How to Print Shipping Labels for Online Orders
Why You Should Never Buy Labels at the Counter
Walking into a post office or UPS Store and paying retail rates for shipping labels is the most expensive way to ship ecommerce orders. Retail counter rates are 20% to 50% higher than the commercial rates available through shipping platforms. A USPS Priority Mail package that costs $12.80 at the counter costs $9.50 to $10.50 through Pirate Ship's Commercial Base Pricing. A UPS Ground package at $14.50 retail might cost $10.00 through ShipStation with a negotiated UPS account. Over 100 packages per month, that savings alone can be $300 to $500 monthly.
Beyond the rate savings, printing labels at home or in your warehouse eliminates the time spent traveling to the shipping location, waiting in line, and manually entering addresses. With shipping software, you print all your daily labels in minutes, the carrier picks them up from your location (or you drop them at a collection point), and tracking numbers are automatically sent to your customers. The entire process from order received to label printed takes under 30 seconds per order with proper automation.
Step-by-Step Label Setup
Your shipping platform is the software that imports orders from your store, lets you select carriers and services, prints labels, and sends tracking information back to your store and customers. The main options are: Pirate Ship (free, no monthly fee, pay only for postage, supports USPS and UPS), ShipStation ($9.99 to $159.99 per month, supports all carriers, most integrations, and automation features), Shopify Shipping (built into Shopify plans, supports USPS, UPS, and DHL Express at discounted rates), and ShipBob WMS (for sellers using ShipBob's warehouse management without their 3PL service). For sellers processing under 100 orders per month who primarily use USPS, Pirate Ship is the best starting point because it costs nothing beyond the postage itself. Our shipping software comparison covers all the options in detail.
Create accounts with each carrier you plan to use. For USPS, platforms like Pirate Ship and ShipStation provide access to Commercial Base Pricing without needing a separate USPS account. For UPS and FedEx, create a shipper account directly at ups.com and fedex.com, then link those accounts to your shipping platform. Linking multiple carrier accounts lets you rate-shop across carriers for each package, automatically selecting the cheapest service that meets your delivery speed requirements. Also connect your ecommerce platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, etc.) so orders import automatically into your shipping dashboard.
You have two options: a dedicated thermal label printer or a standard printer with label sheets. Thermal label printers like the Rollo ($200), DYMO 4XL ($180), and Zebra ZP450 ($250 used) print 4x6 inch shipping labels on peel-and-stick thermal paper. No ink or toner is required, and thermal labels cost $0.03 to $0.05 each. The labels peel off the backing and stick directly to the package. At 10+ orders per day, a thermal printer pays for itself within weeks compared to the cost of ink, adhesive label sheets, and time spent cutting and taping paper labels. Standard printers work fine for low-volume sellers (under 10 orders per day). Use half-sheet adhesive labels (Avery 5126 or similar) that print two labels per 8.5 x 11 inch sheet. Cost per label is about $0.10 to $0.15 including ink.
Set up default package sizes and weights for your most common products in your shipping platform. When an order imports, the platform should automatically assign the correct package dimensions and weight based on the products ordered, select the cheapest carrier and service that meets your delivery speed policy, and populate the customs information for international orders. ShipStation calls these "automation rules" and lets you create conditions like "if the order contains Product X, use package preset 'Small Box' and default to USPS Priority Mail." These rules eliminate manual data entry and reduce errors. Even simple platforms like Pirate Ship allow you to save package presets that you select with one click.
When you are ready to fulfill orders, open your shipping dashboard, review the queued orders, verify that the package sizes and weights are correct (especially for multi-item orders that might need larger packaging), and print labels individually or in batch. Batch printing lets you select all orders for the day and print every label at once, which is significantly faster than processing one at a time. After printing, peel and stick each label to the corresponding package. Organize your packing area so you pack the order, set it aside, then apply the matching label in a systematic flow. Mismatched labels, where the wrong tracking number goes on the wrong package, are the most common fulfillment error and result in two wrong deliveries instead of one.
Label Printer Recommendations
Best budget thermal printer: Rollo printer ($200). Prints 4x6 labels at 150mm per second. Works with all major shipping platforms via USB or Wi-Fi. Compatible with direct thermal labels from any manufacturer, so you are not locked into proprietary label rolls. The Rollo is the most popular label printer among ecommerce sellers for good reason: it works reliably, prints fast, and the per-label cost is minimal.
Best mid-range printer: DYMO LabelWriter 4XL ($180 to $220). Slightly slower than the Rollo but well-supported by every shipping platform and has been a reliable workhorse for years. Uses 4x6 inch direct thermal labels. DYMO's label rolls are more expensive than generic alternatives, but generic 4x6 labels work fine in the printer despite what DYMO's marketing suggests.
Best high-volume printer: Zebra ZP450 or GK420d ($150 to $300 used, $400+ new). These are commercial-grade printers used in warehouses and 3PL operations. They print faster, handle higher daily volumes without overheating, and last for years of heavy use. Available at significant discounts on the used market because businesses upgrade frequently. The Zebra printers use the same generic 4x6 direct thermal labels as consumer printers.
Address Validation and Error Prevention
Address validation is built into most shipping platforms and catches errors before you print and pay for a label. Common issues include apartment or suite numbers missing from the address, misspelled street names that carriers cannot deliver to, PO Box addresses for carriers that do not deliver to PO Boxes (UPS and FedEx), and addresses that do not exist in the carrier's database. Your shipping platform should flag these issues before printing and give you the option to correct the address or contact the customer.
Enable USPS Address Verification Service (AVS) in your shipping settings. AVS standardizes addresses to the USPS format, adds ZIP+4 codes, and confirms that the address is deliverable. Shipping to unvalidated addresses increases your package return rate and wastes the cost of both the outbound and return shipping.