Once shipping labels are switched on, buying postage takes about as long as reading this sentence. Everything the label needs is already on the order.
Buying one
- Open the order. On a website order click Ship & Print Label; on a marketplace order use Buy shipping label in the Shipping & tracking card.
- Check the delivery address. It is filled in from the order and you can correct anything before rating, including the country.
- Check the weight. We estimate it from the items where we can and fall back to a sensible default. Enter the real weight if you know it. Box dimensions are optional, but if you enter one you must enter all three.
- Leave USPS Media Mail eligible ticked for books, or untick it if the parcel is not media.
- Rates appear grouped by carrier, with your preferred one pre-selected. Pick a rate.
- Optionally insure the shipment for a declared value, and choose whether to email the buyer their tracking number.
- Click Buy & Print.
The label opens as a PDF ready to print. At the same time the tracking number is recorded on the order, the order is marked shipped, and, if you asked for it, the buyer is emailed.
If no rates come back
The window explains why rather than showing an empty list: an address a carrier could not accept, a missing weight, or a carrier declining that particular lane. Fix what it names and re-rate.
After the purchase
Bought labels are listed on the order with their carrier, service, cost and tracking number.
- Reprint opens the same label PDF again. Labels stay available indefinitely, so a jammed printer is never a lost label.
- Void cancels an unused label and refunds the postage to your shipping balance. Do this promptly: carriers only accept a void for a limited window, and never once the parcel has been scanned.
Orders you ship some other way
If you bought postage at the counter, or the parcel is going out with something else, use Enter tracking # in the same window. Type the tracking number, optionally name the carrier, and choose whether to mark the order shipped and email the buyer. It records exactly the same way a bought label does, so your orders stay accurate whichever way the parcel went.
Marketplace orders
Marketplace orders work the same way, from the Shipping & tracking card on the order. On the venues that accept it, marking the order shipped also sends the tracking number back to the marketplace, so you are not re-typing it there. See Marking a marketplace order shipped or cancelled.
Keeping the balance topped up
Your balance shows at the bottom of the Buy Label window. If a purchase would take you below zero, the top-up box opens with the shortfall already filled in, so you can add funds and carry straight on. Adding funds needs an Administrator account.
Shipping abroad
International parcels need a customs declaration. We build it from the order and show it for review in the same window, so in the normal case there is nothing extra to fill in. See Shipping internationally: customs, DDP and DAP.
Weights are worth getting right. A parcel that weighs more than declared can be surcharged by the carrier after delivery, and that adjustment lands on you, not the buyer.