Requests in your digital store may necessitate dispatching products to clients via the carrier of your preference. That’s where shipping labels come into action.
Shipping labels furnish all the requisite details for the carrier to execute delivery, encompassing the dispatcher and recipient addresses and the desired postage service. You affix a tag to the parcel’s wrapping so that postal staff can conveniently access it at each phase of dispatch. This ensures the delivery reaches your clientele punctually.
You can acquire and print tags directly from your store management (accessible for the US, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands), obtain shipping labels from your carrier, or employ a third-party service.
Table of Content
- What constitutes a shipping label?
- Purchasing shipping labels from your store administration
- Procuring tags through the applications from the App Market
- Alternate methods to procure shipping labels
- Following steps
What constitutes a shipping label?
Shipping labels convey where the parcel must be dispatched, along with other dispatch-specific particulars. Each tag contains data linked to a specific package, hence shipping labels cannot be repurposed.
The precise appearance of a tag depends on your carrier and your dispatch.
Here’s an illustration of a USPS shipping label for Priority Mail delivery:
As evident, it includes the destination address, the dispatcher’s (or return) address, the package's weight, the chosen service's name, a tracking ID, and a unique barcode provided by the carrier.
All this information is essential to ensure your package is securely delivered on schedule.
For international dispatches, shipping labels also encompass a customs declaration, and packages with items necessitating special handling (e.g., delicate or HAZMAT) feature additional markings.
Postal staff scan shipping label barcodes at each carrier facility, enabling customers to track the parcel’s progress on the carrier’s website.
Purchasing shipping labels from your store administration
Vendors situated in the US, Germany, Belgium, or Netherlands can remunerate for the postage and procure shipping labels directly from the order page in the store administration. Order specifics will be automatically inserted, and you can dispatch an email containing the tracking ID to clients upon tag procurement.
The specific price of the shipping label will hinge on the carrier service you select as well as on your package itself and its endpoint. Typically, the swiftest delivery option will incur the highest cost.
Vendors located in unsupported countries and those utilizing alternative carriers can acquire shipping labels via applications from the App Market or obtain tags from their carrier →
Currently, you can procure shipping labels for the following carriers from your store administration:
- United States: USPS shipping labels for local and international dispatches. Rates are lower than retail prices at the post office. Some dispatches already include insurance, and you can acquire tags for your HAZMAT packages.
- Germany: DHL shipping labels for dispatches within Germany. Prices in your store administration differ from DHL retail prices. Some services are discounted.
- Netherlands: PostNL shipping labels for local (within the EU) and international dispatches. Prices in your store administration differ from PostNL retail prices. Some services are discounted.
- Belgium: Bpost shipping labels for local (within the EU) and international dispatches.
We recommend purchasing shipping labels from your store administration to save time and ensure a seamless experience with your dispatch management.
Procuring tags through the applications from the App Market
If you are situated in a region where acquiring shipping labels from your store administration is not yet supported or there is no built-in tag purchase from the carrier you utilize (FedEx, UPS, etc.), you can install applications from the App Market to acquire and print shipping labels. The order specifics from your store administration will synchronize with the application, eliminating the need for manual entry.
Several third-party online dispatch service applications are available that facilitate tag procurement. The applications vary depending on the supported regions and carriers.
For instance, you can utilize one of these applications to acquire and print shipping labels:
- Easyship
- ShipTime
- Outvio
To find the application suiting your preferences, simply input “shipping label” in the App Market search bar.
Alternative methods for acquiring shipping labels
You always have the option to obtain shipping labels directly from the post office or your carrier’s website. Nevertheless, this process will consume time as you'll need to manually input the addresses, the package’s weight/size, etc.
Here's how you can acquire shipping labels online from:
If you have specific requirements such as creating a tag without postage (for instance, if you're paying for shipment using stamps or a postage meter), you can even generate and print a shipping label yourself following your carrier’s format.
Following steps
Now that you've acquired a shipping label for your package, the next steps involve shipping the order.
- Print the shipping label and securely affix it to the package with the order. Avoid taping over the barcode as it may hinder scanning at the post office.
- Deliver your package to a carrier location or arrange for a pickup through your carrier’s pickup service.
- Ensure you update the order fulfillment status to Shipped so the customer receives an email notification with a tracking number.