eBay

acurael · ‎12-11-2003

We picked up a Dymo 320 labelwriter this past spring and I thought I'd share. You can get details on http://www.dymo.com or of course here on ebay...

Anyhow, it's a bit on the expensive side, but it offers a very professional look for your packages. For those using couriers, it's a good idea to have a "backup" label incase the courier one is destroyed and for those using the post office, this can by your main label.

It offers completely customizable return label with graphic logo if you want, but where it really shines is generating the customer's portion.

It'll integrate with tons of common applications, giving you one click copy paste, then it uses an address verification system to make sure the zip code matches the address. It also knows the names of building, apartments, etc. and adds this info all on it's own. It also generates that bar code you see on commercial mailings - it's something the US post office uses to route/sort the mail. It also cleans up ALL CAPS, all lower case, and other stuff making for a clean, professional label.

The only downside at the moment is that it doesn't verify Canadian addresses - but I would suspect that's coming soon. It's a thermal printer so there's no ink or toner to buy either.

wow - after re-reading that, you'd think I owned shares in the company or something 🙂 I don't, but I think it's something that's helped us quite a bit. We do a significant portion of our sales through our website, and it's saved us quite a few times by catching typos in addresses. It's a breeze to copy and paste the address from the PayPal payment notification too.

Wade

souranial · ‎12-11-2003

Wade,

Wow! It looks really amazing! It has been brought to my attention before but it is really expensive! A local business depot is selling them for $250-$400 !!

What is the difference between this printer and a regular thermal printer that can be purchased off of eBay for $50? The sales clerk at business depot suggested that the "software" included is the reason. I have not actually seen the machine in action so I dont know. What makes this machine different from an eltron?

I am realy looking for a great alternative to hand-writing labels. Recently I have purchased Avery 8.5x11 sheets that have 10 labels on each and I created a label template on MS Word and just copy and paste into there. have you ever done this?

Thanks again for your time and information! It really helps!

Regards,
Daniel

acurael · ‎12-11-2003

We used to preprint return addresses on avery labels, and then print customer addresses as they came in - but it rarely worked out that you used 100% of the label sheet the first time, so then you were messing around with reprinting portions, etc. etc. It also didn't look overly professional imo.

I never looked at the eltron to tell you the truth - from what I saw from a quick search it seems to be only hardware - no software included which is what really shines with the dymo. I know you can download the software and updates from dymo's site - I'm not sure if it'll run without a dymo connected (or with another printer such as an eltron connected) - might be worth a shot though.

When we bought, we got our loval business depot to beat an online price from softmagic.ca - worked out quite well. It's still expensive, but saves a lot of time and looks 10x better.

Wade

ajandjamie · ‎12-11-2003

I buy the avery labels with 30 per sheet - i use my Printmaster program (which lets you choose which label to print on with a simple point and click). I cut and paste from the paypal notice, and print 2 labels, one for the package, and the other for our logs. It's been working well for me.

deltone · ‎12-11-2003

Daniel, that's what I do as well. Sometimes I don't have a full page of customer addies so what I do is I will finish the sheet with my own return address so that I don't have to later muck around with trying to set the print up for the correct label. I find it works very well for me.

brownboxit · ‎12-12-2003

I think the free avery label software that integrates with MS word remembers the last label spots used if i recall, that would help avoid wasting sheets if you are using avery stuff!

catseye* · ‎12-13-2003

I print my shipping labels thru AuctionWorks onto 10-up Avery labels. It prints both the return and the customer addy on one label. Very handy, no cut and paste, I just choose the orders I need labels for, pop the label sheet in the printer and hit print.

As to using all the labels. If I don't use it all on the first print, I turn it around and go the other way. Sometimes I quickly cut off the 'already-printed' area and go from there. Not really much hassle at all.

*JMHO* - to be taken with a grain of salt!

acurael · ‎12-14-2003

The problem we had with using the avery style labels is that orders are processed throughout the day - sometimes dozens at a time, sometimes singles - this lead to running the same label sheet through the laser several times - leading to jams, dirty printing, etc.

For our situation, the Dymo works great - but it might not work (the best) for everyone.

Wade