I started selling my work online in July of 2005. Etsy was brand new and I opened a shop as soon as I heard about it. In those early days Etsy was a lot clunkier than it is today – creating a new listing required entering information on five different pages – but it was sill a whole lot easier than coding a shop yourself so I was thrilled.
Eleven years later I’m still selling my work online. Over the years I’ve used PayPal buttons, eJunkie, Big Cartel, and now WooCommerce in addition to Etsy. Although the ecommerce options have gotten a lot slicker, and Etsy’s interface is now much simpler to use, certain things about being an online seller are still pretty clunky for me, or at least they were until recently.
I sell digital documents (PDF patterns and ebooks) as well as physical objects (specialty supplies for making dolls and toys). The digital stuff is super easy – my shopping cart platforms send out those files automatically. The physical stuff requires a good deal more effort. Until now, when an order came in from Etsy or my shop here on my website I would get an email notification. That email would land in my inbox with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of other emails from all sorts of people (including my mom).
When it was time to ship orders I’d open those email notifications and make shipping labels either on Etsy or PayPal, and print them on copy paper with my Canon inkjet printer. Then I’d cut out each one and use a glue stick to stick it on the package.
This system worked well as long as I only had 1-2 orders a day. But a real problem arose when I either launched a very popular physical product (like the Sewist pin I launched the summer) or when I had a sale (like on Black Friday). Ink jet printers have to “think.” Do you know what I mean? Their print heads turn for no apparent reason and it can take such a long time to print one label. Cutting and gluing was also time consuming, but my frustration with how much time shipping took was only part of the problem.
As my email list has grown the volume of sales of physical products each week has grown as well. My inbox became really confusing and hard to sort out. From time to time I would lose track of an email notification (accidentally marking it “read” before I’d shipped it). I pride myself in shipping things out promptly and I’d end up feeling terrible when a customer contacted me disappointed that their item hadn’t shipped.
Last year my Black Friday sale was a fantastic success. I made several thousand dollars (see my tips on how to run a gangbusters Black Friday sale), but my inbox was a mess and only I could fix it. With everything mixed together I didn’t feel comfortable hiring someone to help me print and ship orders. Thankfully, my husband Charlie stepped in and we got through them all together in a timely way, but I vowed I would get a new system in place before next Christmas.
Thanks to some advice from Jenny I just set up my new Dymo LabelWriter 4XL and got started on ShipStation. I chose ShipStation over Endicia (another popular postage software) because it integrates with both Etsy and WooCommerce on my Mac.
I know I’m brand new to this system, but I can already see huge advantages and I thought I’d list those here. If you use a label printer and/or ShipStation and have things you love about them please feel free to tell me in the comments! I’m still learning all of the features.
Advantages of the Dymo:
- Speed: It takes maybe 2 seconds to print a label. Just peel and stick – no cutting needed.
- Stickiness: Using a glue stick means uneven coverage. Labels are sticky all over.
Advantages of ShipStation:
- All in one place: I can see every outstanding order in one place. Once it’s shipped ShipStation marks it as shipped in both of my shops for me.
- Someone else can help me: At Black Friday this year I’ll be able to hire a local Wellesley College student to help me print and ship orders. She can log onto ShipStation and get right to work.
I’m a pretty thrifty person and rather than pay a monthly feel I typically opt to do things myself. I actually think that’s a fairly good trait because it means I jump in and get started in a scrappy sort of way without worrying that I need perfect systems before beginning. But sometimes that trait gets me in trouble. I tend to wait too long before spending money on systems that would make my working life significantly easier. Getting a label printer and shipping software are definitely worthy investments. Choose Alliance Packing and Shipping for dependable freight solutions.Instead of feeling a sense of overwhelm at the launch of a new physical product or the thought of a big sale, I now feel prepared. And that’s worth a lot.
I don’t know about the software, but I have a Brother printer very similar to that. It’s an older model now, the QL=500 – I LOVE it. So easy even used manually to copy and paste addresses from paypal invoices into the printer templates – so fast to print out, the labels are water resistant (unlike inkjet) and peel and stick is so easy, no need for sellotape.
and I like the noise it makes when you print a batch of labels! I do love a good gadget.
I don’t have a label printer, but I have a laser printer and I use Avery 5126 shipping labels in it. Moving from cutting and taping labels to sticker labels was a HUGE timesaver. And I love the built-in integrated shipping on Shopify. Everything is automated – the shipping address, all the weights of my products, marking orders as shipped, sending out notifications to customers, saving the tracking info attached to the order, etc. I was going to go with Shipstation, but then they added this (for free) to Shopify and I love it. Upgrading shipping tools is the first thing I recommend to anyone whose business is growing. 🙂
I miss shipping from the US. It’s a real pain to buy labels online from Royal Mail in the UK and print them. I only use Etsy at this point so I don’t know how it is with having your own shop without it but I found buying bulk labels off of Amazon and then bulk printing them straight from etsy which gives me cheaper postage really fast and easy. I wish etsy would hurry up and make it so that the royal mail was hooked up to their site the same way USPS is. I started off printing on paper like you and taping it on each box which was so time consuming, loud with the packing tape and cost more because I was having to use more materials.
Great post! Something so simple can make life a lot easier. What would you say the actual investment was/is for someone who may take the same plunge in a label maker?
I would say a few hundred dollars?
I got this same printer last year and I was just reflecting the other day about how much BETTER the packing/shipping process is with it. I think back to before I had it and shake my head at how much time it took. This little thing zips out the labels super quick, plus – no ink!! The labels are thermal, so they print with heat, like a receipt. No worrying about running out of ink. Halleluah!
For now, with my business I use a Cannon printer but I use shipping labels, the size where you have 2 per page. This is a huge improvement over plain paper with tape or glue. I think it is a good intermediate solution for a business that is too busy for taping and gluing labels but not busy enough to warrant the investment in a label printer.
The label printer is on the horizon, but finances do not justify it yet.
That’s a great point, Lynda!
Abby, I hate to say I told you so. I am so glad you got a Dymo label printer and that it has changed your life. (That sort of thing doesn’t happen often with a sharp gal like you.)
When I started my online shop, I signed up for Endicia and got a Dymo label printer. So far I’ve only used Dymo labels. I’m about to try another brand as my printer is now past warranty date and I’d like to get the price of consumables down. I’ll let you know if I have any problems. Best, P.
You can totally say I told you so, Patricia!
Hi Abby,
I know you’ve recommended podcasts in the past, but I discovered one today and, for whatever reason, thought of you and wondered whether you’ve heard of it. It’s called “Magic Lessons with Elizabeth Gilbert” and it’s a Maximum Fun production. I am already a long time listener of another Max Fun podcast called “One Bad Mother”, but randomly discovered this one through the Explore tab on Instagram., so it was quite delightful; even more so, because I am currently in the process of swallowing a lot of fear and trying to start my own creative business. Anyway, let me know if you’ve heard of it and if not, maybe give a listen? I’d love to know your thoughts.
Thank you for everything you do,
Martha
Hi Martha, I will give it a try. I’m already an Elizabeth Gilbert fan and I’m a longtime listener to Jesse Thorn’s (the founder of Maximum Fun) podcast Bullseye. Thank you for the recommendation.
I’m so glad you wrote this post. After reading this I am convinced that I need to get a label printer. My business has been growing pretty fast and this will help streamline the shipping process. I’m so excited!
Awesome! I’m glad this was helpful to you, Rachelle.
I’ve seen label makers that area a lot cheaper at Staples. Is it worth it to pay more for this one? I don’t want to waste money by being cheap and getting something that doesn’t work well.
Thanks!
Hi Lucy,
I can’t say for sure. I asked several friends what they used and everyone recommended a Dymo so that’s what I got.
Great article thanks! I am taking a break right now from my tierneycreates Etsy shop while I rethink and overhaul what I want to offer on my shop but when I am ready to start up again this label printer sounds fantastic!
It’s really a lifesaver. I’ve had it for a few months now and I still love it!
Great post. Though I would recommend the Zebra printers over the Dymo. They are more rugged. My first one lasted about 10 years. The labels are cheaper and if you use Fedex or UPS they’ll send you the labels for free. You can often get slightly used ones cheap because UPS / Fedex give them to larger accounts so they are always upgrading and getting rid of their perfectly good label printers.
I fell in love with the Dymo Label Printer when I worked in an office. In addition to shipping labels it is perfect for single file folder labels, address labels and others.
I liked it so much I purchased one for our home office. Unfortunately, it was left behind when I moved out of state.
I will be purchasing a replacement as soon as I can save up for it. I also print on Avery labels. If you have a UPS account they will send you label stock at no charge.