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CDF Lite Pricing

If you're on Option B — using your own Ingram CDF Lite account — Ingram invoices you directly for each order they fulfill. This page lays out Ingram's standard CDF pricing so you can plan your storefront margins against Ingram's costs.

Exact figures and any negotiated adjustments are always confirmed with your Ingram account manager — use this page as the reference you'd work from before that conversation.

Option A customers

If you're on Option A (Emersoft's master CDF Lite account), you are not billed by Ingram directly — your CDF costs are rolled into your Emersoft Books subscription and there's nothing for you to calculate here. This page is informational only.

See Plans & Pricing for the Emersoft Books subscription pricing, and Requirements — CDF Lite fulfillment account for the difference between Option A and Option B.

Per-order fees

Ingram charges two per-order fees on top of the title cost — pick-and-pack (a handling fee) and freight (the actual shipping cost).

Fee Amount
Pick and pack $0.70 per unit, capped at $4.00 maximum per line of the same title
Freight UPS and USPS published rates (see Shipping Methods & Carriers)

How the pick-and-pack cap works

Pick and pack is $0.70 per unit, but it is capped at $4.00 per line of the same title. Put another way:

  • 1 copy of a title → $0.70
  • 5 copies of the same title → $3.50
  • 6 copies of the same title → $4.00 (cap reached)
  • 10 copies of the same title → still $4.00

This matters when a customer orders multiple copies of the same book (classroom orders, book club bulk buys, gift sets). Past roughly 6 copies of a single title, the per-unit handling cost flattens — making larger same-title orders disproportionately cheaper to fulfill.

The cap applies per line (per distinct title), not per order. An order with 10 copies of Title A and 10 copies of Title B has two lines and hits the $4.00 cap separately on each line — so $8.00 total pick-and-pack, not $4.00.

Freight

Ingram charges freight at the carrier's published rates — UPS or USPS for domestic shipments, DHL for international. There is no carrier markup, but shipping is quoted based on the actual weight and destination of the order.

The carrier used is determined by the Ingram shipping method that was sent with the order, which in turn comes from how you've mapped your Shopify shipping options in Settings > CDF Lite > Shipping. See Shipping Methods & Carriers for the full method-to-carrier reference and PO Box eligibility.

Trade discount and title pricing

Each title in Ingram's catalog has a discount classification that determines what Ingram charges you for the book itself.

Standard trade titles

Trade titles (designated as "Reg" in Ingram's system) are billed to you at 40% off list price — the standard trade discount. This is the default for the majority of titles in Ingram's catalog and is what you should assume when estimating costs on a typical import.

A $20 list-price trade paperback costs you $12.00.

Short, Long, and Net titles

Not every title qualifies for the full trade discount. Publishers set alternate discount tiers for specific series, imprints, or categories — these are flagged in Ingram's inventory feed as Short, Long, or Net:

Class What it means Typical impact
Short A reduced discount — less than 40% off list You pay more per book than a standard trade title
Long An increased discount — more than 40% off list You pay less per book than a standard trade title
Net No discount — you pay list price Your margin must come entirely from your retail markup

The specific percentage for each Short/Long/Net title is shown on the title's record in Ingram's inventory feed and flows into the cost field when you import the book into Shopify.

Imported cost fields

The cost field populated when you import a book reflects Ingram's standard wholesale price for that title's discount class. If you have a negotiated discount tier with Ingram (for example, an extra 2–5% off based on annual volume), the imported cost does not reflect that automatically — it shows Ingram's baseline wholesale price, not your account-specific price.

To apply a negotiated discount across your imported catalog, use a custom cost rule in Bulk Import — for example, "Ingram price minus 5%". See the FAQ entry on account-specific discounts for details.

Returns credit

When a book is returned through CDF Lite (either via Bulk Returns or Ingram Direct Returns — see Returns & Cancellations), Ingram issues a credit back to your Ingram account.

Item Credit / charge
Trade-discount titles Credited at 48% off list price back to your Ingram account
Short / Long / Net titles Credited according to the discount structure shown in Ingram's inventory feed
Ingram Direct Returns fee $1.25 per unit processing charge (only if using Ingram Direct Returns)

The gap between the 40% billed on the original sale and the 48% credited on return is effectively Ingram's restocking fee — 8 percentage points on a trade title — plus, on Ingram Direct Returns, the $1.25-per-unit handling fee.

Refund form is changing — effective March 2, 2026

Return credits are now applied to your Ingram account (for future purchases or to offset outstanding balances) rather than refunded to the original payment method on the Ingram account. Option B only — Option A customers are unaffected. See Returns & Cancellations for the full note.

Worked example — a typical order

To make the numbers concrete, here's what a simple order looks like end to end for an Option B bookseller. Prices are illustrative — plug in your own list prices and freight quotes for real calculations.

A customer orders 1 copy of a $20 trade paperback. Ingram ships via USA Economy (Media Mail) — say, $4.50 freight.

Line item Amount
Title cost (40% off $20) $12.00
Pick and pack $0.70
Freight $4.50
Ingram's total charge to you $17.20

If you sell this book for $20.00 list price and charge the customer $4.50 shipping at checkout, your gross margin is:

$20.00 + $4.50 – $17.20 = $7.30 (roughly 30% of your combined revenue).

A same-title bulk order scales even more favorably because the pick-and-pack cap flattens the handling component:

Order Title cost @ $12 each Pick and pack Freight (example) Ingram total
1 × $20 paperback $12.00 $0.70 $4.50 $17.20
5 × $20 paperback (same title) $60.00 $3.50 $9.50 $73.00
10 × $20 paperback (same title) $120.00 $4.00 (capped) $14.50 $138.50

Margin planning rules of thumb

A few quick mental models when you're setting storefront prices and shipping rates:

  • On a standard trade title, your per-book wholesale cost before shipping is roughly 40% of list + $0.70. For a $20 book that's about $12.70 per copy. The rest is your gross margin before freight and any your-side costs.
  • Freight is pass-through. Ingram doesn't mark up freight. Match your storefront shipping rate to Ingram's method/carrier mix so freight stays a wash and isn't eaten out of your book margin — see Shipping Methods & Carriers for the full mapping.
  • Beware Net titles. A Net title has no trade discount, so your margin comes entirely from the retail markup (if any) plus your shipping setup. It's worth scanning the discount class on high-volume imports before you price them.
  • Returns cost you ~8 points on trade titles, plus $1.25/unit on Ingram Direct Returns. At a typical CDF return rate under 2%, this is usually a minor line item in your overall margin — but it's worth modeling if you sell categories with higher expected return rates (textbooks, gifts).