Stop guessing your batch dates. Start shipping cosmetics fresh.

FIFO (first-in, first-out) optimises for shelf age in the warehouse — the oldest carton goes out first regardless of expiry. That rule works for stable categories (apparel, electronics) where ageing is a stock-rotation hygiene issue, not a regulatory one. Cosmetics are different. PAO (period-after-opening) and full expiry both run on a calendar clock, not a warehouse clock — a moisturiser sitting on our floor for six months may still ship before one we received last week, if the shelf-life calculus says so. FEFO (first-expiry, first-out) sorts pick lists by remaining shelf life instead of arrival date. We run FEFO end-to-end: every SKU is barcoded with its expiry on inbound, the WMS sorts by expiry on every pick wave, and dispatched parcels carry an automatic expiry-buffer floor (180 days minimum to buyer for skincare, 365 for fragrance, configurable per brand). Practical effect: brands stop writing off two-month-old batches that ShipBob-style FIFO pushed to the back of the rack. Our 2025 dataset across 47 cosmetics clients shows a median 4.1% reduction in expired-stock write-offs after switching from FIFO 3PL to our FEFO-default operation.

Our cosmetics zone runs 18–22°C ambient (±1.5°C real-world variance recorded in 2025) with relative humidity controlled at 35–55%. This sits inside the ICH Q1A(R2) "controlled room temperature" envelope used by EU GMP guideline EudraLex Volume 4 Annex 15 and corresponds to the "store at room temperature" claim used by 92% of mass-market cosmetics SKUs. Calibrated dataloggers (Testo 175H1) record continuously, with 5-minute sampling and per-zone alerts pushed to a duty manager phone if either bound is breached. Quarterly mapping audits prove zone homogeneity within ±2°C across the entire pallet stack height, including the top tier. Edge cases we handle: niche perfumery brands occasionally request 15–18°C narrower band for high-value alcohol-based fragrances — we accommodate this in a dedicated zone at no additional fee. We do not run a 2–8°C cold room; biologics, mRNA cosmeceuticals, and live-microbiome products requiring true cold chain are routed to a partner facility in Bila Tserkva 80km south of Kyiv.

Yes. Since 2022 Ukraine has progressively aligned its cosmetics regulation with EU Regulation 1223/2009 — the technical regulation effective from 2024 mandates a Responsible Person, a Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR), notification through the State Service for Food Safety register, and PAO/expiry on every primary container. We act as the warehouse-of-record for the regulatory file (we do not act as the Responsible Person — that legal role stays with a qualified Ukrainian-resident entity, typically your local distributor or a contracted regulatory consultant). What we do: store the CPSR digitally per SKU, keep batch-level genealogy from inbound dock to dispatched parcel, retain documentation for the 10-year regulatory horizon, and provide audit-ready reports on 24-hour notice. For brands distributing into Kazakhstan and Belarus through CIS marketplaces, we also retain EAEU TR CU 009/2011 conformity certificates against each lot. We have walked four EU brands through the Ukrainian notification process in 2024–2025 and can introduce you to two regulatory consultants who specialise in EU-to-UA cosmetics market-entry filings.

Three layers, applied per-SKU during onboarding rather than per-parcel during pick. Layer one: pack engineering. Glass fragrance bottles ship in honeycomb-cushioned three-cell boxes with foam corner blocks; pressed-powder palettes go in moulded EPE inserts; lipstick tubes ship vertical-locked into kraft cradles. We test each new SKU through a 1.2-metre five-sided drop (Amazon ISTA-6 protocol equivalent) before approving its pack spec. Layer two: voiding. We use kraft paper, not bubble wrap, for void-fill — heavier but environmentally aligned with the audit position most cosmetic brands need to publish, and it actually outperforms bubble in compression load (the typical loss case is parcel-stacking, not single-impact, and bubble collapses under sustained load). Layer three: route discipline. Express-only via Nova Poshta Premium for in-Ukraine, DHL Express for international, with explicit "FRAGILE" + "THIS WAY UP" arrows printed on every label. 2025 damage rate across 1.4M cosmetics parcels: 0.21% — versus an industry baseline of 1.4–2.1% for cosmetics through generalist 3PLs. Damages are reimbursed at full retail value within 14 business days under our standard cargo policy.

Native turnkey: Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop, BigCommerce, and Horoshop (Ukraine's dominant SaaS storefront). Native API: KeyCRM and SalesDrive (the two leading Ukrainian DTC OMS systems used by most domestic indie beauty brands). Marketplace channels: Prom.ua, Rozetka, Kasta (Ukraine's premier fashion-and-beauty marketplace), Hubber, and Allo. Cross-border: Etsy, eBay, and Faire for European indie beauty brands — we have shipped Faire orders into Germany, France, Italy, and the UK out of Kyiv since 2023. Custom integrations: REST API, webhooks, EDI, CSV-over-SFTP, or email-parsed-to-order for legacy stacks. Onboarding clock: 5–7 business days for a single-SKU brand on a turnkey platform; 10–14 days for multi-channel brands with 200+ SKUs requiring batch-genealogy data import; 21 days maximum for brands migrating from another 3PL with a full inventory transfer. The integration engineer on our side handles the connector wiring — your developers receive a webhook spec and can ignore the rest.

Returns: a dedicated returns dock receives the parcel, opens it, photographs the contents, and grades on a four-tier scale. Grade A (sealed, untouched primary packaging) returns to A-stock for resale. Grade B (opened secondary packaging only — the unit itself is sealed) returns to B-stock for liquidation, sample-set kits, or PR. Grade C (used or contaminated) goes straight to disposal under the documented retail-cosmetics waste protocol with photo evidence retained for chargeback defence. Grade D (damaged in transit, our fault) gets refunded to the buyer and replaced from main stock at our cost. Industry-baseline cosmetics return rates we see: skincare 6–9%, color cosmetics 8–12%, fragrance 11–14% (highest because of scent-fit dissatisfaction). Gifts-with-purchase and PR boxes: handled as separate kit-assembly orders against a kitting bill-of-materials. We assemble influencer mailers (50–500 boxes per drop), quarterly subscription boxes (hundreds to low thousands per cycle), and event-PR boxes with branded tissue paper, hand-signed cards, and personalised addresses — assembled in our kitting cell, photographed for content approval before dispatch, invoiced as a separate line item.

Yes. The WMS tags every batch by expiry and our dashboard surfaces five "shelf-life zones" per SKU: green (>365 days), amber-1 (180–365 days), amber-2 (90–180 days), red-1 (30–90 days), red-2 (under 30 days). When a batch enters amber-1 the system auto-emails your account manager with a sell-down options memo: (a) prioritise to high-velocity channels, (b) bundle into discounted multi-pack SKUs, (c) divert to PR-box assembly, (d) liquidate to discount channels through our partner network with brand-exclusion clauses you control, or (e) physical destruction with photo documentation for accounting write-off. Most brands run options (a)–(c) and never see actual expiry waste; we typically destroy under 0.4% of inbound volume per quarter across the cosmetics book of business. The destruction protocol carries a separate fee ($0.12/unit for primary packaging, $0.04 for secondary) and produces an audit-trail report compatible with EU and Ukrainian VAT write-off documentation requirements.

Monthly invoicing in arrears, net-7 by default, net-30 unlocked after the first 90 days of clean payment history. Currencies: USD or EUR on request, with NBU monthly average reference rates applied to convert UAH operating costs. SEPA and SWIFT wires are standard. For sub-€15,000 invoices we accept Wise, Revolut Business, and Payoneer to bypass wire fees. Annual prepayment earns a 6% discount on per-shipment fees; quarterly prepayment earns 3%. EU-based brands receive a Ukrainian VAT-export invoice (zero-rated under Article 195 of the Tax Code), so euro-zone clients do not pay Ukrainian VAT on fulfillment service fees. Brands that prefer an EU-issued VAT invoice for their bookkeeping can request invoicing through our partner entity in Lithuania — same operational SLA, same per-order rate, EU VAT registration, EU bank wire. Setup is free; the only requirement is a valid VAT number and corporate documents.