Shopify shipping labels: What you need to know

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Written By Sam Davis Ph.D.

Sticker Crypt is the internet's premier source of free advice for artists and small business owners! 

If you're selling on Shopify, your online store can become your one-stop shop for selling, shipping, and tracking for your customers. As a paid platform, your Shopify store tries its best to keep you happy and on Shopify's website for all of your shipping needs.

This article will review how to choose your shipping method, use Shopify shipping labels or another shipping service, and get your customer's package out the door as swiftly as possible.

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How do shipping label services work?

Regardless of your provider, shipping label services all pretty much work the same. You tell them where it needs to go, the dimensions, and the weight of the package, and your shipping provider will give you several options. The most common options in the USA are USPS, UPS, and FedEx.

There are many shipping services that provide shipping labels without a transaction fee. Some, like Stamps.com and Etsy, will charge either monthly fees or transaction fees to use their shipping labels – so do your homework. Shopify does not have any shipping fees listed on their website; and PirateShip is a well known 3rd party servicer that provides no transaction fee labels.

How should I ship stickers?

If you're shipping stickers, chances are that you can ship with a plain old envelope and stamp. If you want tracking, you can add tracking to a letter in several ways. First, you can use a service like letter-track.com. They provide special label generation services that will give you tracking, but you'll still need to use a stamp. Or, if you have enough volume, you can use a monthly service like Pitney-Bowes or Stamps.com. If you sell on Etsy, they offer flat shipping as well for a small fee on the postage. At this time, Shopify does not offer flat tracking.

How do I buy a shipping label with Shopify?

Printing shipping labels from Shopify shipping is very easy. After logging into your Shopify account, go to your Shopify admin panel and go to your Orders page. This is where you can see all of your orders with Unfulfilled items. Go to your fulfillment section and select an order with unfulfilled items.

In the Items section, you'll want to select the items that will go with this label. Then, click Add package to add the package dimensions and weight. You'll only need to set up a box type once, then you can reuse it.

Finally, select a shipping service in the service section. IF you're shipping internationally, you'll need to fill out the customs declaration form before you can finalize your shipping purchase. Customs documents look scary, but customs forms are not actually hard to fill out. Your customs declaration form is important, so take the time to fill it out accurately.

When you've selected any additional options you want, like insurance, go ahead and tap that “Buy shipping labels” button, then print! You're all good to go.

Brown paper envelope on table

How do I print a shipping label with Shopify?

You won't be able to print shipping labels with Shopify until after you purchase them. Your best bet, especially if you frequently print shipping labels, is to invest in a shipping label printer. I use the Rollo shipping label printer and really enjoy it, but there are many generic shipping label printers available on Amazon for you to purchase. If you only print a shipping label now and again, you can use a normal printer for your shipping label and just tape it to the package. Or, you can buy shipping label paper that goes in a normal printer – again, Staples or Amazon are great for this.

To print a Shopify shipping label, you'll literally just need to tap “Print shipping label” and send it to the right printer. There's no special magic in how to print shipping labels. Make sure that it fits on the package that you're trying to mail. When you're ready, it's easy to hit “print label” and go about your day.

If you have questions about shipping labels with Shopify, check out their help section on how to print shipping labels! Or, leave a comment below!

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