Posting Ebay items easily?
Discussion
There may be some answers for me here already but basically I started selling on ebay again at the end of last month and know I will eventually fail to keep track of sales and ship things quickly.
I have sold 150 items in the last 30 days (not a lot but a brand new account so taking it slow) and am currently handwriting every envelope or package. This is a royal PITA sometimes as after the weekend I had 45 items to ship.
What is the simplest way of printing address labels that wouldn't mean I had to type adresses into a piece of software?
Oh and can anyone advise on a good low cost source of Padded Envelopes (Speciffically size D) as I cannot seem to find them for less than 10p per item using google, looking for volumes of 500-1000 at a time.
I have sold 150 items in the last 30 days (not a lot but a brand new account so taking it slow) and am currently handwriting every envelope or package. This is a royal PITA sometimes as after the weekend I had 45 items to ship.
What is the simplest way of printing address labels that wouldn't mean I had to type adresses into a piece of software?
Oh and can anyone advise on a good low cost source of Padded Envelopes (Speciffically size D) as I cannot seem to find them for less than 10p per item using google, looking for volumes of 500-1000 at a time.
To save costs I used to just divide a new word doc up into about 10-12 boxes, copy and paste the addresses from Paypal/Ebay onto and then tape the label onto the envelope. Stickers can be quite costly, but depending on how long it takes to do the above process dictates whether its a price worth paying. - Not a software solution I appreciate, but certainly a way to do it.
I often found that ebay itself was the cheapest place to get postage supplies.
What is it you are selling out of interest?
I often found that ebay itself was the cheapest place to get postage supplies.
What is it you are selling out of interest?
I always purchase my postage through the paypal / royalmail - when your item has sold if you select "purchase postage" or something - it will take you to the relevant page. Not only is this the cheapest postage I find, its dead easy as it prints a paid for label which you stick to your item then drop off at the post office. You get your receipt stamped, this also fulfils your seller protection requirements for paypal as well as giving you £36 postal protection for standard 1st class.
BigMans197 said:
Another option would be to print out the paypal packing slip, fold it up and stick it in those self-adhesive 'documents enclosed' things.
I like this option and will give it a try thanks 
I have tried the paypal postage option but cannot get it to work properly for me, same goes with copying and pasting as I end up muddling adresses up.
JonX2C said:
Upgrade your account so that you get all the seller tools, register as a business yo should be able to rpint all orders and then you can fold then nicely so that they fit into a window envelope.
Works wonders for me when sending out ipod headphones
Upgrading may be an idea but at the minute I don't fulfil the criteria requiring a business account and am holding off as long as possible. Works wonders for me when sending out ipod headphones
My parents use a special type of paper with a peal off sticker where Ebay prints the postal address on the invoice. Each sheet is about 10p and they have a dedicated laser printer so non-ebay documents don't get printed on the it by mistake. They do over a 1000 sales a month and it seems to be working as a system for them. I'll try to remember to post the name of their supplier when I get home this evening.
As someone has said, you can get eBay to handle some of this for you.
When my wife started selling more and more stuff on eBay (300 items a week at her peak) I created an IE toolbar object for her. It was quite neat really, once she'd received payment she would just click the button on the toolbar. It found the delivery address on the page and used COM to talk to MS Word. This created a packing slip containing the list of items as well as the return address. This and a copy of the eBay invoice were then printed. We used a dual sided Kyocera laser printer to cut down on printing too.
I started looking at improving it to show better which items had sold but I'd based this on each item having a unique item Id, apparently this isn't the case when it automatically re-lists so that bit was shelved.
Apart from making her life a bit easier I learnt how to write an IE toolbar and use COM/VBA to talk to Word
This was before the seller tools that ebay have, by this time though it was hard to switch to a different system.
When my wife started selling more and more stuff on eBay (300 items a week at her peak) I created an IE toolbar object for her. It was quite neat really, once she'd received payment she would just click the button on the toolbar. It found the delivery address on the page and used COM to talk to MS Word. This created a packing slip containing the list of items as well as the return address. This and a copy of the eBay invoice were then printed. We used a dual sided Kyocera laser printer to cut down on printing too.
I started looking at improving it to show better which items had sold but I'd based this on each item having a unique item Id, apparently this isn't the case when it automatically re-lists so that bit was shelved.
Apart from making her life a bit easier I learnt how to write an IE toolbar and use COM/VBA to talk to Word
This was before the seller tools that ebay have, by this time though it was hard to switch to a different system.
Sorry forgot to check my parent supplier the other day.The company they get their invoice paper from is www.integratedlabels.net. They use the style 'F' ones which gives them just the 'To' address integrated. Like I said before they are doing about 1000 items a month so is worth the cost. When they were doing smaller amounts they copied the address into word and then printed the labels from there.
Good luck with growing the business
Good luck with growing the business
Edited by Established 1984 on Thursday 2nd April 18:49
The cheapest way to print an address label is with a thermal label printer...'sticky' labels are not expensive at all unless you purchase a product such as the Dymo or Brother printer which make you use hugely expensive proprietary consumables.
If you use Royal Mail Despatch Express (or had any other courier account) you would get a thermal printer. Havin said that they are just as useful as a simple address label printer.
The most popular one on the market is the Zebra LP2844:
http://www.thebarcodewarehouse.co.uk/Products/zebr...
It comes with Windows Drivers so you could mail merge using MS Word as suggested above.
If you use Royal Mail Despatch Express (or had any other courier account) you would get a thermal printer. Havin said that they are just as useful as a simple address label printer.
The most popular one on the market is the Zebra LP2844:
http://www.thebarcodewarehouse.co.uk/Products/zebr...
It comes with Windows Drivers so you could mail merge using MS Word as suggested above.
Chris_w666 said:
mk1fan said:
150 items in 30-days. So 5 a day. Hardly taxing! 
Problem is they are in bundles of 30 a time and after some 12+ hour days its a pain writing 30 addresses. Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff