BookRouter™ can buy real postage for you. Open an order, check the address, pick a rate, and print the label. The tracking number is saved on the order, the order is marked shipped, and your buyer can be emailed automatically. No monthly fee, no contract, no minimum.
What it costs
You pay the carrier's rate plus a flat 50 cent convenience fee per label. That is the whole price list.
- The fee is the same on every carrier, every service, and every destination.
- Rates in the list are shown all-in, so the number you compare is the number you pay. A note above the list reminds you the fee is included, and the confirmation itemises it once.
- There is no monthly charge, no per-shipment plan, and no limit to hit.
The rates themselves are commercial rates negotiated through our shipping provider, so for most services they are better than retail counter prices.
How you pay for postage
Labels come out of a prepaid shipping balance rather than being billed later. You top it up from inside the Buy Label window, so you never have to leave the order to do it.
- Top-ups run from $10 to $500 at a time, charged to the card already on file for your Bibliopolis account.
- Adding funds needs an Administrator account. Anyone else on your staff can buy labels from the balance, they just cannot top it up.
- Void a label and the postage goes straight back to your balance.
- Your full history of top-ups and label purchases is under Billing, on the Shipping Funds tab.
A single balance covers everything: website orders, marketplace orders, and any order type we add later.
Before you switch it on
One thing has to be right first, and it is the one thing you cannot fix yourself.
Your return address
Every label needs the address the parcel is sent from. We hold that on your account record, not in your own settings, so if it is missing or out of date, email support@bibliopolis.com with the address you actually ship from and we will set it.
If anything essential is missing, the Shipping Labels setting tells you which part, so you are not left guessing. A phone number is worth sending too: some carriers ask for one, and most international shipments require it.
Switching it on
- Go to Settings › Store Settings › Shipping & Fulfillment.
- Switch on Shipping Labels.
- Set your label print size: 4x6 for a thermal label printer, or 8.5x11 to print on ordinary paper.
- Optionally pick a preferred carrier and whether to prefer USPS Media Mail when it is offered. These only decide which rate is pre-selected for you; every rate is still listed.
- Save.
A Ship & Print Label button now appears on your orders, and a Shipping & tracking card on your marketplace orders. Nothing else about your store changes, and you can switch it back off at any time.
Which carriers you get
USPS, FedEx and DHL Express are available through your account, and which services appear depends on the parcel and the destination. Under Shipping & Fulfillment you can untick any carrier you never want quoted. If a carrier does not appear on a particular order, the Buy Label window tells you what that carrier said rather than leaving it silently missing.
USPS Media Mail is requested by default for domestic parcels, since it is the cheapest way to send books. It is only valid for books and other media, which is a USPS rule rather than ours.
What this is not
This is the postage you buy as the seller. It is separate from the shipping rates your customers are charged at checkout, which you set up under Shipping Methods and Zones. What you collect from a buyer and what you pay a carrier are two different numbers, and deciding the gap between them is your call, not something we set.
Ready to use it? See Buying a shipping label. Shipping abroad? See Shipping internationally: customs, DDP and DAP.