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Managing Markup Parity Between Your WMS and iDrive TMS

This article explains how shipping rate markups work when you use iDrive TMS alongside your warehouse management system (WMS), when those markups need to match, and how to keep them aligned.

 Overview

If you mark up shipping rates for your end clients, that markup can live in two places:

  • Your WMS, where you bill your end clients for warehouse services and (sometimes) shipping.
  • iDrive TMS, where rates and quotes are generated and, in some billing arrangements, invoices are produced.

These two systems are not connected. If you change a markup in one, the other will not update automatically. Whether that matters depends on which billing model you use.

This article covers:

  • The two billing models we support
  • Where markups live in each model
  • Your responsibilities for keeping markups aligned
  • A setup checklist and quick decision tree

 1. Billing Models

There are two billing models. The markup-parity question only matters in one of them.

Model A: Pass-Through Billing (iDrive bills you directly)

This is the most common model.

  • iDrive bills you, the 3PL.
  • You bill your own end clients (the brands or merchants in your warehouse).
  • You control your end-client markup inside your WMS.
  • You do not use iDrive TMS for end-client billing, parcel-level data (PLDs), or analytics.
  • iDrive does not see or care about the markup you apply in your WMS.

Markup parity required? No. The two markups are independent by design.

 Model B: Direct Billing (iDrive bills your end client)

  • iDrive bills your brand or merchant directly, using invoices and PLDs generated by iDrive TMS.
  • You still bill the brand in your WMS for value-added services such as picking, packing, receiving, and packaging fees.
  • Your end client can review their shipping invoice from iDrive on the iDrive TMS Billing pages.
  • Shipping charges are not billed by you. Because both systems can present rates to the brand, the markup you set in iDrive TMS must be identical to the markup you set in your WMS. iDrive will also enable the “Display 3PL Rates” setting on your tenant so that rates are not marked up twice and so that rate shopping in the WMS remains competitive.

Markup parity required? Yes. The TMS markup and the WMS markup must be identical, or invoices and PLDs will not reconcile.

 2. Where Markups Live Today

There is no programmatic connection between the markup field in iDrive TMS and the markup field in your WMS. They are two independent values, entered manually in two different interfaces.

Component

System of record

Who edits it

What it affects

Base shipping rate

iDrive TMS

iDrive

Rating and label cost

Brand-level markup (TMS)

iDrive TMS

3PL admin

TMS quotes, parcel-level data (PLDs), and invoices iDrive sends to your end clients

Brand-level markup (WMS)

Your WMS

3PL admin

WMS invoices that you send to your end clients

Sync between the two markups

None

—

Markups must be kept identical manually

 3. Your Responsibilities

For Direct Billing clients, you own the markup values in both systems. iDrive will help verify parity at onboarding and during any change, but ongoing accuracy is your responsibility.

Activity

Owner

Set the markup in iDrive TMS

3PL admin

Set the markup in your WMS

3PL admin

Verify the two markups match (Direct Billing only)

3PL admin, with verification support from iDrive at onboarding

Keep markups in sync after any change

3PL admin

Reconcile invoices if a mismatch occurs

3PL admin, with support from iDrive

 4. Setup Checklist (Direct Billing)

When onboarding a brand that iDrive will direct-bill, complete each of these steps:

  • Confirm whether you are using the native WMS integration or a third-party integration with iDrive TMS.
  • Decide the brand-level markup percentage you want applied.
  • Enter the markup in the iDrive TMS rate setup.
  • Enter the same markup in your WMS.
  • Confirm with iDrive that the “Display 3PL Rates” tenant setting is enabled.
  • Document the markup percentage and the effective date in your onboarding records.
  • Make sure the team member who owns rate changes knows the markup must be updated in both systems on the same day.

 5. Important Limitations

Before you go live, you should know the following:

  • Markups do not sync between iDrive TMS and your WMS. Any change must be made manually in both systems.
  • There is no automatic alert if a markup is changed in only one system. Silent drift is possible if your team is not disciplined about updating both.
  • Markup fields are not visible in a single cross-tenant view today, so verification requires checking each tenant individually.

Our product team is actively working on automated sync, change-detection alerts, and a cross-tenant view. In the meantime, the manual process described in this article is the supported workflow.

 6. Quick Decision Tree

Use this if you are unsure whether markup parity applies to a specific brand:

  • Is this a Direct Billing arrangement (iDrive bills the brand)?
    • No - Pass-Through billing. You control your WMS markup independently. No further action needed.
    • Yes - Markup parity is required.
  • Has the same markup been set in both iDrive TMS and your WMS?
    • Yes - Document the markup percentage and effective date in your onboarding record. You are done.
    • No - Do not go live until both values match.
  • If you change a markup later, change it in both systems on the same day.

Need help?

If you are unsure which billing model applies to a brand, or you suspect a markup mismatch, contact your iDrive Customer Experience representative. We can help verify the values in iDrive TMS and walk through reconciliation if invoices do not match.