Shipping

If you live in the United States, and are shipping domestically, the easiest way to ship your orders is to purchase your postage online and ship from home. PayPal offers shipping through the United States Post Office directly though their website, and they don’t charge anything extra for this service! All you need is a printer, there is no software to install. You can use labels, or just print on plain paper and tape your postage on. For international shipping from home we suggest either using www.stamps.com or www.endicia.com
Then all you do is drop it off at the post office (no standing in line!) or request carrier pickup!

Here is an example of what your PayPal Interface may look like. Colored boxes have been added to point out difference features.

Green Box: When you receive a payment, you will see a box that says “Print Shipping Label” Click this to begin the process of creating a shipping label.

Purple Box: This is a record of your payment to USPS, it also provides the tracking number for the item shipped.

Red Box: This is what your transaction will look like after you’ve printed a shipping label. Package tracking information is also stored here.

Delivery Confirmation (Tracking): When you ship through Paypal, Delivery Confirmation is $ .19 on First Class Mail & FREE on Priority Mail. If you were to purchase this feature standing in line at the post office, it would cost you $ .80! Delivery Confirmation is a small price to pay, but it protects you as a seller. It is your proof that you shipped your product.

Can I print Postage if I didn’t receive a payment? Yes you can! Not sure why it’s so hard to find on Paypal’s website, but here is the direct link to creating a shipping label from scratch:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

Do I need a fancy Postage Scale? Maybe, it really depends on what you are shipping. If you are just using Flat Rate boxes, then you don’t need a scale. If you are shipping First Class, then yes you do need a scale. TIP: Get a scale that measures in both grams & ounces. Professional bakers weigh their flour in grams instead of using measuring cups. Your homemade bread will taste so much better if you do this!

Does First Class mail ship as fast as Priority Mail? Yes it does. If your mail is less than 13 oz, then you are wasting money shipping it Priority Mail.

Flat Rate Shipping Information: If you are shipping something heavy, or you just don’t want to have to worry about calculating exact shipping options, then Flat Rate Shipping is for you. Packaging is also provided for you free from the Post Office. You can also have the packaging delivered to your home free of charge. Some package supplies like the Flat Rate Padded Envelope are only available online. Flat Rate envelopes must seal shut. If you’re having trouble with the standard size, get the legal size envelope. It ships at the same rate, but you get an extra 3 inches width wise to work with. Rates are subject to change at any time.

The extra info that prints out for PayPal Postage is wasting my ink!: Log into paypal >> Profile >> More Options >> My Selling Tools >> Shipping Preferences >> Edit Printer Settings >> UNCHECK Print Receipt.

Inkjet Labels for shipping: Avery White Shipping Labels 8126

The following label printers are compatible with Paypal Shipping:
Brother QL-500, QL-550
DYMO LabelWriter 330, LabelWriter 330 Turbo
Pitney Bowes LPS-1
Zebra HT-146, LP2844-Z, TLP2844, TLP3842, TLP3844-Z

Make your own ‘padded’ envelope: Buy a big roll of the small type of bubble wrap & a box of the 9” x 12” manila envelopes. You can buy smaller envelopes, but if you get the 9x12’s they are standard size and usually are cheaper, and you can just fold them in half or smaller. It’s so much cheaper than buying padded envelopes. This won’t work for everyone, but if it does work for you, we just saved you a bunch of money!

International Shipping: When shipping international you will need to fill out customs forms. International buyers may request that you mark your item you are sending as a gift. This is so they won’t have to pay import fees imposed by their countries. THIS IS ILLEGAL. If you send an order, mark it a gift, and it gets opened and it’s obvious it is not a gift they will come after you the seller you can face fines or jail time. It is always good to state in your policies something like “International customers are responsible for their own fees or taxes imposed by their country. I will not mark your package as gift, as that is illegal”. Yes you will lose customers, but would you rather lose your customers or your business?

If you want to ship International packages from home you will need to use a website like www.stamps.com or www.endicia.com for postage.

Packaging Suppliers
http://www.royalmailers.com
http://www.uline.com – Local Pickup available in Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, NYC/Phila & Seattle.

Helpful Links:

Current USPS rates: http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm
Paypal Ship Now link: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now
Order Flat Rate Packaging: https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogI...
Schedule USPS Carrier Pick Up https://tools.usps.com/go/ScheduleAPickupAction!input.action
USPS Carrier Pick Up Information: http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?session={b045b040-c7b5-11e0-4d27-000000000000}&event=1&view()=c{398b73a0-2469-11de-45a2-000000000000}&objectId=&eksObjectId=&objectType=Case&isJumpEnabled=false&isContentJumpEnabled=false&vendorKey=&objTitle=&versionId=7002&searchProperties=undefined&naturalAdvance=false&allStr=&phraseStr=&anyStr=&noneStr=&keywordStr=&tTitle=&topicFromSub=&topicsORSubUrl=&report(0000)=p{eb835360-48f3-11e0-6f46-000000000000}&bcobjectId={2adbb220-28a9-11e0-5c1d-000000000000}&search=pick%20up%20services&topicAndSubtopic=Business$ALL
Stamps.com vs Endicia.com: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/5574225/

Flour Conversion Calculator for baking: http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/flour_volume_weight.html