogue prices of 1.10.2026). Tape, filler and a label are separate items.
2. The size class of the parcel — in a Paczkomat you pay for a size class, not for weight. Size A is 8 cm high, B is 19 cm. A 300×200×150 mm box falls into size B, so shipping costs PLN 16.51 net instead of PLN 14.55, before the fuel surcharge. A box with too much air moves the parcel to a more expensive class. Some carriers' terms also let them bill on volumetric weight — the box's dimensions divided by a carrier-specific factor such as 5,000 or 6,000 — whenever that exceeds the actual weight, so check your own carrier's terms.
3. Legal obligations — the Packaging and Packaging Waste Management Act (ustawa o gospodarce opakowaniami; consolidated text Journal of Laws 2026, item 619) requires an entry in the BDO register from anyone "placing products in packaging on the market" (Art. 10). Businesses that put no more than 1 Mg (tonne) of packaging on the market in a year are exempt from part of the duties — recycling, the product fee and education campaigns — but not from registration (Art. 6(3)). The exemption requires filing information through BDO every year by 15 March (Art. 7) (text of the act). The act does not explicitly name the shipping packaging of an online shop, so check whether your box triggers these duties with an adviser or the marshal's office (urząd marszałkowski). What is EU-wide is Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR), applicable from 12 August 2026: e-commerce packaging may not exceed 50% empty space (Art. 24), a limit that applies from 1 January 2030 at the earliest (Arts 24 and 71, EUR-Lex).

When you sell to other EU countries, the packaging registers of the buyer's country come on top — we cover them in cross-border e-commerce.

What fulfilling one order actually costs — a worked example

To show how these costs stack, we priced one order. This is a worked example, not an offer or a market average.

Assumptions: an order for PLN 150, paid by BLIK via Przelewy24; a flat item that fits in a 310×420 mm poly mailer, size A; shipping to an InPost Paczkomat at the public “Paczkomaty dla biznesu” price list; free delivery for the customer; no return. Prices from price lists of 30.09.2026 (Przelewy24, InPost) and 1.10.2026 (Kartony24). InPost and Kartony24 quote net prices; Przelewy24 does not say whether its rate is net — we sum the amounts as given.

• Payment: 1.29% × PLN 150 = PLN 1.935, plus PLN 0.30 = PLN 2.24 (PLN 2.235 before rounding).
• Shipping: PLN 14.55 + 13% fuel surcharge (PLN 1.89) = PLN 16.44 net.
• Packaging: PLN 47.97 net ÷ 100 mailers = PLN 0.48 net.

Total: 2.24 + 16.44 + 0.48 = PLN 19.16, about 12.8% of the order value. The calculation leaves out tape, a label, filler, labour time, the platform's per-order fees and the cost of any return.

Shipping is the largest line in this example — larger than the payment fee and packaging combined. When the customer pays for delivery the cost shifts, but the gateway then also takes its commission on the delivery amount. The same assumptions with a different basket: at PLN 50 the payment is 1.29% × PLN 50 = PLN 0.645, plus PLN 0.30 = PLN 0.95, and with shipping and the mailer the total is PLN 17.87, about 35.7% of the order value. At PLN 500 the payment is PLN 6.45 + PLN 0.30 = PLN 6.75 and the total is PLN 23.67, about 4.7% — assuming the item still fits in a size A mailer. The amount rises by a few złoty, while its share of the basket falls from about 36% to under 5%, because shipping and packaging cost the same whatever the order value. So calculate fulfilment cost on your own average basket and your own rates — after negotiating with a carrier or going through a broker they may be lower than the public price list.

Time is a cost too: picking and packing

Every order has to be found, checked, packed, labelled and handed to a carrier by someone. We found no reliable public measurement of how long that takes in a small shop, so we're not giving you a number. Measure it yourself: log your total packing time over a week, divide by parcels shipped, and multiply by the hourly cost of whoever does the packing — including your own time, if that's you.

A point of reference is the price of outsourcing. In the One Fulfillment by Allegro service the base fee for each unit shipped covers intake into the warehouse, picking, packing and packaging. It runs from PLN 2.69 net for the smallest products (up to 0.3 l) to PLN 24.49 net for the largest ones in Allegro packaging. Delivery to the buyer, transport to the warehouse and standard Allegro fees are extra, and the page gives no effective date for the price list (Allegro Help, read 1.10.2026). When an outside warehouse makes sense is covered in shipping in e-commerce. Labour time and operating costs over several years can be totalled in the e-commerce TCO calculator.

Payments and logistics in e-commerce — six articles

Which payment gateway should you use? Payment gateway fees compares nine operators on commissions, activation fees, payouts and chargebacks, and works out what one transaction costs at a PLN 30, PLN 150 and PLN 500 basket.

Which payment methods should you offer? Online payment methods covers BLIK, cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay, fast transfers, deferred payments and cash on delivery, with the cost and risk of each.

Which carrier should you use? Shipping in e-commerce compares the price lists of InPost, ORLEN Paczka and brokers, explains the fuel surcharge and volumetric weight, and suggests when to hand shipping over to fulfilment.

How do you handle returns? Returns and the legal guarantee walks through the provisions of the Consumer Rights Act, includes the model withdrawal form, and breaks down the internal cost of a return.

How do you sell into other EU countries? Cross-border e-commerce explains the EU €10,000 OSS threshold, the OSS procedure, the buyer's home-country consumer law, and packaging registers abroad.

How do you connect your store to Allegro? Allegro integration compares the bill on Allegro and in your own store and describes integration through the API and integrators. How much Allegro takes from each sale — the commission by category, also on delivery, and the Smart! per-parcel fees — is set out in the article on Allegro fees.

Tools

• [Online store cost calculator](pages:69b1d28de5961b9519f27fbc) — estimates your start-up budget by platform, integrations and payment setup.
• [E-commerce TCO calculator](pages:69bfe4fd0d5d51379c34263c) — totals subscription, add-ons, processing fees and upkeep over several years. Compare the result against the price lists linked above — those are binding, not the rates in the tool.
• [UX checklist for an online store](pages:69b904affd308268547d6371) — cart and checkout items, including payment and delivery choices, to check before launch.
• Our [report on online store costs in Poland](pages:6a881b92d619d2695247642d) — 108 publicly available price observations from 70 vendors on the Polish market, collected March–May 2026 — is a direct benchmark for the Polish market.

The platform you'll build all of this on is covered in the e-commerce platforms section; the rest of the e-commerce section starts at the e-commerce guide.