I currently have an HP Laser Printer (old P1102W) that I use in part to print USPS Priority Mail labels on Avery 5126 Labels for my priority mail packages.

It keeps smearing and artifacting.

This got me thinking—what are the better printers for sticky labels or other labels others use?

I don't do high volume mailers, about maybe 10 a week average. But I do enough that I need to print them off and not handfill out the labels, etc.

Are laser printers good for this, and I have the wrong one?

Or are InkJet printers better?

Are there some labels better than others? I.E. Is it my label?

Any insight on how others make it work, especially you high volume folks, is appreciated!

My biggest annoyance in the world is having to ship something, whether it’s returning something to Amazon or selling something online. Nobody I know has a printer, and no stores near me will allow me to print something.

I need a printer that is cheap, uses lasers so I don’t need ink and will be used literally once every month or two for shipping labels.

Does a product like that exist?

I am brand new to this and just want to sell a few items. I will be shipping these USPS Priority Flat Rate.

I do not own a printer. Can I take my package to the post office and have them print the label for me? Is there an extra charge to do that?

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the tips! I’ll be on the lookout for a cheap printer.

I've been using regulr paper and just taping the label onto the box, but I'm sick of how messy its making the box look. I'm wanting to look into actual sticky paper for labels.

I'm just not sure whether to invest in a label printer, or to just get label paper, such as these: https://a.co/d/eGoQg94

While the paper may be more budget friendly, I'm wondering if the whole dedicated label printer would be better in the long run, and waste wise. I just go through so much tape, it just feels like such a waste.

Anyways, if you do have a label printer, do you recommend it versus a regular printer? Can you just put any old label paper in there or does it have to be a specific brand/type? Can you send labels to it via bluetooth or the cloud or the like? Do the labels stick okay or would I need to tape it down as well? What label printer would you recommend, or does any old amazon one work? How much is too much for a label printer? What should I look for in one?

Thank you all in advance! I'm just growing beyond what I've ever imagined, and I'm excited to see where this goes! I just want my packages to look professional.

Rollo, Dymo 4XL, Zebra 2844 and Brother QL-1100.

If someone could tell me which of these 4 printers are able to print all 3 carrier's labels, and which of them, if any, do not print all 3 carrier's label, and which, I would very much appreciate it.

Thank you.

Title.

I’m shopping on Amazon, I have been looking at their promoted ”Rollo Wireless thermal printer” I can’t afford a PC/Laptop right now just for printing and would like to stick with my phone.

So wireless is preferred, ideally I just want it to show up as a printer and not have to use an APP to connect to it.

Who here has what and how much do you love/hate your label/shipping printer?

UPDATE

I went with a Brother QL1110NWB, its wireless and works with air drop or Bluetooth, can print 4x6 and use smaller custom sized labels and it can also be used with batteries.

I have a Brother laser printer and it’s done solid work and hasn’t broke on me yet so I’m gonna try another one of their products.

If anyone is interested I can post an update in a couple weeks once I let my inventory go live again and start using it.

Another reason I went with the brother over many of the other brands is that I have seen people complaining that their printers DPI needs to be at least 3 or USPS and UPS were having trouble scanning their labels.

The rollo was like 200 DPI while the Brother was 300 and I can’t really afford to not use it if the labels don’t scan so I bit the bullet for a more expensive one.

Hi! I’m looking to buy a thermal printer to create labels and printer from home for my business. I’m a bit confused on how the online platform works. I’m getting a lot of conflicting information regarding cost, and what I should be paying.

First - any tips for using the online click and ship? I’ve gone through the process, start to finish to test it and I don’t feel confident in the details I’ve added. I’ll be using poly mailers, but there isn’t an option for that. I’ve read if you use the wrong description, or choose the wrong option it could cause delay. Any tips to navigate that?

Second - any info on costs? I understand it’s dependent on weight. I’ll be shipping clothing (lightweight) no more than 1lb. I’ve seen online I should be expecting 4-5 dollars. However when I went through the process online I’m seeing 8-9 dollars. Not a huge deal, I could eat the cost, but considering I’m just starting my business I’d like to try and keep costs low.

Any help is appreciated and thank you for your time!

Also, sorry if I used the wrong flair

Ok, This is legit driving me nuts. I've worked in tech my entire life, so competency isn't my issue, I just can't figure out how the hell to print shipping labels with a...you guessed it, shipping label printer. Ideas?

I used to buy 8.5x11 sheets of labels and print on those, then cut the label out, but that got expensive, and time consuming (I photograph models as a hobby and ship prints out all the time), so I bought a label printer, specifically an IDPRT SP420 so I could just bust out thermal labels to ship whenever I wanted. Easy right? no.

For starters, whenever I try to print a label from ANYTHING, online fedex, usps, fedex ship manager, etc, It only prints the instructions part of the label (you know, the other half of the page), and the actual fedex/usps label is either 100% missing, or prints on half the label only. The ONLY way I've been able to do it so far, is to take a screen capture of the label, paste this into a 4x6 canvas in photoshop, and then print the image.

I've checked paper settings (4x6, check), orientation (didnt matter), and even tried setting fedex ship manager to use custom label sizes, (4x6 instead of the default 4x6.75), and yet NOTHING works except photoshop. I've read that fedex prefers zebra printers, but come on, it can't be THAT hard to use another label printer, right? so what am I doing wrong? Fedex website, USPS website, pdf viewer, fedex shipmanager, etc all will not correctly print on this 4x6 thermal label printer.

Edit: here's what fedex ship manager spits out with a 4x6" label type specified:

Forgive the large size.

Here's windows ->print test page:

https://imgur.com/a/UC6KVFc

Thanks in advance!

My dad and I both print a lot of shipping labels so I thought now would be a good time to pick up a thermal label printer and get us both a nice gift for Christmas. Does anyone have any recommendations for printers, particularly one that's easy to connect with Etsy?

I’m currently thinking about getting one, but all of them are either extremely pricy to buy and to refill or there ain’t enough information about the product.

I ain’t really willing to pay >0.1€ per printing label, excluding other expenses like the printer itself.

I have recently received three items in small bubble envelope mailers with a pre printed label and shipping was $1.25 and I need to send something similar to a buyer, but eBay and Paypal are only giving me a $4.25 option.

I asked one of the sellers, how they did it and they said they can select Ebay Shipping and First Class and it prints it for them, but I do not have this option. I get Priority, Ground and flat rate only.

Does anyone know of a printing service where I could get small batches of non-prepaid shipping labels printed? I send a lot of stuff to the same address, but I don't have a printer. I usually use the self-service kiosk, but sometimes it's out of commission (I'm assuming it ran out of label stock and the staff hasn't bothered to refill it), and I hate filling out labels by hand.

I have looked far and wide and none of the sample label files look anything like the pdf I get when I purchase shipping after a sale. I need a sample PDF file which has the cropped 4x6 label on page 1 of 2.

I'm trying to test some new labels I purchased for my ink jet printer. I didn't want the purchase of 4x6 shipping label printer to absorb my profits, and the half sheet labels I had been using were becoming a waste.

So, I recently use pirateship as to get the lowest rate, The shipping I used is first class USPS. But I don't have any packages or a printer on hand. Will USPS help me print a shipping label and provide me a box in the office?

I have had my shop since 2015, and have always gone just to the counter but now I find it harder and harder to get in before it closes. Most of them close around 4 there is one in my area that closes at 10 but actually doesn't stay open that long so I never know if I'm actually gonna get to send off my package. So I have Decided I need to get a thermal printer but I don't know what one to get, I plan on using pirateship to make my labels unless there is a better option. My shop has started to pick up a little this year I don't do alot maybe 1 to 2 orders a week.

Edit i ended up going with a funglam thermal label printer

I sell on multiple marketplaces (eBay, Amazon, Walmart). Advice to anyone who uses a laser or, even worse, inkjet to print shipping labels: Stop. Get a thermal label printer. Prices have significantly dropped in recent months (just about the only thing to do so other than video cards), and right now you can get printers from any one of two dozen Chinese brands with the usual Chinglish brand names for $60-70 at Amazon. It doesn't matter which one; they're all the same. (That said, I advise paying $20-30 more and getting one with 300dpi, not the usual 203dpi. More on this later.)

"But I only print one label or so a day", you say. Doesn't matter. Even if you only print one a week, having a little device that instantly prints labels that you peel off and immediately slap onto a box is so, so, so much nicer than manually swapping paper types in a tray or sliding the label sheet (remembering to put it in the correct orientation) into the manual slot, then waiting for the laser to warm up or the inkjet to do its thing (and, in the latter case, having to remember to avoid touching the printed part because it'll smear otherwise). Oh, did I mention that thermal printers need no ink? And they can also print packing slips, and the appropriate labels for those who sell through Amazon FBA? Sometimes dedicated devices really are the best for some things, and the list of such things includes "making things appear on a 4x6 label".

I do have a laser printer, and use it for things the label printer isn't suited for. Until recently, that included photographs. To dissuade dishonesty among buyers, when selling an expensive item I photograph the serial number and packing slip together, and include the photo with the packing slip when preparing the shipment. Until recently I used the laser for this, because it supports AirPrint so shows up as a destination on the iPhone after taking the photo. While I could always print labels wirelessly from my laptop,¹ the iPhone can only print wirelessly via AirPrint.² Since I expected that any serial-number photos from the label printer would be unreadable, I didn't bother looking for an alternative.

I did, however, end up implementing access to the label printer with AirPrint for other reasons.³ Out of curiosity I tried printing a serial number photo, and was shocked at how legible everything was. Because the label printer prints everything in black or white,⁴ the UPC code, serial number, and my packing slip showing the buyer's name and address all showed up in stark relief in the printout. The 4x6 size of the label paper did not matter at all. (That being said, I do think my label printer being 300dpi, not 203dpi, does help here; thus my earlier advice.) Now I can use one device for the label, packing slip, and (when needed) serial-number photograph, with the laser used even more rarely than before. Not bad for a gadget I paid $90 for.

¹ There is no need to pay extra for a wireless-capable label printer. Many routers have a USB port and can act as a print server. Failing that, pay $10 on eBay for a used Apple Airport Express A1264.

² Yes, I know there are various proprietary alternatives

³ I used these instructions for my full-fledged Linux server; people have done the same thing using $10 Raspberry Pi, and I am sure there is something similar for Windows. For those seeking a premade standalone solution, I believe there are print servers in the $50 range that are AirPrint-compatible and otherwise take the above-mentioned AirPort Express/router solutions' place.

⁴ Yes, I know that label printers are capable of printing grayscale. The driver for my printer doesn't implement this, and in any case I think printing photos in grayscale would make serial numbers and other fine detail less legible, not more.

Hey all,

just a brief question! Struggling to find the answer anywhere. I know USPS/UPS gives out free boxes, but do they give out shipping label paper for printers for free also? I purchased a thermal printer on amazon the other day to speed up the process, but not sure where I should be getting the actua; thermal printer paper for the labels

Thanks all