PayPal / eBay shipping labels w/ thermal printer?

[Kelric]

Anyone here use a thermal printer for shipping labels from those two sites? If so, any recommendations? I'd prefer finding one supported by PayPal so I don't have to go through a third party label software company or some other ridiculousness.

[Jeff V]

Anyone here use a thermal printer for shipping labels from those two sites? If so, any recommendations? I'd prefer finding one supported by PayPal so I don't have to go through a third party label software company or some other ridiculousness.

I don't have enough volume for that. I just print labels on plain paper and tape them to the package. I do use Stamps.com, which is what Amazon uses when I fill orders through them. Which reminds me....I have one to do tonight. Thank's, Kelric!

[Kraken]

I considered thermal for Curio City and rejected it for reasons I can't exactly remember. I think the labels were expensive, I didn't want another gadget with only one purpose, and you had to use the Endicia or Stamps.com software (no click-n-ship). I just used my regular laser/inkjet printers. The one advantage to the thermal labels is that they're a lot smaller than half-sheet labels. They might make sense if you do more volume than I did or if you ship very small packages.

[LawBeefaroni]

I just used PayPal ship now and self adhesive labels through a laser printer. I think the price per label was around 10 - 15 cents including toner cost.

[LordMortis]

self adhesive labels through a laser printer.

Unless your printer/labels are subsidized by a vendor, I'd think this to be more cost effective for a home user/home business. That said, at work, we use three thermal printers. One purchased for bar coding, one provided by UPS, one provided by FedEx. All three are different forms of Zebra. They seem to be the standard. I'm betting used printers go cheap. Make sure they are compatible with Windows 10. We had to trash an old one from UPS after I played with it for about two hours trying to move it from Windows 7 to Windows 10 last year.

Question,

Why would paypal or ebay "support" a printer? Don't they all use a standard 4x6 label?

In my ignorance I went to ebay and...

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posti ... ls?id=4157

You can print FedEx, USPS or UPS shipping labels from Sold - opens in new window or tab in My eBay:

FedEx and UPS shipping label charges will be invoiced on your monthly eBay invoice.
USPS shipping label charges will be pulled from your PayPal account. You must have a PayPal account to choose this option. To fund your USPS label, you can either link a bank account or credit card to the PayPal account or use your PayPal balance.

Note: Managed payments sellers can use their pending payout balance to pay for USPS shipping labels, as long as there's enough to cover the label’s cost.

[Kelric]

I just used PayPal ship now and self adhesive labels through a laser printer. I think the price per label was around 10 - 15 cents including toner cost.

I was trying to avoid the toner cost, though that isn't bad.

Why would paypal or ebay "support" a printer? Don't they all use a standard 4x6 label?

IDK, PayPal mentioned specific printers for their labels.

[LordMortis]

First glance suggests they use USPS and UPS

https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/FAQ3852

So you aren't really printing a paypal label but a USPS or UPS label

...That's first glance anyway.

This I don't understand

UPS labels must be purchased with a PayPal balance

UPS don't require you to use UPS labels. People RMA with paper printed labels all day every day. I don't pretend to know anything about PayPal and their relationship to you and UPS though.

This guy suggests it is as simple as I envision it. (from 2019)



He mentions ZebraLP.... I also gravitate to Zebra because that's what everyone does. For me, it's more about barcoding in general and all of the different vendors that utilize it, than it is for UPS or USPS (or Paypal) though.

[LawBeefaroni]

You have to go through PayPal to get the discounted shipping rates and all the other benefits (tracking through eBay/PayPal, seller protection, etc).

Labels are UPS/USPS but purchased through PayPal.

[LawBeefaroni]

Dupe

[Jeff V]

After about 6 months of dormancy, I've sold six books on Amazon in the past week. Today, one of them specified 2nd day. Amazon charged the person $15 for shipping. When I went to purchase shipping through Amazon, the shipping was $24 (for a $10 book).

Instead of canceling the order, I did UPS ground at $11 ($19 for 2nd day ETA is only a day difference and is one day all that critical for a book about Austerlitz?) I've had to cancel international orders in the past because the transaction would cost me money, sometimes, a lot of money. For a company whose existence is based on shipping things, especially books (they started as a book store), you'd think they'd have that down pat.

[LawBeefaroni]

I missed a consignment email last week on an $80 offer on a Jose Altuve baseball card. $6 under my asking price, of course I would have taken it. All I had to do was click a button. The consignor would ship at buyer's expense and only takes like 4%.