Agency Desk · How it works
The Agency Desk workflow, one stage at a time.
The flagship page lists this workflow in eight lines. This page opens each stage: what your agency sends, what RyanFulfil returns, the decision you own, and where it commonly goes wrong.
You remain responsible for sales, pricing and the client relationship. RyanFulfil performs the agreed China-side sourcing, quality checks, packing, dispatch and fulfilment-issue work. We do not build stores, run advertisements or act as your client’s customer-service department.
- Operating since 2018
- 500+ active client accounts
- 4,000+ orders fulfilled daily
- Ships to 150+ countries
These are RyanFulfil’s own current operating figures across the whole business, not figures for this programme, which is new. The 150+ figure reflects the maintained 147-destination route table; actual eligibility for a given product and route is confirmed in the quote.
The workflow, one layer down
Eight stages, opened up
The sequence is the same whether it is the first client store or the fifth. The eight-step summary on the flagship page is the overview; this is the agency-side detail behind it. For the same operation described to a direct seller, see the seller-side workflow. Every stage below breaks down the same way: what you send, what we return, the decision you own, and where it commonly goes wrong.
During the founding pilot each partner starts by adding up to two new client stores, so the first pass through these stages is meant to be run carefully rather than at volume. Stages three and four are the ones that decide whether an account is profitable for you.
- Register the client Ownership and protection are recorded before any supplier work begins. Your agency
- Brief the product A reference, markets, variants and realistic volume a supplier can act on. Your agency
- Read the net quote Product, shipping and handling, plus the assumptions that move the number. RyanFulfil
- Price it for your client Name your commission or build a model around it. The client price is yours. Your agency
- Connect the store Two-way automatic on Shopify and WooCommerce; tracking sent to you elsewhere. Together
- The first order as a proof run Source, check, pack and ship. Approve it the way you would approve a sample. RyanFulfil
- Tracking and exceptions Tracking syncs back; anything wrong returns to you with the evidence attached. RyanFulfil
- Scale what works Pre-stock, branded packaging or a new market, through the same connection. Together
Step 1 · Your agency
Register the client before any work starts
Registration is not paperwork for its own sake. It records who owns the relationship and fixes protection in place before there is anything worth arguing over. The summary gives this one line; the detail is who owns what on each path.
What you send
The client’s identity — business name and the store or stores — the path you are working (referral, co-managed or white-label), and confirmation the client is yours to bring. If you are not certain whether a seller is already known to us, say so, and we check before anything is recorded.
What we return
A recorded ownership status. On co-managed, white-label and strategic accounts the client is logged as yours and suppressed from our direct marketing, and our sales and operations people see the status before any contact. First accepted registration wins; an introduction is only protected once we confirm it is new.
The decision you own
Which path, chosen before work begins rather than after. On referral, RyanFulfil contracts with, invoices, supports and prices the seller, and your commission is disclosed inside the quote we issue. On co-managed and white-label you hold the contract, invoice the client and set the price.
Where it goes wrong
Registering late. A seller already in conversation with us stays direct, and there is no retroactive claim based on having known them first. Register the moment a client is yours. And never imply to a referred seller that your agency is the one fulfilling: on referral we are, and we say so plainly. The full set of controls is on client protection, summarised under the flagship’s protection section.
Step 2 · Your agency
Brief the product so a supplier can act on it
A quote is only as good as the brief behind it. “Vague briefs produce vague quotes” is the whole game at this stage. You are briefing on your client’s behalf, so the work is getting the facts out of your client in the language a supplier needs.
What a good brief contains
A public listing, clear photos or a written specification — an AliExpress, Alibaba, 1688, Amazon, Temu or Taobao page is a reference, not an instruction to buy from it or to match its retail price. Plus the destination markets, the variants that actually matter (colour, size, material, spec), a realistic volume expectation, packaging intent, and any landed-cost ceiling your client is working to.
What we return
Sourceability and fulfilment fit. We check supplier availability, variant stock, minimum order quantity, domestic lead time and the routes that serve your destination. If the exact product cannot be sourced sensibly, you get the closest viable alternative rather than silence.
The decision you own
Demand and fit stay yours. We assess whether a product can be sourced and shipped; whether it will sell is your client’s market, not ours. RyanFulfil is not a house catalogue or a winning-product list, and we do not share other clients’ products. If you are still choosing, shortlist one or two candidates rather than sending a whole category.
Where it goes wrong
Briefing a category instead of a product, or sending a retail screenshot instead of a specification. Both push the real questions — variant, MOQ, route — to the end, where they change the number after you have already quoted your client. The seller-side workflow sets out the same first-message checklist a direct seller uses; it is the checklist to work your client through.
Step 3 · RyanFulfil
Read the net quote, and read its assumptions twice
The net quote is our cost to do the work, before your commission. Reading it well is what stops you promising a client a number or a date you cannot hold. The headline figure is the easy part; the assumptions are the part that decides whether it survives contact with a real order run.
What we return
Product cost, shipping cost and handling for that product on that route, an estimated delivery window, and the assumptions written down — the variant, the MOQ, the order profile, the route and its customs treatment, and the quote currency. The window is a working transit range for that route, separate from processing time, not a promise about a specific parcel.
What the assumptions cover
The route’s customs treatment: DDP is standard on the vast majority of routes, a few jurisdictions diverge, EU orders under €150 clear under IOSS for import VAT, and a handful of destinations need the customer’s customs ID, such as Turkey, Brazil, South Korea, Chile or Argentina. Also the currency: USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD, NZD and SGD carry no FX surcharge; TRY and HUF carry a small one. Settlement is by Wise or bank transfer.
The decision you own
Whether the estimated window and the landed cost work for your client’s offer. If the assumptions do not match your client’s reality — a smaller run, more variants, a different market — say so now and we re-quote, rather than discovering the gap once orders are live.
Where it goes wrong
Reading the headline number and skipping the assumptions. A quote built on 200 units at one variant does not hold for 20 units across five, and a route’s estimate is not a guaranteed arrival date. Turning an estimate into a fixed promise at your client’s checkout is the fastest way to inherit a fulfilment problem you did not cause. Route windows come from the maintained destination table; the money side is set out in full on Agency Desk pricing.
Step 4 · Your agency
Price it for your client
We quote the backend. What your client pays is yours to set. With step three, this is the stage that decides whether the account is profitable for you, so it is worth doing deliberately with the number in front of you rather than in a churn report later.
Name your commission
You tell us the commission you want on the fulfilment we quote, and we add it into the quote for your client. Guidance is 2%, the level that keeps your client’s landed cost competitive against buying direct from AliExpress. Confident in the relationship? Set it higher — the client carries it, so you are choosing between your margin and their price.
Or build a model around it
Most partners layer more than a per-order commission: a setup or migration fee, a monthly account-management retainer, and separate project fees for samples, packaging or product changes. The retainer pays for support so it does not erode the per-order margin when a client needs a lot of it on a thin one.
The decision you own
The full client price and the terms. On white label you set the price entirely and we never see it. On co-managed you set it and we invoice you. The margin calculator on the resources page is arithmetic on inputs you supply — not a quote, and not a projection of what you will earn.
On referral, the fee is disclosed
Referral is the one path where RyanFulfil contracts, invoices and supports the seller, which makes your commission a fee inside a quote we issue on our own paper. The quote states that a partner fee is included. You still name the figure and still earn it; the seller simply is not surprised by it later, which protects you as much as it protects them. The full commercial picture is on pricing and summarised under the commercial model.
Step 5 · Together
Connect the store, and confirm the start order
With the client priced and a start order agreed, the store connects. How it connects decides whether tracking flows on its own or lands in your hands to apply — and it is also where white-label visibility stops being abstract.
| Platform | How it connects | Orders in | Tracking back | What can be visible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify | Collaborator access via your code — no staff account needed | Pulled in automatically | Uploaded back automatically; triggers the store’s own shipping notification | The requesting entity can appear in the store admin |
| WooCommerce | Direct authorisation, tested before launch | Pulled in automatically | Uploaded back automatically; triggers the store’s notification | The connected app or account can appear in admin |
| TikTok Shop | Order details shared to us | Sent to us per order | Tracking numbers sent to you to apply manually | You apply it, so nothing new shows on your side |
| eBay | Order details shared to us | Sent to us per order | Tracking numbers sent to you to apply manually | You apply it, so nothing new shows on your side |
| Etsy | Order details shared to us | Sent to us per order | Tracking numbers sent to you to apply manually | You apply it, so nothing new shows on your side |
| CSV / Excel | Manual export to start, or a first test with no connection | You send order files | Returned to you in a file to apply | Fully in your hands |
The decision you own
Which connection, and what your client’s store admin will show. New to this, or moving cautiously? Start on CSV or Excel for a first test and move to a live connection once you are comfortable. There is no login, dashboard or portal to hand a client — none exists, and we are not going to show you a screenshot of one.
Where white label gets real
Store app or collaborator access is one of the touchpoints that can identify a China-side operator, alongside the bank beneficiary, carrier tracking, customs documents and the return address. We audit each one against your actual setup and hand you two lists — configured, and still visible — before you promise anything to a client.
Where it goes wrong
Promising a client that nothing will ever show us, then connecting a store that names the collaborator in its admin. White label is a tested operating configuration, not a logo switch: some touchpoints carry your brand, others carry a carrier, a bank or a customs authority and cannot be rewritten by any provider. Get the two lists in writing first — the full split is under white-label limits and on client protection.
Step 6 · RyanFulfil
The first order as a proof run
The first live order is not just the first order. It is the test of everything the brief and the quote assumed. Treat it as a proof run before you scale a client onto it.
What we do
Source from the factory or pull from pre-stocked inventory, run the agreed quality checks at the Guangzhou warehouse, pack neutral or with your branding, and dispatch on the confirmed route across our 4PX, YunTu and Wanbang services. The team on your first order is the team on your thousandth.
What we return
The order fulfilled, tracking on the connected store or sent to you to apply, and — where you asked for it — the quality-control evidence for the check scope you agreed. A sample before volume is a decision point, and we treat it as one rather than a formality.
The decision you own
Whether the proof run holds. Did the variant match, did the packing match the brief, did the route behave. Approve the first order the way you would approve a sample, then scale — do not scale on the assumption that it worked.
Where it goes wrong
Skipping the sample and the first-order check to save a week. Quality that slips is the kind of thing a client calls a liability, and that is in our own public record: two sub-brand lines on the multi-store account slipped far enough to earn exactly that word. The check scope exists so a problem shows up on order one, not order five hundred. The account is documented in full on the multi-store case study.
Step 7 · RyanFulfil
Tracking and exceptions, returned with evidence
Once orders run, two things come back through the partner workflow: the tracking, and the exceptions. The point of this stage is who does what the moment a parcel goes wrong.
What comes back automatically
Tracking syncs to connected Shopify and WooCommerce stores and triggers each store’s own notification; on TikTok Shop, eBay and Etsy the tracking numbers come to you to apply. Reporting during the pilot is prepared for you, not served from a portal — there is no dashboard.
What we return on an exception
The investigation and the evidence. Lost, late, damaged, wrong item or failed address: you take the first line with the end customer, we investigate on the China and carrier side, and the exception comes back to you with the evidence attached, in a form you can put in front of your client. Any covered remedy follows the applicable after-sales window and evidence rules.
The decision you own
The client-facing response. We do not act as your client’s customer-service department. What we owe you is the answer and the evidence fast enough that you can respond well — the one measured figure we publish is a median first reply, with the honest caveat that a first reply is not a resolved problem and about one in five in-hours messages still take longer than half a day.
Where it goes wrong
Passing your client a service-level number we have not given you. Beyond that measured median, our SLAs are a framework rather than published values, because the founding pilot has not proven them yet and we will not quote a target we cannot stand behind. The seller-side material we publish is the same material partners work from: the order issue centre, tracking status meanings, and the framework in full on service levels.
Step 8 · Together
Scale what works
A product that is working is the start of the account, not the end of the workflow. Scaling happens through the same connection, without changing provider or rebuilding anything you set up in the first seven stages.
Move proven demand into stock
Pre-stock follows proven demand rather than optimism. Once a product sells, buying ahead cuts the per-order lead time; we hold it and fulfil from it. It is a decision you make on evidence from live orders, not a bet placed at launch.
Move up the packaging ladder
Packaging climbs from neutral packing, to logo application, to custom boxes and inserts as volume justifies the minimum order quantity. Private-label goods and a white-label service arrangement are separate decisions, quoted separately — one is a unit cost, the other is a way of working.
Open the next store or market
A second store, a new category or a new market goes live through the existing account and connection rather than a fresh onboarding. That is the multi-store structure the case study documents: several storefronts, one point of contact, one invoicing rhythm.
Where it goes wrong
Pre-stocking on optimism, or opening peak season without a plan. Chinese New Year factory closures and carrier congestion move the whole timeline, and the honest move is to plan for it, not absorb it. Scale the products the proof run earned, on the calendar the routes can actually keep. Peak-season and CNY planning is part of the partner kit; the account itself is on the multi-store case study.
Founding partner pilot
You have seen the workflow. Bring the client.
Apply with your current services, client count, target markets and expected order volume. We will recommend referral, co-managed, white-label or strategic access — and tell you plainly if it is not the right time. A person reads every application; nothing is automatically accepted.
Prefer to just ask? WhatsApp +86 178 4666 9989. A person reads it — we are on China hours.
This is not a guaranteed-income or business-in-a-box programme. Partners remain responsible for finding and managing their own clients, and for the claims they make to them. Delivery windows are route-specific estimates, not guarantees, and we do not guarantee sales, profit, product-market fit or carrier outcomes.