01 · The point
What this warehouse is actually for
We will be straight with you, because you will work it out from the rate card anyway: for most routes the Romania hub is cheaper, because fulfillment there is free and here it is €2.20 a parcel.
So why does this hub exist, and when should you use it?
- Returns cost €1 flat on the Romania, Bulgaria and Greece routes. Out of Romania those same returns cost you the full shipping rate again. If your product has a high refusal rate, that difference compounds fast.
- Greece is cheaper to ship to from here, €3.44 against €4.44 out of Romania. The free fulfillment in Romania still wins on total cost at a normal return rate, but not at a high one.
- A second hub is redundancy. Sellers running real volume split stock so one warehouse issue does not stop everything.
Romania wins on price. Bulgaria wins on forgiveness. Which one is right depends entirely on how often your parcels come back.
Rather than argue that in prose, there is a calculator further down that does the arithmetic on your actual return rate and tells you which hub is cheaper. It will often say Romania. That is fine, they are both ours.
02 · The network
Every route from the Bulgaria hub
Live rates, per parcel, 300 g to 1.2 kg. Fulfillment on this hub is €2.20, which is included in the total column.
Bulgaria warehouse rate card
Shipping plus €2.20 fulfillment. Return cost is what a refused parcel costs to bring back.
| Destination | Courier | Transit | Shipping | Total per parcel | If refused |
|---|
Warehousing and storage are free here, same as every hub. The €1 return rate applies to the three 24 hour routes.
Reading the table
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece all deliver in 24 hours and all return for €1. Those three rows are the reason to use this warehouse. Everything else on the table is servable but is usually cheaper out of Romania.
Hungary returns at €3, still a flat rate rather than the shipping rate. Czechia, Slovakia and Slovenia return at the shipping rate from here but return free out of Romania, so those three routes belong on the Romania hub unless you have a specific reason. Poland returns at the shipping rate from either hub.
03 · The decision
Bulgaria or Romania? Run your own numbers
Pick your destination and set your return rate. This compares total cost across 100 confirmed orders on both hubs, including what the refused ones cost to bring back. Green is the cheaper hub.
Hub comparison, 100 confirmed orders
Shipping plus fulfillment on every confirmed order, plus the return cost on the refused ones.
Two things you will notice playing with it. For most destinations Romania stays cheaper no matter where you drag the return rate, because free fulfillment is simply a large head start. Greece is the interesting one: the crossover sits at a return rate somewhere in the mid thirties, so if more than about a third of your Greek parcels come back, this hub is the cheaper place to ship them from.
If your return rate is that high, though, the better move is usually to fix the return rate rather than to move warehouse. The COD Europe guide has a section on what actually moves that number.
04 · The market
Selling cash on delivery in Bulgaria
Bulgaria sits near the top of European COD adoption, just behind Romania. Depending on the category, somewhere between 40% and 60% of parcels are paid at the door, and in the categories that suit this model, supplements, cosmetics, home and cleaning goods, it is at the higher end.
It is a smaller market than Romania, which cuts both ways. There is less total volume available, but there is also less competition bidding up your traffic. Sellers who find Romania crowded often find Bulgaria and Greece quieter for a similar delivery cost.
Practically, buyers here behave much like Romanian buyers: they expect the option to pay cash, they expect the parcel quickly, and they refuse it if the ad promised something the product does not do. Speed and honesty are the two levers, same as everywhere else in the region.
A note on couriers
Bulgarian ecommerce runs heavily on Speedy and Econt, and you will see them mentioned in every guide about the market. Our Bulgarian and Romanian routes are carried by Sameday, so if a specific carrier matters to you for a reason, ask before you commit stock rather than after.
05 · FAQ
Questions people ask
Romania for most cases, because fulfillment there is free and that is a large head start on total cost. Bulgaria when your return rate is high, particularly on the Greek route, because refused parcels come back for a flat €1 instead of the shipping rate. The calculator on this page does the arithmetic on your own numbers.
€2.20 per parcel, covering pick, pack, label and courier handover. Warehousing and storage are free, same as every hub. The full rate card for all four warehouses is on the fees page.
Romania, Bulgaria and Greece in 24 hours, then Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia and Slovenia in 48 hours. Eight destinations. Italy is not served from this hub; use Romania for that.
The Romania, Bulgaria and Greece routes are handled on a flat €1 return rate rather than being billed at the shipping rate. On a route where a return otherwise costs €3.31 or €4.44, that is a meaningful difference once you multiply it by every refused parcel.
Yes, and sellers at real volume usually do. The common pattern is Romania as the main hub with Bulgaria carrying the Greek route, or splitting stock across both so a problem in one warehouse does not stop everything.
Industry estimates put Bulgaria in the 40% to 60% band alongside Greece, with Romania higher at an estimated 60% to 65% of orders. Consumer goods, cosmetics and supplements sit at the top of that range; higher ticket and technical products sit lower.