eBay

vip-marketplace · ‎12-13-2016

Hey guys!

I'd like to find a more economical way of printing shipping labels.

Which would be more convenient are more economical in the long run. But would Canada Post / PayPal shipping labels be compatible with it?

Does anyone here use such a label printer? Otherwise what works well for you?

i.am.vivian · ‎12-13-2016

@vip-marketplace wrote:
Hey guys!

I'd like to find a more economical way of printing shipping labels.

Which would be more convenient are more economical in the long run. But would Canada Post / PayPal shipping labels be compatible with it?

Does anyone here use such a label printer? Otherwise what works well for you?

And gals. 😠

If you think spending over $200 on a special label printing machine is going to save you money, I'd love to hear how you work that out.

I use a sheet of paper and a glue stick. Or else get 'labelopes' free from the local postal outlet and stick it in one of those. It was born out of necessity when my 'real' sticky labels first ran out and I didn't get to buying more right away.

As for convenience, you will have to decide that for yourself. I like cutting, glueing and taping, I don't mind the paper thing a bit.

YMMV.

vip-marketplace · ‎12-13-2016

I'm shipping 10 to 20 package a day and the labels I'm using right now are full pages sticker (2 per 8.5"x11" sheet) and they cost ~24 cents / ea.

It's also now very convenient as I have to load these label sheet in my regular printer everytime I have to print a shipping label.

I'm very interested in thermal printer dedicated for shipping labels - either a Dymo 4XL or a Zebra 2844.

However, I am unsure if it's possible to print shipping Canada Post / PayPal shipping labels using these printers in Canada.

Anyone uses them?

i.am.vivian · ‎12-13-2016

@vip-marketplace wrote:
I'm shipping 10 to 20 package a day and the labels I'm using right now are full pages sticker (2 per 8.5"x11" sheet) and they cost ~24 cents / ea.

It's also now very convenient as I have to load these label sheet in my regular printer everytime I have to print a shipping label.

I'm very interested in thermal printer dedicated for shipping labels - either a Dymo 4XL or a Zebra 2844.

I just looked that up, a Dymo LabelWriter 4XL, and there's one on eBay with a start bid of 99 cents. No bids yet so I'm not sure if that $300 BIN will drop off after that or not.

I think you will end up having to decide for yourself how much you are willing to pay for the 'convenience' of sticky labels and a special machine to print them on. I don't take in enough in sales to justify it, but it will be interesting to hear from others and how they get the most ease from the least expenditure. 🙂

pocomocomputing · ‎12-13-2016

@vip-marketplace wrote:

I'm shipping 10 to 20 package a day and the labels I'm using right now are full pages sticker (2 per 8.5"x11" sheet) and they cost ~24 cents / ea.

It's also now very convenient as I have to load these label sheet in my regular printer everytime I have to print a shipping label.

I'm very interested in thermal printer dedicated for shipping labels - either a Dymo 4XL or a Zebra 2844.

However, I am unsure if it's possible to print shipping Canada Post / PayPal shipping labels using these printers in Canada.

Anyone uses them?

PayPal Canada Post labels only supports regular full page printers (8.5"x11"). No direct support for 4x6 labels printers.

However, I read in these forums how one seller used the 4x6 label thermal printer. I understood the process was as follows.

- Use the thermal printer as a regular printer.

- set browser printer settings to print in landscape (11x8.5) from portrait which reduces the label size by 25 percent

- set the browser margins page margins (left right top bottom) to as small as possible to fit/center the label in a 4x6 space

- the full page label will then fit on the 4x6 label with the receipt part bottom half printing into the virtual full sheet outside of margins so you do not spill over onto another label.

This was what I understood to be the method when I saw it posted years ago. I do not know if PayPal labels format and printing changed to alter this "trick". You can simulate printing this way on your regular printer and see if it fits in a 4x6 space. Before testing, mark down your current browser print margins and paper size so you can go back to normal.

Note that you have to play with browser print setting since this is what you use to print a PayPal label. It will affect all other printing from the browser you are using. Make sure you mark down the current setting so you can go back to use your existing PayPal labels. Now having played with the browser printer setup and page size and margins, if you want to print a packing slip, the setup is all wrong and you will not be able to print properly the packing slip. I do not know how to handle this unless you use an extra browser for printing the labels. ?? Don't know so you would have to experiment with this.

So the next time you have a PayPal label ready to go and you have time to try it, test with the print sample label a few times to see how it fits.

Another method is to print to a PDF file and not directly to the printer. Then edit the PDF file and change the size and margins of the PDF file and print to the thermal printer. This may take too long to do. The first method is more direct.

One issue with this "trick" is that the label is 25% smaller, the fonts, bar codes, all. It may have issues being read, the address or the bar code. When I read the original poster discussing this, they said it was not an issue.

I cannot comment on the practicality of this "trick". I never tried it. What I posted is what I understood how the "trick" works. I may be wrong.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-13-2016

I don't often use Paypal shipping, but when I do I print off the label on a sheet of ordinary paper and tape it to the parcel with clear packing tape, including a strip over the buyer's address.

KISS.

The other half of the label gets cut off, notes about who, where , when and how are added and then it is stapled to my copy of the invoice.

thestuffofchris · ‎12-13-2016

This is exactly what I do. Print, cut, tape, file, done.

femmefan1946 · ‎12-14-2016

The Boomer and the Millennial agree!

vip-marketplace · ‎12-14-2016

**bleep**... I was so exited at the idea of printing nice / professional labels in one click on a button instead of having to "Print, cut, tape, file".

Why would US sellers have the possibility to use thermal printer but not us.... I may look like a big cry baby but it's not fair. 😞

Well thanks guys - I guess I'll keep doing what I've been doing so far.

bos_dsl · ‎02-08-2017

ups supplies free shipping labels 11x8.5 - 2 labels per sheet.

dutchman48 · ‎02-08-2017

I use a Dymo 400 and love it. I don't print shipping labels through Paypal, etc as I send most of my stuff out with stamps.

I just cut and paste the address from the Paypal payment to Dymo and it is there forever for repeat buyers.

Each to their own as they say.

38e_avenue · ‎02-08-2017

I am using a regular laser printer, then I fold the printed label in half and put into an adhesive pouch provided for free by Canada Post. You can order them from the CP website. Convenient, free of charge - however, they allow to order only 200 pcs every 3 months

digitalsphere_9 · ‎07-05-2017

I've tried every method of printing an 8.5x11 Canada Post label with my Zebra 4x6 thermal printer and have found the perfect no-fuss solution to doing this in (almost) one step.

Before finding the solution I tried sending the label as a raster image directly to the thermal printer. I did this by taking a screenshot of the label portion of the Canada Post label and sending that as an image to the printer. Now because this is sent as a raster, the printer tries to dither everything and it comes out horrible and illegible.

Then I wondered, how can I print USPS labels perfectly and clearly with Stamps then? It must be because those labels are printed as vectors. The solution? Send your Canad Post label to your thermal printer with a vector application instead. So I opened the label in Illustrator, cropped out the receipt portion, plopped it onto a 4x6 artboard and BAM! A crystal clear Canada Post thermal print.

Now I know nobody want to go through Illustrator just to print a label so I found an even simpler way.

Open your PayPal Canada Post label as a PDF (this usually happens automatically when you click print) and make sure you are opening your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro (not reader.. well I havent tested with reader but I'm assuming it can't crop). Just click Tools > Pages > Crop. Now drag your selection over the label portion of the label and press Enter. Now your label will be set up for the thermal dimensions! Click print, choose "fit" under size options, click "page setup" and chose the 4x6 page and DONE. You can now print all of your Canada Post 8.5x11 printers directly to your thermal printer all from one spot with ease.

I'm loving this so much. It costs me less than a penny to create a label and no more tape and label envelope purchases!

pjcdn2005 · ‎07-05-2017

Thanks for sharing. 🙂

pocomocomputing · ‎07-05-2017

@digitalsphere_9 wrote:
I've tried every method of printing an 8.5x11 Canada Post label with my Zebra 4x6 thermal printer and have found the perfect no-fuss solution to doing this in (almost) one step.

Before finding the solution I tried sending the label as a raster image directly to the thermal printer. I did this by taking a screenshot of the label portion of the Canada Post label and sending that as an image to the printer. Now because this is sent as a raster, the printer tries to dither everything and it comes out horrible and illegible.

Then I wondered, how can I print USPS labels perfectly and clearly with Stamps then? It must be because those labels are printed as vectors. The solution? Send your Canad Post label to your thermal printer with a vector application instead. So I opened the label in Illustrator, cropped out the receipt portion, plopped it onto a 4x6 artboard and BAM! A crystal clear Canada Post thermal print.

Now I know nobody want to go through Illustrator just to print a label so I found an even simpler way.

Open your PayPal Canada Post label as a PDF (this usually happens automatically when you click print) and make sure you are opening your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro (not reader.. well I havent tested with reader but I'm assuming it can't crop). Just click Tools > Pages > Crop. Now drag your selection over the label portion of the label and press Enter. Now your label will be set up for the thermal dimensions! Click print, choose "fit" under size options, click "page setup" and chose the 4x6 page and DONE. You can now print all of your Canada Post 8.5x11 printers directly to your thermal printer all from one spot with ease.

I'm loving this so much. It costs me less than a penny to create a label and no more tape and label envelope purchases!

Not many sellers here are going to have a copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro which goes for $15 USD monthly license just to print a label a few times a month. Most just sell on eBay with a low cost computer and have no other software other than free ones available on the internet.

Did you try my possible solutions in post 5? It would be nice to know if it works since it is free. I never could test it since I do not have a Zebra 4x6 label printer.

eurobeads · ‎07-06-2017

I handwrite on all my packages & I advocate it for many reasons:
A) It's the most economical
B) It's friendlier & more personal. It reduces chances of theft when possible thief thinks product is being sent by grandma vs. by a big online company. Also reduces odds of negative feedback/scam by buyer by making them feel guilty about doing it to a real live person vs to a factory/big company.
C) It doesn't get lost or mid-delivered by mailman (because it looks different from all other packages, odds of mistakes are reduced)
D) You can get away with putting less postage on it (if your neighbourhood Postal people hook you up) and when it gets to the sorting facility your under-posted packages won't be returned to you because you're not a "company", just a "regular individual who didn't know better".
***E) Americans rarely input their full correct address (they always leave out the last digits of their zip code). If you use automatic printing labels, you are not inputting the full correct address. I go to the USPS site, find the full zip code & add it myself. Since I've been doing this, my packages get to the US WAY faster.

Of course this system doesn't work if you have tons of packages everyday or if you have bad handwriting/printing! 🙂

zee-chan · ‎07-06-2017

I also handwrite my envelopes and stamp them (not postal stamps but picture stamps) for decoration. I can't be bothered to turn on my computer every time I have a sale (few times a month) so handwriting is faster. I only print labels when it's cheaper than counter rate (ex. expedited parcel), and when I do, I print on regular paper, put them in a clear sleeve (from old packaging such as from stickers, I don't even use labelopes), then tape all four sides to the package 💌

hlmacdon · ‎07-06-2017

@eurobeads wrote:

D) You can get away with putting less postage on it (if your neighbourhood Postal people hook you up) and when it gets to the sorting facility your under-posted packages won't be returned to you because you're not a "company", just a "regular individual who didn't know better".

Are you actually advocating postal fraud?

hlmacdon · ‎07-06-2017

@zee-chan wrote:
I also handwrite my envelopes and stamp them (not postal stamps but picture stamps) for decoration.

The one consideration here is anything that is not computer printed in standard label format can't be automatically scanned and goes to manual sort which delays processing.

hlmacdon · ‎07-06-2017

@digitalsphere_9 wrote:

Open your PayPal Canada Post label as a PDF (this usually happens automatically when you click print) and make sure you are opening your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro (not reader.. well I havent tested with reader but I'm assuming it can't crop). Just click Tools > Pages > Crop. Now drag your selection over the label portion of the label and press Enter. Now your label will be set up for the thermal dimensions! Click print, choose "fit" under size options, click "page setup" and chose the 4x6 page and DONE. You can now print all of your Canada Post 8.5x11 printers directly to your thermal printer all from one spot with ease.

I'm loving this so much. It costs me less than a penny to create a label and no more tape and label envelope purchases!

Great solution and creativity there, I'll have to give that a try next time I have something going out to a Canadian address. Using anything other than a thermal print is a pain in the butt. My last two Zebras I picked up for dirt cheap and they are built like tanks.